How to Save Waypoints?

The two types of waypoints you can enter and save to your GPS receiver are

• Current location: GPS receivers have a button on the case or an onscreen command for marking the current location as a waypoint. (Check your user manual for details.) After the waypoint is marked, the GPS receiver screen displays a waypoint information page where you can name the waypoint and associate an icon with it.
• Known location: If you know the coordinates of a location that you want to save as a waypoint, you can manually enter it in the GPS receiver. Most GPS receivers also allow you to mark wherever the cursor is on the map page as a waypoint. A known location could be a good fishing spot that a friend saved to his GPS receiver or perhaps a lake you want to visit that you got the coordinates from a digital map. Again, check your user manual for directions on how to manually enter a waypoint.

Always use meaningful names when you save a waypoint. GPS receivers typically assign a sequential number as the default waypoint name. Although numbers and cryptic codes might make sense when you enter them, I guarantee you that you probably won’t remember what they mean a couple of weeks down the road.
Some GPS units have a MOB function, which has nothing whatever to do with tommy guns or cement shoes. MOB stands for Man Overboard and was designed for boaters to use in case someone fell into the water. (Go figure.) After seeing or hearing the splash, the captain can press a button (that creates a waypoint appropriately named MOB) and then turn around and head back to the exact location of the unlucky sailor.
Although a GPS receiver is good for letting you know where you are, waypoints are important for helping you get somewhere you’d like to go. GPS receivers have a number of features that can help you navigate to a waypoint that you’ve entered.
Maybe you decide to go for a hike. Before you leave the trailhead, you save the location of the parking lot as a waypoint, naming it PRKLOT.
Note: Some GPS receivers support waypoint names only in uppercase characters; others allow you to use both uppercase and lowercase characters. As you hike down the trail, you hear the call of a rare ivory-billed woodpecker and head off into the brush, intent on getting a sighting of the very elusive bird. After an hour of tromping around in the dense woods, you discover two things. First, the bird was just a robin; second, you’re totally turned around and are somewhat lost. But fortunately, because you have a GPS receiver with you (and have read this book), you know that you’ll be able to easily find your way back to the car and be home in time for dinner. The following sections show you how.