Bending the map ("My mind's made up, don't confuse me with the facts.")

[sardog1]

I taught orienteering several times this past spring to high schoolers and had multiple chances to observe the phenomenon of "bending the map." This is when the reality on the ground is made to conform to what the mind believes. It's how people with maps can get seriously lost and you think afterward, what the hell were they thinking? How could they have persisted so long and so far when the terrain was screaming at them, "STOP! You're not where you think you are."

It's said that confession is good for the soul. And it helps others avoid the same errors. Or at least it amuses the rest of us. So, let's have them, your stories of map bending. How far did you persist, and what finally brought you to your senses?

 

[audrey]

After I'd studied the compass manual a bit and pointed my way around the back yard, Pat and I went off in search of Mendon Peak.

We headed from the summit of Killington and soon topped out on Little Killington. I wanted so badly to believe that this was Mendon that I even searched for a canister. I preferred to ignore that Pico was in the wrong place and should have been farther away. I tried to turn it into Killington.

Covered with sweat and flies, we trudged back dejected at our failure. It was the best "trust your compass and stop your wishful thinking" lesson I've ever had.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Several years ago, when I was working on the NE 100rd, a bunch of us set out for East Kennebago, Maine. We navigated the route to the col just fine, and once in the col we turned right and arrived at the top of the bump. We noticed there was very little traffic up the slope, and had the ferns on the top to ourselves as we ate our lunch. Noting the lack of travel and no cannister, we decided the summit needed something, so we set about building a fine cairn.

On the way down, we noticed there was another bump on the other side of the col which appeared to be higher. Much denial occurred, and a couple of us even suggested that bump was even in a different mountain range! Gradually, however, the truth settled in, and a re-read of Gene Daniell's notes confirmed it: once in the col, turn left!. When we got there we cast about, and found a faint herd path leading up, and eventually we confirmed East Kennebago with the cannister.

We certainly had a good laugh on that one on the way back down, and joked about what a fine cairn there now was on the "other summit of East Kennebago".

 

[TCD]

(Not really a map bending story...)

On a night trip up Walker Brook in the adks, to attempt Niagara (no trail or path, and it was dark when we started) we ended up following a northern tributary instead of Walker Brook. Two errors led to our detour: 1. The Northway, I-87, is not where it is shown on the map, but a couple hundred yards West; 2. We did not start taking confirmatory compass readings until a little ways into the trip, because we were confident the brook we were following was in fact Walker Brook.

The trick here was that we were not expecting the tributary so soon after we crossed under the highway, and also, after a brief jaunt North, the tributary turns NW and exactly parallels Walker Brook. So by the time we started taking bearings, the direction we were traveling, and the terrain features, were exactly right for Walker. No "bending" of the map was necessary.

Once we were fairly high on the ridge, though, the terrain became "wrong" and we realized our mistake. Out of time, we dejectedly returned down the "real" Walker Brook.

Lessons learned:

The topo lines and water features on the maps are quite accurate, but things drawn in later like newer highways, or trails, are often not really where they are shown.

Take bearings from the beginning of the trip to confirm.

If you don't want to be diverted onto a major tributary when following a brook, be on the other side of the brook in that area.

Three other pointers to avoid the pitfalls of "map bending":

"Anticipate and Confirm." Look at the map first, and figure out what you should expect to see along the next leg of your route, then confirm it while you travel. It's much harder to "bend the terrain." If you look at the terrain, and then the map, you'll find a bunch of places on the map that "look like where you are."

Plan your route around "bump lines" (unmistakeable objects like rivers, roads, or the tops of ridges, which will limit your travel in the wrong direction.

Look at mistake possibilities. In other words "If we miss this trail (let's say we walk across it in the dark without noticing it), what will happen? How far wrong can we go?"

TCD

 

[bill bowden]

Must be magnetic rocks

Experience helps both in reading and interpretting maps and terrain, the phrase "trust your compass" is over-used and under-utilized.

My own experiences are too painful to recount

 

[Nessmuk]

Three other pointers to avoid the pitfalls of "map bending":

"Anticipate and Confirm."

Plan your route around "bump lines" (unmistakeable objects like rivers, roads, or the tops of ridges, which will limit your travel in the wrong direction.

Look at mistake possibilities. In other words "If we miss this trail (let's say we walk across it in the dark without noticing it), what will happen? How far wrong can we go?"

These are excellent suggestions, well known by successful navigators. I would add the notion of timing. Know how long to anticipate before coming to the next bit of recognizable terrain fix. To shoot for objects approximately twenty minutes apart seems to be a comfortable plan. Along with that, recognize that the time estimate is dynamic, you must adjust your estimate to actual conditions encountered along the way. With practice you should be able to hit your point within a 2-3 minute window of your adjusted estimate. If you can't justify why you are not yet there (or just as bad why you are "there" much earlier than planned), then you have done something wrong. Figure it out before continuing on, or go back.

Always look for things that change in the environment. My motto is "change is my friend". Even a slight shift in slope is enough to give you excellent information about your position. You just have to anticipate it, watch for it, be aware of it when you arrive.

 

[Nessmuk]

Experience helps both in reading and interpretting maps and terrain, the phrase "trust your compass" is over-used and under-utilized.

My own experiences are too painful to recount

While there are documented areas where the compass is unreliable due to natural ferro-magnetic deposits in the ground, they are very rare and usually isolated to small regions. I contend that in most cases of old timers declaring their compasses "wrong", they have made a serious error of "bending the map" to match what they think is truth and have led themselves astray. Not heeding "trust your instruments" has crashed more aircraft than any other class of accident.

 

[DougPaul]

While there are documented areas where the compass is unreliable due to natural ferro-magnetic deposits in the ground, they are very rare and usually isolated to small regions. I contend that in most cases of old timers declaring their compasses "wrong", they have made a serious error of "bending the map" to match what they think is truth and have led themselves astray. Not heeding "trust your instruments" has crashed more aircraft than any other class of accident.

Compasses can get magnetically reversed.

In general, use all of the navigational information sources available and if one starts to disagree with the others, stop and figure out why. It also helps to continuously keep track of your general position.

Doug

 

[Periwinkle]

My general problem seems to be when I make my first incorrect assumption, and then just won't let go. As in....

I know I know where I am, and assume I'm heading east. Very unfortunately, I had parked alongside a bend in the road that I hadn't noticed. And the old logging road I'm hiking has a slight bend I don't notice. I'm not heading east at all. I'm heading south. When I turn off and bushwhack a ways "south" and finally check my compass, I find I'm heading west. West? Huh? Nah. Can't be. Cheap thing is broken.

I continue along a sight line to make it to the point I was heading to by pure internal compass. (I actually do have a really good "sense of direction" even when I'm travelling in the wrong compass direction.)

When I finally looked at the map when I arrived, I wanted to smack myself upside the head. How stupid.

I haven't made the same "of course I know where I'm starting from" assumption since.

 

[Jazzbo]

Turning South Hancock into East Hancock

We were on Hancocks yesterday (my first visit) and I was looking forward to viewing east ridge of Hancock and Carrigain. Of course it was very foggy with rain in forcast and sun was not out and many peaks were in clouds so it was a lot of fill in the blanks stuff. I had it in my mind I was going to be looking at Carragain. I saw a big mountain mass that should not have been there. I pulled out my compass and oriented the map. In no time it said I was looking at South Hancock. I rejected that conclusion out of hand and started twisting them map so Carrigain would be out there and the ridge would be east ridge of Hancocks. Just didn't make sense. Well we started feeling the rain drops and we wanted to descend before the rain started in earnest so finally just accepted the fact that we were looking at Sandwich Ranges. Still dissapointed I didn't get to see Carragain. Just have to come back in better weather.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

After bagging Whitecap and Kennebago with Bob and Geri, a suprise finding of a herd path was too good to be true. It clearly was heading down the wrong side of the mountain and would not take us back to their Suburban. Though I was suspicious in the first place, I was in denial and we had a meeting of the minds. When Bob showed why it was wrong, I was crushed with disappointment. I was so looking forward to not brishing up against wet snow covered flora and staying dry on that dreary Novenber day.

Cantdog - At the risk of hijacking the thread - I think the herd path you stumbled on is often use in the winter. At least it's the winter route I've used when the lumber company doesn't plow the Canada Road (I think that's the name of it - off Tim Pond Rd?).

 

[Pete_Hickey]

I contend that in most cases of old timers declaring their compasses "wrong", they have made a serious error of "bending the map" to match what they think is truth and have led themselves astray.

On a walk from Redfield to Skylight, one cloudy, snowy (IE no visual help at all) day, I had a section through some real thick stuff. I looked at my compass, and started pushing my way in that direction. About 20-30 feet later, when I broke through to a clear section, I looked at my compass, and it pointed in the direction I had just come from. I trusted the compass. Then the same thing happened again. I started to panic... alone... mid-week in Nov, without having left any details of where I was. I decided to continue trusting the compass, and it got me to where I was supposed to be. What was happening, was that the stuff was so thick that it was turning me around as I worked through it.

Another time, on the summit of Henderson, I didn'T trust my compass. The cracked glass let all the liquid drain out, and the needle didn'T spin freely (my second compass was down at the bottom, at the lean-to. Fortunately, on a clear day from Henderson, a map was sufficient to get my bearings.

 

[Nessmuk]

On a walk from Redfield to Skylight, one cloudy, snowy (IE no visual help at all) day, I had a section through some real thick stuff. I looked at my compass, and started pushing my way in that direction. About 20-30 feet later, when I broke through to a clear section, I looked at my compass, and it pointed in the direction I had just come from. I trusted the compass. Then the same thing happened again. I started to panic... alone... mid-week in Nov, without having left any details of where I was. I decided to continue trusting the compass, and it got me to where I was supposed to be. What was happening, was that the stuff was so thick that it was turning me around as I worked through it.

Reminds me of a similar situation I was in. After pushing through some particularly thick stuff I continued on my previously dialed-in compass heading. I was in a featureless flat area, just following the compass heading based on a measured direction from the map. When I didn't come to terrain I expected some time later, things just didn't add up with the landscape. In my head I retraced my steps back to where I made the map measurement, only to discover the compass heading was off by 50 degrees. I realized that the dial must have gotten turned by the thick brush. I carry a spare compass in case I lose the one around my neck, but never thought about the dial getting turned. I figured out the actual course I had been taking, where i must be, and recalculated a new direction to my original destination. Since then I frequently double check the heading set on the dial to make sure it hasn't been accidentally rotated. It's one of those things you learn and never forget the experience that taught it to you.

Another time a DEC ranger and I were setting out a bump line, establishing a block for a search and rescue crew. We were running string and flagging on a set compass heading. I clearly remember crossing a small stream as the compass took a wild turn for about 30 yards, then returned to normal. The same thing happened with the ranger's compass. It was as if a large chunk of iron was buried under the stream. A short distance but still unsettling that it could happen.