Map and compass tutorial

[jniehof]

Or you can buy a compass with declination adjustment, set it properly, and fuhgeddaboudit.

Minnesota and northwest Ontario have declination close enough to zero as makes no difference. There's a lifetime of outdoor fun to be had there

 

[Raven]

Hi folks,

For years I've been touting the importance of map and compass skills as a critical life-preserving tool for navigating in the back country. Yet I recognize that many (most) folks don't possess even a basic understanding of how to use these two items together. To overcome the lack of knowledge, a friend and I started working on a short video over the summer that provides a tutorial on how to use these two items effectively. We're now looking for feedback. We're trying to keep the video short (less than 5 minutes) and sweet. The videos available on Youtube are generally long and wandering, but we want to work within most peoples' attention spans. The audio is really inconsistent (we've added content multiple times), and the ah, talent - if you can call it that - is severely lacking, but we'll fix all that once we're happy with content. Comments from seasoned M&C experts as well as those learning for the first time are enthusiastically welcomed. Remember, we want to keep it short, with critical points only. Video is here. THANKS!

Brian - great job on this and thank you from the hiking community. This is something that could have all sorts of positive consequences if people get exposed to it.

In the vein of keeping this a simple, functional, pragmatic tutorial on using a map and compass to save one's arse, I have a few comments. These are editorial only and I think you have done a great job getting this going. You may want to consider:

1. You could adjust the ten essentials list you have written in the video by combining matches and fire starter into one item. Also, you could add water and raingear to the list. Sunglasses and sunscreen, although vital for many, are not part of the ten essentials, though any of us with light sensitive eyes know the value of sunglasses on bright winter days. It's definitely #11 for me.

2. Some annoying students like myself need to know "why" in addition to "how." The geographical north and south poles (true north) are different than the magnetic north and south poles (magnetic north) because compasses (magnets) point toward the mass of molten iron moving around in the earth (combined with a fast spin of the earth). When standing in New England and facing true north, the center of mass of that molten iron is currently about 16 degrees to your left (west). It changes over time, slowly. When you move, the declination changes, but that's not important for a specifically New England based tutorial. It's important to know your compass points to that mass, not true north. It's close enough to work in New England with some dead reckoning and common sense. Maybe throw in some good things to do when compass is no longer useful. In NE, follow a stream bed out in most locations - you'll get there. I'd mention the sun rises in the east and sets west. You can always move in the same direction knowing this and use early morning or later times in the day to get bearings if needed based on the sun. In winter, it moves more southerly.

Useless filler if you need it:

3. Neither Mars nor Venus have magnetic fields of note. Your compasses will be useless there. Cut your teeth here on earth before moving on to the big leagues. Bear in mind, Mount Washington is sometimes colder than Mars.

4. Want to really add some confusion. No? Then stop here. Magnetic north is not north at all. It's actually magnetic south. That's why your compass point seeks it out. Opposites attract in magnet science. If that bothers you, read on....

5. Every few hundred thousand years or so.....any minute now....the magnetic field of the earth switches. If this happens for you mid-hike, you will have a good story to tell in whatever magical land you arrive.

6. No one Eats Soggy Waffles

7. Using a map and compass is supremely easier in your living room than in the field. Here's a video link from a few minutes at LOTC Hut earlier this week. Pull a map out in this scenario and it's gone. Take off a glove to use a touch screen? No way. This was just from sticking my head into it for a few minutes - any longer and balaclava and googles would be out. I could have walked 5 minutes from the hut and been utterly lost in a whiteout with hurricane force winds. You need to know where you are and how to get back to safety well in advance of stepping into that place with at least one contingency plan. Compass around the neck, extra one always in pack, escape route memorized.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1b7PJp7edzgV0o3bVNoOUpUOXc

Great work Brian!

 

[Trail Boss]

Minnesota and northwest Ontario have declination close enough to zero as makes no difference. There's a lifetime of outdoor fun to be had there

In the land of zero declination, France looks like a interesting hiking destination.

... point toward the mass of molten iron moving around in the earth ... it changes over time, slowly.

Wikipedia/USGS's neat animation of the "wandering" northern magnetic pole: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magne...netic_Field_Declination_from_1590_to_1990.gif

 

[Stan]

I've been reluctant to watch this instruction as I learned nautical navigation many years ago and have adapted it, along with my father's WWII anti-aircraft artillary army compass, to the mountains ... and I didn't want to be confused by another approach ... but that didn't stop me so I must say I thought it was an excellent primer.

My difference in approach ends at about minute 4 when you turn to face the direction you want to go and put the red in the bed ... or was it the bed in the red ... my approach, on land and on sea, is to simply head to the desired bearing, 285 in the video. I'm always surprised that the approach in the video is an easier one for many people to understand and notice lots of people turning maps so that it is oriented to north and visualizing from there. If that's what it takes to educate then so be it ... another step in improved outdoor safety and enjoyment. (Automobile GPS can likewise be oriented with either true north at the top of the screen or the direction heading at the top ... you can guess which I've set.)

... remind me again, which end of the needle points north?

 

[Stan]

Very nice! Clear, concise, and annotated with helpful graphics.

BTW, your target audience for this video is tacitly "eastern North Americans". Perhaps it should be overt because a large segment of the earth's population will be led astray if they add the declination adjustment.

My approach to teaching the concept of the relationship between the geographic pole and the magnetic pole was to insert a 12d common nail in the very top of a large naval orange ... maintaining a bit of my nautical background I guess ... and a 6d finish nail in "northern Canada". "The big nail", by the way, was how the north geographic pole was conceptualized between Adm. Perry and the indigenous peoples who populated the arctic regions. With the admonition that a compass will point to the finish nail, it is easy to visualize the difference between true and magnetic north from various points on the orange.

After that, we ate the orange.

 

[DayTrip]

Very nice! Clear, concise, and annotated with helpful graphics.

BTW, your target audience for this video is tacitly "eastern North Americans". Perhaps it should be overt because a large segment of the earth's population will be led astray if they add the declination adjustment.

Here's how I present the Declination problem (when do you add, when do you subtract?) It sounds more complicated than it really is.

If going from map (true north reference) measurement to compass (magnetic north reference) measurement
1. Given an azimuth relative to True North (as would be measured by a protractor directly from the map)
2. Look at the declination diagram for your region (draw one if it is not apparent)
3. Imagine an object of interest and its azimuth in the first quadrant (makes no difference where the object actually is relative to you)
4. Ask yourself:From the diagram, is the magnetic azimuth angle to the object greater or smaller than the true azimuth angle to the object?
5. If the mag azimuth angle is greater, then you will add the declination to the given True N azimuth angle (if smaller then subtract)- this is what you set your compass to, then turn your body to "box the needle" to walk to the field destination.

If going from compass azimuth(magnetic north reference) measurement to map azimuth (true north reference) measurement
1. Given the magnetic azimuth of an observed object relative to Magnetic North (as would be measured in the field directly with a magnetic compass)
2. Look at the declination diagram for your region (draw one if it is not apparent)
3. Imagine an object of interest and its azimuth in the first quadrant (makes no difference where the object actually is relative to you)
4. Ask yourself: From the diagram, is the true azimuth angle to the object greater or smaller than the magnetic azimuth angle to the object?
5. If the true azimuth angle is smaller, then you will subtract the declination from the magnetic azimuth angle (if larger then add) - turn the bezel of your compass to this angle to use it as a true north protractor on the map.

(In most cases the Grid north lines pre-drawn on topo maps are usually within 2 degrees of TN, practically accurate enough for most to use as true TN reference - or you can manually mathematically adjust for Grid Dec in a similar manner)

Simplified: From the dec diagram: "Which angle is larger?" add or subtract appropriately.


Alternatively, you can draw magnetic north lines directly on the map as reference lines and never have to worry about adding or subtracting declination again.

Yikes. I have a popsicle head ache just skimming through this. I struggled with this concept when I first starting learning about map and compass. Once you get it, it is actually not that complicated. But the explanations for how it works, at least the numerous ones I have come across, make the topic thoroughly confusing. Visual aids, like the one by TrailBoss, make this a far easier concept to understand than written ones IMO. There is too much gobble-dee-**** in most of these explanations. Less is more. The orange idea mentioned earlier is not bad either.

 

[DayTrip]

Or you can buy a compass with declination adjustment, set it properly, and fuhgeddaboudit.

^^^ This. ^^^

Just remember to reset it appropriately when you travel to an area with a different declination.

Absolutely.......that is, once you find a comprehendable explanation of how to do this on one's compass.

 

[Nessmuk]

The orange and nail idea is fine for novices, but lets look at how it really is, geographically speaking. The hows and whys for the engineering science oriented mind. See on the graphic where the north magnetic pole is in relation to the geographic pole of the earth.

So is it the north pole or south pole as Raven might suggest. It is just terminology. if we define the north magnetic pole of the earth as "north", then what your compass has is a north seeking pole in the arrow of the needle. With Brian's compass its usually taught as "red in the shed" or "Fred in the shed", or "box the needle". By the way the center of mass of that molten iron in the earth is at the center of the earth. it is just that the magnetic flux field lines caused from motions within that liquid iron mass exit and enter the earth at (nearly) opposite sides of the planet, which happens to be some distance from the geographic axis of rotation, flying by gyro stabilized compass (the old reliable N-1), with its direction occasionally verified by use of celestial sextant. When in the far north, flying over the pole, you never know where "north" is, so we gave it an arbitrary grid direction.

Turning the map so that it is oriented to match the terrain around you is a very useful technique for the navigation method called terrain association. Indeed, if done correctly, then geographic (true) north will be at the top of the map. From there you can identify distant terrain features by simply pointing to them in the field and they will be in the same direction on the map relative to you location on the map.

I spent 9 years as an aircraft navigator in the Air Force. I don't find that air navigation and land navigation are that much different. There are a few different terms to deal with, such as deviation and variation, but the mindset and concepts of navigation are all the same. On my chart table in the aircraft, the map only fits one way, with north always up. So that is how I carry and use my topo maps today, with north up. Same with the GPS map in my car, north is always up. The mental gymnastics are not difficult once you get accustomed to doing it.

The military style ground pounder lensatic compass operates a little differently than the modern orienteering style compass that most hikers use today. Once you figure out how to translate from one to the other, you get the same information from both.

 

[Nessmuk]

Yikes. I have a popsicle head ache just skimming through this. I struggled with this concept when I first starting learning about map and compass. Once you get it, it is actually not that complicated. But the explanations for how it works, at least the numerous ones I have come across, make the topic thoroughly confusing. Visual aids, like the one by TrailBoss, make this a far easier concept to understand than written ones IMO. There is too much gobble-dee-**** in most of these explanations. Less is more. The orange idea mentioned earlier is not bad either.

So Here is less:
You only have to know this: On the map you measure in True, but the compass in your hand measures in mag. Just look at the declination diagram. Which angle is larger to your target, from mag N or from true N? When converting from one to the other, keep that in mind. That knowledge will tell you whether to add or subtract. It is as simple as that.

 

[Nessmuk]

Absolutely.......that is, once you find a comprehendable explanation of how to do this on one's compass.

It's all about the declination diagram. You want to turn the screw adjustment on the compass so that the compass resembles the declination diagram. If you have done it correctly, the orienteering arrow on the bottom of the dial will point in the same direction as magnetic north on the diagram (to the left of the zero mark here in the eastern U.S.)

Learn the declination diagram and that knowlege will answer all questions about map and compass.

 

[hikerbrian]

When I showed this video to a friend a few weeks ago, the first question he had was related to declination. He wanted a slightly fuller explanation than "Do it this way because I said so." So yeah, I will add a little bit of content. Of course, I'm not trying to speak to the person who is super curious and just can't wait to dig into the specifics. There are quite a few sources online for detailed information. I'm going for the casual hiker who knows s/he's supposed to bring a compass and is dilligent enough to do so, but isn't quite sure what it's for. Our mantra throughout production has been, "How can we explain that concept in 1-2 sentences?" So that is what I am going for regarding declination. It will be something like, "The true north pole (that is, what your map points to) is different from the magnetic north pole (what your compass points to). To account for this difference when navigating by compass, we need to add a fudge factor to our bearing, and the fudge factor changes depending on where you are in the world. In the Appalachian Mountains, land of the AMC, we Add when going from Map to Compass. West of the Mississippi and elsewhere in the world, the rules are different, and the reasons why can be found elsewhere on the internets." Hopefully I can have a simple graphic of the earth, the locations of true and magnetic north, and lines of magnetic flux or whatever it's called.

Many people I know and respect as navigators adjust their compasses to account for declination in advance, in order to avoid having to add or subtract or whatever. I've found this process to be confusing, and for me personally, I tend to hike in a lot of different locations, ME, MA, NH, MT, WA state, CA, AK. And I just find it easier to remember to Add when going from Map to Compass in AMC land. And then the proper operation is obvious for everywhere else or for going compass to map.

I'd like to add a section on 'checking your work.' This amounts to comparing the bearing you're using on your compass to what you should expect based on what direction you want to go on the map. For example, going from Mt. Lafayette to Greenleaf hut is almost due west, which is 270 degrees (285 if you've included declination). If, after taking your bearing by putting your compass to map, your compass is very far off from 285 degrees, you've done something wrong. The most common mistake I see is for folks to align their compass dials anti-parallel to the N/S lines on the map, so they end up being 180 degrees off. So instead of going due west they go due east. This very bad, and is easily avoided by checking your work.

In a similar vein, one can simply estimate what direction they want to go in (say, northeast) by looking at their map. Then turn the compass to the appropriate value for northeast (45 degrees), add declination, and put red in the shed. And then they'll be walking northeast. It's a very quick and dirty way to know precisely what direction is what. "Hey, we're supposed to be going south, but south is THAT way. Maybe we're going in the wrong direction?" Or, "Geez, visibility really went to crap in a hurry, I don't know where the trail is. But I know the highway is straight west, so let's start walking on a bearing of 285 degrees, and we'll get there eventually." I feel like these simple steps would prevent a few rescues every year.

Raven, thanks also for your detailed pointers, I'll be adjusting the list of 10 essentials and giving my editor/producer (Eliza) a firm tongue-lashing. Who thinks sunblock is a 10 essential?! And yes, this needs to be pretty well second nature before you pull it out on Monroe with 50 mph winds and zero visibility. I wonder if I could put some 'homework' at the end to reinforce the concepts?

All, again, thanks for the enthusiastic feedback. SUPER useful.

 

[sierra]

When I showed this video to a friend a few weeks ago, the first question he had was related to declination. He wanted a slightly fuller explanation than "Do it this way because I said so." So yeah, I will add a little bit of content. Of course, I'm not trying to speak to the person who is super curious and just can't wait to dig into the specifics. There are quite a few sources online for detailed information. I'm going for the casual hiker who knows s/he's supposed to bring a compass and is dilligent enough to do so, but isn't quite sure what it's for. Our mantra throughout production has been, "How can we explain that concept in 1-2 sentences?" So that is what I am going for regarding declination. It will be something like, "The true north pole (that is, what your map points to) is different from the magnetic north pole (what your compass points to). To account for this difference when navigating by compass, we need to add a fudge factor to our bearing, and the fudge factor changes depending on where you are in the world. In the Appalachian Mountains, land of the AMC, we Add when going from Map to Compass. West of the Mississippi and elsewhere in the world, the rules are different, and the reasons why can be found elsewhere on the internets." Hopefully I can have a simple graphic of the earth, the locations of true and magnetic north, and lines of magnetic flux or whatever it's called.

Many people I know and respect as navigators adjust their compasses to account for declination in advance, in order to avoid having to add or subtract or whatever. I've found this process to be confusing, and for me personally, I tend to hike in a lot of different locations, ME, MA, NH, MT, WA state, CA, AK. And I just find it easier to remember to Add when going from Map to Compass in AMC land. And then the proper operation is obvious for everywhere else or for going compass to map.

I'd like to add a section on 'checking your work.' This amounts to comparing the bearing you're using on your compass to what you should expect based on what direction you want to go on the map. For example, going from Mt. Lafayette to Greenleaf hut is almost due west, which is 270 degrees (285 if you've included declination). If, after taking your bearing by putting your compass to map, your compass is very far off from 285 degrees, you've done something wrong. The most common mistake I see is for folks to align their compass dials anti-parallel to the N/S lines on the map, so they end up being 180 degrees off. So instead of going due west they go due east. This very bad, and is easily avoided by checking your work.

In a similar vein, one can simply estimate what direction they want to go in (say, northeast) by looking at their map. Then turn the compass to the appropriate value for northeast (45 degrees), add declination, and put red in the shed. And then they'll be walking northeast. It's a very quick and dirty way to know precisely what direction is what. "Hey, we're supposed to be going south, but south is THAT way. Maybe we're going in the wrong direction?" Or, "Geez, visibility really went to crap in a hurry, I don't know where the trail is. But I know the highway is straight west, so let's start walking on a bearing of 285 degrees, and we'll get there eventually." I feel like these simple steps would prevent a few rescues every year.

Raven, thanks also for your detailed pointers, I'll be adjusting the list of 10 essentials and giving my editor/producer (Eliza) a firm tongue-lashing. Who thinks sunblock is a 10 essential?! And yes, this needs to be pretty well second nature before you pull it out on Monroe with 50 mph winds and zero visibility. I wonder if I could put some 'homework' at the end to reinforce the concepts?

All, again, thanks for the enthusiastic feedback. SUPER useful.

Excellent write up. I fall into the, just point in the direction I need to go to save myself crowd. I rarely get lost and my sense of direction is fantastic. Once out west in CO, I lost a ''Use" trail. I was pretty far in by myself. I simply laid down my map set to North, found a stream I knew crossed the trail on the map. It was due west, a simple track west had me on the stream in about 90 minutes, one hour later following the stream, I found the trail. Not pretty, but I ate at my truck that night.

 

[DayTrip]

When I showed this video to a friend a few weeks ago, the first question he had was related to declination. He wanted a slightly fuller explanation than "Do it this way because I said so." So yeah, I will add a little bit of content. Of course, I'm not trying to speak to the person who is super curious and just can't wait to dig into the specifics. There are quite a few sources online for detailed information. I'm going for the casual hiker who knows s/he's supposed to bring a compass and is dilligent enough to do so, but isn't quite sure what it's for. Our mantra throughout production has been, "How can we explain that concept in 1-2 sentences?" So that is what I am going for regarding declination.

Totally agree with that. This concept can be understood enough for practical use to navigate without getting into all kinds of azimuth this, and eastern conus that. Honestly, I don't even know what the actual definitions for all those terms are but I can use a map and compass to find my way around just fine, which I assume is what your goal is here. For those who desire more "why" there are plenty of places and people to get it from. Like many topics discussed on this forum there are extremely knowledgeable people here who can take it to a pretty high level. But that isn't necessary for the majority of hikers.

 

[DayTrip]

The orange and nail idea is fine for novices,

Exactly. Which is the target audience he is aiming at with his video.

 

[sardog1]

The bulk of this thread confirms what I wanted to shout at 3 minutes into the video:

FUHGEDDABOUD TEACHING THE INTRICACIES OF DECLINATION!

Instead, teach your newbie audience to do what is done on competitive orienteering maps, and by people with other things to do than remember the various mnemonics that have been handed down through the ages, or the location of isogonic lines in North America or colorful diagrams:

DRAW PARALLEL LINES ON THE MAP AT HOME POINTING TO MAGNETIC NORTH.

Then the newbie only has to be taught to line up the parallel lines in the dial with the parallel lines on the map, while keeping the orienting arrow pointing toward the upper end of one of these lines.

This gets the job done, it minimizes mistakes, and it can be used all over the world.

[/rant]

Oh, and BTW: VFTT Pathfinders Group dedicated to this purpose

 

[Nessmuk]

DRAW PARALLEL LINES ON THE MAP AT HOME POINTING TO MAGNETIC NORTH.

Then the newbie only has to be taught to line up the parallel lines in the dial with the parallel lines on the map, while keeping the orienting arrow pointing toward the upper end of one of these lines.

This gets the job done, it minimizes mistakes, and it can be used all over the world.

Learn what the declination diagram tells you and you don't need any silly easily misunderstood mnemonics.
I learned to draw mag north lines on my maps a long time ago, and most of my maps are treated that way. In most of my classes that is the way I first teach new students.

I don't know who this guy is, but he has a series of fairly good videos on the topic. Here is the one on drawing MN lines.
http://www.survivalresources.com/Articles/Magnetic_Declination.html

But I would never do it by manually extending the short MN line from the Dec diagram all the way across the map as he does. Use a cheap grade-school type of real protractor instead, for greater accuracy (or second best is to use your compass, which is indeed really just a protractor).

Added benefit of taking the time to draw lines on the map at home - it gives you a chance to study the map and learn the terrain you will be in.

 

[hikerbrian]

The bulk of this thread confirms what I wanted to shout at 3 minutes into the video:

FUHGEDDABOUD TEACHING THE INTRICACIES OF DECLINATION!

Instead, teach your newbie audience to do what is done on competitive orienteering maps, and by people with other things to do than remember the various mnemonics that have been handed down through the ages, or the location of isogonic lines in North America or colorful diagrams:

DRAW PARALLEL LINES ON THE MAP AT HOME POINTING TO MAGNETIC NORTH.

Then the newbie only has to be taught to line up the parallel lines in the dial with the parallel lines on the map, while keeping the orienting arrow pointing toward the upper end of one of these lines.

This gets the job done, it minimizes mistakes, and it can be used all over the world.

[/rant]

Oh, and BTW: VFTT Pathfinders Group dedicated to this purpose

sardog1, thanks for the thoughts! Your key point (fuhgeddaboud teaching the intricacies of declination) is well-taken and I agree entirely. The problem is, declination MUST be considered and accounted for. That being the case, the question remains, what is the easiest, simplest, fastest way to get the key point(s) accross to the target audience. Note: my target audience is something like the Facebook group NH4000 footers club, and other groups with similar ranges of experience.

I suspect:
--My target audience is not going to review a long website with links to 10's or 100's of pieces of additional info
--My target audence doesn't care much about the 'why'
--My target audience has a short attention span

The scenarios I'm looking to prevent are: 1) Walking down the wrong trail in the wrong direction for an extended period of time; and 2) Getting slightly off trail and having no idea whatsoever how to get back to safety

I see multiple examples of these scenarios every year, then I post on this forum how easy it would be to avoid said scenarios through simple map and compass techniques. My express purpose here is to get the critical information to the lazy consumer in a format they can and will use.

sardog1, the target audience is certainly NOT your average VFTT member. The Pathfinders group consequently serves almost none of my target audience (no one is going to set up a profile on VFFT to join the Pathfinders unless HIGHLY motivated). I also view it as exceedingly unlikely any of my target audience is going to draw magnetic north lines on their maps prior to embarking on their trips. This process is exceptionally tiresome, especially if you hike in a lot of different places with different maps and rarely require use of a compass. Still, that concept MAY be distillable to a sentence or two on how to adjust for declination. Is it less confusing the AMC = Add for Map-to-Compass? Not sure. I'll have to see what I come up with for that sentence or two.

If I've done a good job with this video (and it's NOT there yet), then a few people who watch it will be motivated to learn a little more and practice and get REALLY good at navigation. And a few others will get the critical points needed to extract themselves from an otherwise bad scenario and save themselves and their would-be rescuers a lot of drama (or worse). That's what I'm going for.

 

[Nessmuk]

The scenarios I'm looking to prevent are: 1) Walking down the wrong trail in the wrong direction for an extended period of time; and 2) Getting slightly off trail and having no idea whatsoever how to get back to safety.

1) One must be aware enough to question that which may seem to be wrong. If it doesn't feel right, it probably is not. Does the trail I am on (since the last junction) seem to be going the right way? Do I even know the approximate compass direction I want to travel? Am I headed northeast when I should be going northwest (or worse)? Or is this no more than a temporary curve in the trail? Am I supposed to be following a stream? Am I supposed to be climbing and crossing over a ridge? If not, then examine what you have last done in the past tens of minutes to get where you are now. Compare to the map, develop a sense of terrain observation.

2) There are more than a few fairly famous incidents like this in the SAR archives (just walking around a large blowdown tree obscuring the trail, or stepping off trail to take a pee may be enough to cause this kind of trouble). Did I note where the sun was when I first started walking on and off trail? How about the wind? Uphill or downhill? Am I aware of the compass direction I am supposed to be traveling, and which way did i turn off the trail? Left or right from a cardinal direction? (am I even carrying the compass on my body at all times, or is it buried in my pack?)

Much of what you are trying to do comes with experience, sometimes very hard experience and lessons learned. Encourage people to Just get out there and do it, practice it, and develop the experience. Go out with someone with a little more experience who can help to teach in the field if possible. Open the doors to those who might develop a greater interest in developing a skill, please don't put down easy to use techniques that have worked for decades, whether or not the person using it knows the fine details of why it works just yet. There are many different methods of doing the same thing. Some may spark a greater interest than you expect.

 

[Nessmuk]

I rarely get lost and my sense of direction is fantastic.

Humans do not appear to have an innate sense of direction like many species of animals do. But subtle clues that you pick up along the way can help, Wind, sun, general slope of terrain and other factors can be learned (consciously or not) and applied practically naturally without even thinking much about it. You might be interested in watching this Youtube video. I show it to open my Land Nav training courses:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYcvLw_jkkk

 

[hikerbrian]

Nessmuk, once again, very useful pointers. Your 1) and 2) above are items I go to great pains to illustrate when I take a group out for a weekend-long overview of map and compass navigation. "Don't be a boot watcher. Take careful note of your surroundings and compare what you see to what is on your map. Take note of what should be coming up next. Have expectations." Etc, etc. Your map and compass are only 2 tools in the bucket of navigation aids.

There most certainly ARE many ways to teach map and compass navigation. I don't mean to demean any other methods. I think I mentioned somewhere in here that people I respect as navigators, people who bushwhack to remote locations on a weekly basis, some of them do things differenly than I do. I happen to think my method is the simplest, and that's why I'm teaching it this way. Of all the methods I've read about and seen presented, I think this one is the simplest, and it gives folks a critical foundation on which to build. There's room for MANY different map and compass tutorials. As far as I can tell, the tutorials on map and compass navigation available on the internets are not getting through to *my target audience* for whatever reason. I think the reason it isn't getting through is people see map and compass navigation as too complex to understand, and not really that useful. I'm trying to change that mindset. I happen to think the critical pieces, the ones that are going to save your a$$ when it matters, are quite simple. I'm really only looking to give people the tools to save their own rear ends.