If there’s one particular skill I can thank my time in the military for, it’s land navigation. The GPS system has made getting around easier than it ever has been before and cellphones that can run navigation apps seem to be in everyone’s pockets. However, while GPS is a great tool, the knowledge of how to use a map and compass is in my opinion, the most important part of backcountry navigation.
At the least, I think anyone who goes out into the wild should know how to:
Read a Map
Use a Compass
Understand Declination
Orient a Map
Recognize Terrain Features (Hills, Ridges, Saddles, Draws, Spurs, etc.)
Navigate by Terrain Association
Take a bearing/Plot a bearing
Walk a bearing using pace count
Know how to do resection and intersection
Maybe someone will disagree with me, but I would say that intersection (finding YOUR location by using known points on the map) is probably more useful to the recreational outdoors-person than resection (determining the location of an object/feature by going to known locations and taking bearings on it), which is more of a military skill used to identity target locations.
Uncle Sam taught me to do all of this with a Lensatic Compass and a Protractor (a plastic sheet you use with a pencil to plot locations). The Lensatic Compass is the larger, “folding type” compass and is the featured image on this post. It is certainly more precise (having more degree markings) and is easier to use when shooting bearings to exact features that are far away. It also offers readings is mils.
However, I find the plastic baseplate style compasses are so much faster and simpler to use for general outdoor/hiking/backpacking.
To put it simply, you just line up where you are and where you want to go on the map along the edge of the baseplate, turn the compass dial to align with the N/S lines on the map and the follow the bearing.
Conversely you can take a bearing…on say a hill top…then put the edge of the plate on that hilltop (on the map) and pivot the entire compass on that point till the N/S lines on the compass align with the map lines. You are somewhere along the edge of the plate.
With my intention of becoming a 46er, I’ve been brushing up on my skills and inventorying my gear.
