Mike Hanson, a 44-year-old hiker from Minnesota, is attempting to become just the third blind person to complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Unlike previous blind hikers, Hanson is relying on technology to guide him. Hanson—who has been blind since birth—has loaded his GPS-equipped cell phone with software that provides electronic voice guided directions and trail coordinates for rest stops, water sources, and shelters. As he told the Scripps Howard News Service, his GPS gives him “everything I would need to know about the trail but the view.”
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