Navigation is a varied and important topic! In this modern day many of us count on high technology to tell us how to get from point A to point B -Z. When everything is co-operating this is effective and saves time.
BUT it is dangerous to blindly depend on GPS for example without doing a bit of old fashioned research along with it. It pays to know how to read an ‘old fashion’ printed map too. As an example a young lady [late teens- early 20s] was traveling alone, cross country one winter along I-80. She was following her GPS and for some reason it told her to turn off the interstate onto a side road where she got stuck. When she did not show up at her next check in point on time, a missing person BOLO [Be on look out] was issued for her along her planned route of travel. An observant highway patrol person noticed her ‘city car’ tracks in the snow at the off ramp and followed them to her car stuck in a snow drift out of cell phone range and rescued her safely.
Lessons learned – Good that she had discussed her trip with family and friends and had stayed in touch with them during the trip so they at least knew where to start the search. Being frugal she had snacks and drinks with her. NOT so good-She had not looked at a map of her trip prior so she did not realize that it was ODD at best to have taken that turn and she did not have a real map with her. Basically she blindly trusted the tech stuff to both navigate and communicate so WHEN it failed her she was in real trouble.
OK so where are we headed with this story?
For starters – ORIENTEERING is a game which teaches you both how to use a map and a compass to navigate in unfamiliar territory in completion with others or just your self and the clock. You can do solo OR team [2 or more people per team] completions This can take place in a large field or cross-country depending on what is available and how many people will be involved. You typically have a starting point from which you are given a compass bearing and distance to the next benchmark – from there you are given another set of instructions. Typically the bench marks are numbered stakes in the ground.
Taking a bearing all mechanical compasses have a magnetic ‘arrow’ which points NORTH and is normally red in color. Unless there is metal or another magnet interfering it will always point NORTH. [there IS a difference between TRUE [geographical] North and magnetic north] line up the direction of travel arrow with the number of degrees for your heading – there are 360 degrees to a circle. North is 0, East is 90, South is 180 and West is 270 degrees. On most compasses there is a bezel which will move – turn this until the it lines up with the RED of the needle for north. Now as long as you keep the arrow lined up that way you will be traveling in the correct direction.
MAPS there are basically 2 main types of maps for this discussion ROAD maps which the lady in the story above should have used and TOPOGRAPHICAL Maps which are very useful in other ways and do show roads on them as well. They show terrain features such as gullies, big boulders, houses, forests / fields and such.
Orienting a map with the compass. Move the bezel until N is lined up with 0 or 360 degrees [same thing] and the direction of travel. Put the compass on the map aliened with the north south line on the map. Rotate the map/compass together until they are lined up to the north. Your map is now oriented to the lay of the land.
Judging distance on a map is easy once you know the scale of the map. For example if the map is 1:62,500 that means that one inch on the map equals about one mile. There are different scales for maps.
Many people have trouble telling distances. You can make it easier and more accurate with a simple tool and a tape measure. [cross ref Ranger Pacing Beads which help you judge distance traveled.] measure out 100 meters on a straight level area like a side walk. Start out on your right foot and count how many PACES or steps [count the times your right foot hits the ground each time as one pace] it takes to cover the 100 meters. Do this several times and take the average number of paces it takes to cover that distance. Repeat the process going up and down a slope. Write all this down and you will end up knowing the distance you travel in each condition. It will take more steps going up hill to cover 100 meters than on level ground. Once you have all this figured out see how many paces to cover the 100 meters running. While you are doing all this it is important to TIME yourself so that you will know about how ling it will take to cover a given distance.
You are now ready to plan a trip or adventure.
The best way to get good at this is to join an orienteering club or group and PRACTICE often.
CROSS REF —
http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/comms-2/ parts 1 and 3 are good too
http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/re-hydration-drink/
What other skills do you want to discuss?