What’s the best way to know mileage without an expensive $150+ gps device?

John K asked: I live in California. Am near some beautiful trails. I’m obsessed with precision, though I love it. I want to run on and take advantage of the trails, but I need to know how far certain distances are. There’s no mile markers. Buying a garmin 305/405/handheld would work b/c there’s no cloud cover but can’t really drop like $100 or more on gps device atm. I tried using google/yahoo/ maps to test the distance... [Read More...]