i took a compass/map navigation course this weekend.
 

my wife signed me up. i was kinda unwilling,but damn glad i finally did it.

it was a basic class, so just learning what all the marks and arrows on my compass were for was huge. i know bearing and stuff from surveying, but correlating that knowledge to the humble compass was damn fun. i'm heading for 10 days into the AZ desert in a week. i'll take a map of the area, my GPS and my new and improved compass..(i had to buy one with a magnifying glass :() i should get some safe practice time.

there is this one hike we always do. we go in on horseback to this far away lake. we fish it, and hike out to fish other places. leaving that lake is damn nerve-racking. we try to time it so we are the first to get there and out. that part of the trail is all granite, meaning there is no trail!! one friend is a homing pigeon. he can pick his way and we are all at his mercy..if he doesnt go..trip is cancelled.

you all know how to navigate in the wilderness?

I would really like to do that with my kids. I have a rudimentary knowledge but not enough to be fully comfortable. Like most I have gotten used to GPS.

Where did you take it?

In the old days, I rode dirt bike and snowmobile lost until I found a landmark I recognized. That is a great way to learn your way around.

Started using GPS in about 2001 or 2002......These and smart phones are great tools, but don't bet your life on them. Batteries go dead. Can be a big canyon and ravine keeping you from getting back to civilization, etc.......They are great tools, but don't bet your life on them....

I also use a Delorne Inreach (similar to a SPOT)......Tracks my movement and wife can know where I am by checking her phone/computer. I can set off an alarm to notify local LE if I'm hurt, lost, broke down or whatever.....

If buying a GPS, be educated and know that the cheap $99 ones lack many features you will want in the backcountry.

Years ago when I spent a lot of time in the Sierras before devices like the GPS were available, I used 7 1/2 & 15 minute quad topo maps. I got to where I could look at those things in 3-D early on. I could navigate long distances cross country through pretty heavy timber at the lower altitudes using a map to follow the terrain. I amazed myself sometimes although I've always had an innate sense of direction & distance. It was fun seeing how close I could hit a destination point.

Take a mule. Those SOBs can always find their way home. Smart animals.

Did a bunch of backpacking in my youth (during those early college days) with compass and topo maps up in the Sierras. We had no idea what the heck we were doing, but somehow, we always managed to find our way. Crazy that we are not still lost out there. I remember hiking along this broken granite ridge with a shear cliff on one side behind Mammoth (trying to get to Duck Lake) at 1am with those old fashion REI candle lanterns. Oh yeah, we were cool alright. More like really stupid because we can only see three feet in front of us. We talked about not bringing a flashlight just because we want to be one with nature.

Now that I know what can happen, I am scare just thinking about it. We could have froze or starved to death.

Yes, I'm good with map and compass. Started with Boy Scouts, then some orienteering courses. The mountaineering club I often climb with requires everyone doing more than crag climbing to take a 2 day intensive map and compass course and recertify every 3 years. Very useful skill to have.

GPS units can go bad, satellite signals can be blocked, etc. If you have map & compass, you can navigate well...IF you know what you're doing.

A good basic yet easy to understand book on the topic is:

https://www.amazon.com/Expert-Map-Compass-Bjorn-Kjellstrom/dp/0470407654

Another good book is US Army field manual #21-26. "Map reading and land navigation".

Sat-nav kinda ruined it for my backpacking buddy & I...before sat-nav, only those who could use map & compass wandered off the trails. I'm sure many of our upper santiam canyon "secret spots" of the early 1970's are being overrun by now.

Cool! And a nice skill to learn.

I really should start to practice bushcraft instead of gathering doodats and knives...:)

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

So Vash - your wife signed you up for that class? I guess that's the opposite of her telling you to get lost!

We make photographic aerial maps for a living. It always amazes me to see a intelligent individual take a map we just made for him and rotate it 45 degrees or even 180 degrees and study the map. I guess my brain is used to north is always up on a map.

I guess what astonishes me the most is how tough the original surveyors were that came through with a pole and 33 foot chain and mapped the entire state. They set up the section township and range and the corrections are certainly in there, but they did one hell of a job. No modern equipment, no communications with headquarters, no electricity, hundreds of miles from civilization, find your own food and water, outlaws willing to kill and rob you, Indians happy to kill you for tresspassing, no backup. Those guys were tough.

Good job Vash taking that course. Your wife is some smart woman. Several years ago I bought a Garmin Oregon 450t gps. It worked fine until you get in the tall trees and then the signal is blocked. It took me longer than was necessary on one hike.

I had a Garmin 95 before that and had no trouble with receiving a signal in the bush. This thread reminds me to phone Garmin and see if they have a solution for the Oregon gps.
Happy trails!

Orienteering. Everyone in my Boy Scout troop had to have Orienteering merit badge to go on the serious hikes, which might be bushwhacking (no trail) hikes.

In college, one PE class was orienteering. I took it as a goof. It was fun to get off campus and hike in the low brush.

Navigation wtih a topo map? No problem, learned how in the scouts (the theory of it) and at several summer camps. Why only the theory in the scouts? Grew up here in N Florida... no mountains, etc. so topo maps are fairly useless here. Nothing tall far away to get a shot on, etc.

Here ya go. And yes, I'm a Professional Land Surveyor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7jSkZHw65A

i took it with REI. it was all we had. the instructor was damn good.

the hardest thing for me was to survey my surroundings and find myself on a map..my distance perception was wacked..

it helped if i knew the local peaks around me.

Thanks for the info. I saw that class from rei recently and wondered if it was any good. I'm sure it depends on the instructor but it sounds like its worthwhile. Something I've always been interested in.

Old map junkie here. I 'm not a happy camper if I don't know where I am.
Two years ago we went to France with friends. He brought his GPS. I brought my new Michelin atlas of France.
Before leaving home I knew two ways to get to our holiday cottage an hour east of Bordeaux. His GPS went Tango Uniform within fifteen minutes. We had a ball hunting out the back roads.
I have seen mistakes on maps but so far I haven't got lost with one.
Have fun working with your new skill.
Best
Les