GPS Nav for Trail Runs

I have acquired a Garmin ForeTrex 401 recently.  The reason, I have been wanting to have a map device independent of my Iphone.  The ForeTrex 401 is really a GPS navigator similar to the GPS watches, with a navigation screen.

Garmin ForeTrex 401

It is geared toward general outdoors, including JumpMaster for skydivers ... But we are not going to there.  I liked the fact it had a screen, to me it made it easy to carry a map on the palm of my hand on my runs.  The Garmin comes with an optional heart rate monitor.  I tried to use it with my BoxFlex chest sensor unfortunately the Garmin did not read its signal.

Anyway, the reason I got it is for the map feature.  So I spent some time this evening figuring the GPS.  I picked the Tolt Pipeline trail to run on tomorrow.  I used Google Earth to map the route over the trail.  Google Earth creates a .KML file readable in Google Maps or "tracks".

I saved the Google Map files as .KMZ to import it in Garmin's BaseCamp.

Tolt Pipeline Trail Map

Garmin's BaseCamp allow the user to add waypoints to the route.  When ready I uploaded the final route with the waypoint to the ForeRunner via USB.  The tracks and the waypoints are there.

Tomorrow I will get dropped off at one end of the trail and run it back.  In addition to this being my first ten miler since the Birch Bay marathon, I will test-run the ForeTrex too.