I spent last week camping at Sebago Lake State Park and decided to celebrate the 4th of July with a little moonlight paddle on the Songo River. I left from the Songo Lock (pic 1, pic 2) with three friends in two canoes at around 10:30 PM and enjoyed a peaceful trip to the sand bar on the group camping side of the state park where we were staying.
Knowing that we would be paddling in the dark, I took the time to create a track in Topo USA that I would be able to follow with my PN-40. I was very pleased to see how useful the aerial imagery was in planning my route. The river has changed course in a few places since I was a boy so it was very helpful to see the shortcuts.
I was also very excited to see the Navionics Hot Maps lake chart data in action. The chart data for the Songo River was very helpful in showing us the deep sections of the river. Even though we were paddling canoes, it was still reassuring to know we were in the channel given the strong current and the fact that we were paddling at night! In a rare moment of clear thinking I passed on capturing screenshots while I was navigating the canoe but I have since gone back and captured shots showing some areas where the imagery and lake charts were most helpful.
This next screenshot shows the high detail aerial imagery that is available from the Maine GIS site. I loaded this map on the PN using XMap… an upgrade to Topo USA that is available direct from DeLorme.
The last picture shows my Earthmate PN-40 SE on the floor of the canoe. Keep in mind that because the Navionics SD card is locked all other maps need to be stored on the internal memory. This is why I use the SE model with 8 GB of internal memory for all of my maps and aerial imagery.
Remember to install the latest 2.6 Navionics firmware update on your Earthmate PN-40 if you are looking to use the Navionics lake or marine chart SD cards. If you haven’t purchased a PN-40 yet, give the SE model some consideration. These devices sold out when the PN-40 first released but have been brought back for a limited time with the Navionics release. Having the larger internal memory available will give you more flexibility when you have to swap your map SD card out for your Navionics card.
Let me know if you have any questions about how I set the device up with aerial imagery and Navionics Hot Maps for the Songo River and if you are ever staying at Sebago Lake State Park be sure to take a trip to the Songo Lock and paddle the Songo River, it’s a great adventure… day or night!
Chip Noble
DeLorme
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