The Basics of Wilderness Navigation

[sardog1]

No, this isn't an easily-digested snippet that will make you an expert 'whacker. Yes, I used the title to ensnare you.

Before GPS, before GPS-equipped cell phones, and before copies of maps on tiny .mp3 player screens ( ), folks learned to use a map and compass to find their way outdoors. We still need to know how to do that.

Tiny screens with maps of varying usefulness (yes, Darren, I read your screed ), screens that go blank from exhausted batteries, screens that you haven't learned how to use before setting out -- none of these should be relied on to save your you-know-what.

Use some of your tax rebate and your time this spring to learn navigation. This is an excellent time, before greenup and before blackflies. Take a navigation course, participate in orienteering events, buy a compass, print and use some maps, and look at the several excellent VFTT threads on pre-GPS navigation. You'll expand your hiking horizons and you'll acquire a satisfying and useful confidence outdoors.

 

[carole]

You'll expand your hiking horizons and you'll acquire a satisfying and useful confidence outdoors.

And you just might find a treasure.

 

[Solitary]

I agree

And you just might find a treasure.

Okay Carole, that went over my head, but it sounded sweet!

Anyway, I totally agree with sardog1. I do have a GPS. I bought it after I read the book about all those deaths on Mt. Washington (does anyone remember the name of it?) and saw how many people succumbed to hypothermia after that had to stop moving in a whiteout. But honestly, I have found for most bushwhacks below treeline, mine is totally useless. Fortunately I used to do orienteering (as in the sport) and have used those skills many times.

Incidentally, I think a really good skill to work on is not just how to do corrections for magnetic declination and how to take a bearing, etc. but a more basic skill: can you look a map and figure out what it would look like in reality? And can you do the reverse (from reality to what it would look like on a topo)? Many times I don't even need to pull out a compass because I can "read" the terrain.

 

[Mats Roing]

Many times I don't even need to pull out a compass because I can "read" the terrain.

Probably due to your orienteering background. Orienteering is an excellent way to enhance the navigation skills. As long as you have visual bearings you don't really need the compass......but when the whiteout comes in...it's your best friend

 

[Tom Rankin]

I bought it after I read the book about all those deaths on Mt. Washington (does anyone remember the name of it?)

Not Without Peril.

 

[Jay H]

(does anyone remember the name of it?)

"Not Without Peril" by Nicholas Howe? About deaths in the presidential range...good read.

My GPS is so flaky (the click stick doesn't work half the time and this is my second unit) that I've given up even bringing it with me when on whacks. I get more frustrated trying to use the thing than reading the topo and using a bearing so I haven't carried it in a long time.

Jay

 

[Solitary]

Not Without Peril

That's it! Thanks guys!

 

[Solitary]

And speaking of peril

You might enjoy this annotated slideshow on the 10 deadliest mountains.

http://www.mensvogue.com/health/slideshows/2007/12/dangerous_mountains?slide=1#showNav

Sardog1, I hope I'm not hijacking the thread. I think learning nav-skills is extremely important.

 

[Jay H]

Interesting list, like #10 Mt Fuji, I gather they count suicides as deaths? With the amt of regular folks climbing Mt Fuji, I would think that the heart attacks would be on the lists of deaths, but then perhaps counteracted by the generalized healthy Japanese diet. But the suicide thing is new to me.

Jay

 

[Paradox]

Use some of your tax rebate and your time this spring to learn navigation.

Too late, I used the rebate to pay off the credit card that I used to buy the Chinese made GPS.

 

[Neil]

What, me worry? If my GPS buys the farm I can use the 911 function on my SPOT. If that doesn't work I'll push the little button on my PLB.

Somebody (a non-hiker) asked me just the other day if map and compass weren't passé, the old fashioned way.

It's pretty simple actually. If you aren't confident that you can get there and back without a gps, then don't go.

 

[TCD]

I agree with this thread. (I didn't want to post anything along these lines in any of the recent techie threads, because I might cast myself as old fashioned.) Taking a navigation course is very worthwhile. Going orienteering with someone, or joining a club, is great, too. Basically, find something you enjoy that involves navigating, and you'll learn to navigate. First tier is understanding terrain and the map; second tier is using a compass; and third tier, if you need it, is using GPS. On the water, or in the flatlands, GPS is very useful. Here, in our wonderfully wrinkled Northeast, I haven't needed one.

And I always find a treasure; because I get to go someplace I haven't been before. "Exploring" is on the docket for Sunday!

 

[Solitary]

Not by navigation alone

I feel guilty that I almost hijacked the thread with that dangerous mountain thing. So I wanted to make amends with a more relevant comment:

In addition to working on my navigation skills, I also like to think about my route finding skills. It's all well and good to simply take a bearing on the summit and forge ahead. And I read in Smith and Dickerman that Guy Waterman bushwhacked the NH48 from all four compass directions no matter what obstacles lay in the way. Oh... almost forgot... in winter. That blows my mind.

But when I'm bushwhacking I am always seeking the easiest route. I also look for "handrails" like ridgelines and streams that make the task easier.