The first law of wilderness travel is to pay attention. Take frequent note of significant landmarks and your position in relation to them. Pick features that are visible from the distance, that are big enough and distinctive enough to recognize from all directions. A split tree with a big rock beside it will look like thousands of others when you are unsure of where you are, especially if you are approaching it from a different angle. Which way is the river flowing? Have you been following it upstream or down? Are you on the cooler, damper (usually the northern) side of a slope or on the warmer drier (usually southern) side? Glance back over your shoulder every now and then to make mental snapshots of the way you came. Should you become confused and have to turn around, at least something will look familiar.
Anticipate the route ahead as well. A common phenomenon in the mountains is a perfectly distinct path through forested country that vanishes altogether at the edge of a meadow. Stop and scan the far side. Are there gaps in the trees beyond? Where would the most likely spot be for the trail to continue? Once you have wandered absentmindedly into the center of a field, you are likely to lose track of the way you came as well as the way you intended to go. Keep an eye out for markers such as downed trees or logs in which a gap has been sawed, especially if there is a series of them.
Blazes are marks made on trees by cutting away the outer bark, usually in simple geometric shapes at approximately eye level. They indicate a trail's location when snow or plant debris covers the forest floor. The scar usually remains or the life of the tree, but occasionally the surrounding bark begins to obscure its outline. If you are uncertain whether you are seeing a blaze or a natural mark, check the opposite side of the tree. Trees are almost always blazed on both sides so they will be visible from either direction. While blazing does not usually injure a tree fatally, it does invite disease and infection, so recently constructed trails are more likely to be marked with small metal plates, usually diamond-shaped, instead of blazes.
If, however, you have lost, broken, or eft your watch at home, you can still get a rough estimate of when the sun will set by extending one arm out in front of you, full length, and bending your wrist so your palm is at right angle to your arm, facing you. Keeping the fingers stiff and straight and together, move your hand until the edge appears to rest on the horizon. Each finger, on average, covers about 15 minutes of time, each full hand, not including your thumb, covers one hour. The number of hand widths between the sun's current position and the horizon is the number of hours remaining until sunset.
It is always good survival practice to note the time whenever you set out on a journey. Learn how long it takes you to cover a mile over different kinds of terrain. The average hiker walks 2.5 to 3 miles per hour on trail over relatively level ground; the average backpacker covers about 2 miles per hour. For every 1,000 feet you gain in elevation, you will move about 1 mile per hour sower. Cross-country (off-trail) travel is considerably more time-consuming since it requires constantly picking your way around or over obstacles or pausing to check map and compass bearings.
The USGS maps' 7.5-minute format corresponds to the way scientists divide the earth into segments for reference. The earth is divided into two sets of 360 degrees; one set of degrees runs north to south, from pole to pole; the other runs east to west all around the earth's circumference. Each degree is further divided into 60 minutes, each minute into 60 seconds. Thus, these USGS maps cover 7.5 square minutes of the surface of the earth.
The usual scale of USGS maps is 1:24,000; that is, 1 inch on the map equals 24,000 inches, or 2,000 feet, on the ground. Each map covers between 50 and 70 square miles.
The maps are color coded. Green is for vegetation, blue for water-related features, black for human-created structures such as roads and buildings, and brown for topographic features. Updated maps show changes in purple. You can see at a glance where water flows all year and where it flows only in the rainy season, where there are snowfields, glaciers, marshes, or swamps. Patterns of green represent forests, scrub, orchards, and vineyards. Upon request, the USGS will send you a sheet of topographic map symbols with a key that shows what each symbol means.
How are topographic maps different? - The brown contour lines distinguish "topo" maps from other types. When these contour lines are read properly, they provide very specific information about terrain.
At the bottom of most topo maps, below the scale, in the phrase "Contour Interval 40 Feet" (or 20 feet, or 50 feet). This tells you that the space between each of the brown lines represents 40 feet in elevation. Each line designates terrain that is 40 feet higher or lower than terrain designated by its neighboring line. Every fifth line is a little darker than the others, and the elevation is printed somewhere along it. Contour lines show you at a glance the size and shape of every bump and gully on the land (as long as it is bigger than 40 feet). If the lines are widely spaced, the terrain slopes only gradually; if they are crowded closely together, the land is steeper.
To determine whether you are going uphill or downhill look for the elevation figures on the darker index lines. Also, since the contour lines from V shapes whenever a stream crosses them, the apex of the V always points upstream.
With practice, you can translate topographic map symbols into a rich and detailed view of the terrain. Develop the habit of carrying your map with you - in your hand, not your pocket - and stop to glance frequently from map to terrain and back again. Once the translation becomes automatic, you will always know where you are.
The best kind of compass to learn to use is the orienteering type, but even the simplest is adequate. All you need is one that is mounted on a rectangular baseplate with a moveable ring marked off in increments of usually two to five degrees. Inside the ring, the centered magnetic arrow always points north. On the baseplate outside the ring is an arrow called the "direction-of-travel arrow". On more elaborate compasses there may be some kind of sighting device instead of a simple arrow but the purpose is the same.
To take a bearing, that is, to find the degrees of direction from where you are the where you are going, aim the direction-of-travel arrow at some feature of the landscape, hold the compass steady and level with one hand, and with the other, rotate the dial so that the 0-degree (or 360-degree) mark is lined up exactly with the floating north-pointing arrow. The read the number on the dial that matches up with the direction-of-travel arrow. That is your bearing. You can draw that bearing on your map, using your compass as a protractor, to indicate, for example, where on the road you left your car when you went off to climb a peak or in which direction to set out when your final destination is hidden behind a ridge. You can also find out where you are by taking two or three bearings on known features on the land and drawing lines between them on your map. You will be wherever the lines intersect. There are almost limitless applications that will become obvious to you as soon as you have learned even a little about navigation.
There are all kinds of mathematical formulas you can use to add or subtract the proper number of degrees from every bearing you take, but there is a much simpler method. In the lower left-hand corer of USGS topographic maps is a drawing of an angle consisting of a side that points to geographic or true north and a side labeled "MN" that points to magnetic north. The number of degrees in the angle is printed between sides. If you have the kind of compass that allows adjustments, you can adjust it to read 15 degrees (if the true north line is west of you) or 345 degrees (if true north is east of you), for instance, instead of 0 degrees so the readings will agree with your map.
Using another method, you can line up a straight-edge along the magnetic north side of the angle printed on the bottom of the map and continue that line all the way to the top of the map with a pencil. Just use that line instead of the margins of the map (which represent true north and south) as your reference point. Your map and compass will agree, and you can forget about declination.
Modern locater devices such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) give coordinates of precisely where you are on your map. Knowing those coordinates is useless, though, unless you have a map and know how to read it. If you are injured or stranded, GPS coordinates will not help you if you cannot communicate with rescuers. They use a lot of batteries, too.
Even if this all sounds complicated, remember that it is only intended to give you an idea of the possibilities. You will not become proficient at navigation in a few minutes ( or even a few hours) or by reading a couple of pages. Take a class, read one of the excellent books available on the subject, and practice, practice, practice.
Anticipate the route ahead as well. A common phenomenon in the mountains is a perfectly distinct path through forested country that vanishes altogether at the edge of a meadow. Stop and scan the far side. Are there gaps in the trees beyond? Where would the most likely spot be for the trail to continue? Once you have wandered absentmindedly into the center of a field, you are likely to lose track of the way you came as well as the way you intended to go. Keep an eye out for markers such as downed trees or logs in which a gap has been sawed, especially if there is a series of them.
Trail Markers
Watch for man-made trail markers. Cairns are piles of rocks that indicate a trail. They may be used to show a route over bare rock slabs or to mark where a path begins again on the far side of a meadow. These may be no more than two or three fist-size stones on the top of one another, so you need to be alert.Blazes are marks made on trees by cutting away the outer bark, usually in simple geometric shapes at approximately eye level. They indicate a trail's location when snow or plant debris covers the forest floor. The scar usually remains or the life of the tree, but occasionally the surrounding bark begins to obscure its outline. If you are uncertain whether you are seeing a blaze or a natural mark, check the opposite side of the tree. Trees are almost always blazed on both sides so they will be visible from either direction. While blazing does not usually injure a tree fatally, it does invite disease and infection, so recently constructed trails are more likely to be marked with small metal plates, usually diamond-shaped, instead of blazes.
Keeping track of time
Another habit worth cultivating for safety is staying aware of the passage of time. there is no shame in wearing a watch in the outdoors any more than these is in using a map and compass. It may be important to your safety to know how many hours of light remain so you can judge whether to cross the next ridge, stop and prepare a warm bivouac for the night, or return to your starting point.If, however, you have lost, broken, or eft your watch at home, you can still get a rough estimate of when the sun will set by extending one arm out in front of you, full length, and bending your wrist so your palm is at right angle to your arm, facing you. Keeping the fingers stiff and straight and together, move your hand until the edge appears to rest on the horizon. Each finger, on average, covers about 15 minutes of time, each full hand, not including your thumb, covers one hour. The number of hand widths between the sun's current position and the horizon is the number of hours remaining until sunset.
It is always good survival practice to note the time whenever you set out on a journey. Learn how long it takes you to cover a mile over different kinds of terrain. The average hiker walks 2.5 to 3 miles per hour on trail over relatively level ground; the average backpacker covers about 2 miles per hour. For every 1,000 feet you gain in elevation, you will move about 1 mile per hour sower. Cross-country (off-trail) travel is considerably more time-consuming since it requires constantly picking your way around or over obstacles or pausing to check map and compass bearings.
Topographic Maps
The maps most useful to wilderness travelers are the 7.5-minute topographic maps published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). These are available at local outfitters or at USGS maps.The USGS maps' 7.5-minute format corresponds to the way scientists divide the earth into segments for reference. The earth is divided into two sets of 360 degrees; one set of degrees runs north to south, from pole to pole; the other runs east to west all around the earth's circumference. Each degree is further divided into 60 minutes, each minute into 60 seconds. Thus, these USGS maps cover 7.5 square minutes of the surface of the earth.
The usual scale of USGS maps is 1:24,000; that is, 1 inch on the map equals 24,000 inches, or 2,000 feet, on the ground. Each map covers between 50 and 70 square miles.
The maps are color coded. Green is for vegetation, blue for water-related features, black for human-created structures such as roads and buildings, and brown for topographic features. Updated maps show changes in purple. You can see at a glance where water flows all year and where it flows only in the rainy season, where there are snowfields, glaciers, marshes, or swamps. Patterns of green represent forests, scrub, orchards, and vineyards. Upon request, the USGS will send you a sheet of topographic map symbols with a key that shows what each symbol means.
How are topographic maps different? - The brown contour lines distinguish "topo" maps from other types. When these contour lines are read properly, they provide very specific information about terrain.
At the bottom of most topo maps, below the scale, in the phrase "Contour Interval 40 Feet" (or 20 feet, or 50 feet). This tells you that the space between each of the brown lines represents 40 feet in elevation. Each line designates terrain that is 40 feet higher or lower than terrain designated by its neighboring line. Every fifth line is a little darker than the others, and the elevation is printed somewhere along it. Contour lines show you at a glance the size and shape of every bump and gully on the land (as long as it is bigger than 40 feet). If the lines are widely spaced, the terrain slopes only gradually; if they are crowded closely together, the land is steeper.
To determine whether you are going uphill or downhill look for the elevation figures on the darker index lines. Also, since the contour lines from V shapes whenever a stream crosses them, the apex of the V always points upstream.
With practice, you can translate topographic map symbols into a rich and detailed view of the terrain. Develop the habit of carrying your map with you - in your hand, not your pocket - and stop to glance frequently from map to terrain and back again. Once the translation becomes automatic, you will always know where you are.
Compass
A compass enables you to find your way when weather or deep forest prevents navigating by visible landmarks, when there are no landmarks, or when you have not been paying attention. You can use compass bearings to communicate directions to another person - or to settle arguments about which distant mountain peak is which.The best kind of compass to learn to use is the orienteering type, but even the simplest is adequate. All you need is one that is mounted on a rectangular baseplate with a moveable ring marked off in increments of usually two to five degrees. Inside the ring, the centered magnetic arrow always points north. On the baseplate outside the ring is an arrow called the "direction-of-travel arrow". On more elaborate compasses there may be some kind of sighting device instead of a simple arrow but the purpose is the same.
To take a bearing, that is, to find the degrees of direction from where you are the where you are going, aim the direction-of-travel arrow at some feature of the landscape, hold the compass steady and level with one hand, and with the other, rotate the dial so that the 0-degree (or 360-degree) mark is lined up exactly with the floating north-pointing arrow. The read the number on the dial that matches up with the direction-of-travel arrow. That is your bearing. You can draw that bearing on your map, using your compass as a protractor, to indicate, for example, where on the road you left your car when you went off to climb a peak or in which direction to set out when your final destination is hidden behind a ridge. You can also find out where you are by taking two or three bearings on known features on the land and drawing lines between them on your map. You will be wherever the lines intersect. There are almost limitless applications that will become obvious to you as soon as you have learned even a little about navigation.
When North is not North
The north on your map is not the same north as the one on your compass. Maps, by convention, are printed with true north at the top where all the lines of longitude converge at the poles. Compasses, on the other hand are magnets. Their arrows point to the magnetic North Pole, not the "true" North Pole. The difference between magnetic north and true north is called declination and differs from place to place. For example, in Los Angeles the declination is 14 degrees, while in Fairbanks, Alaska, it is nearer 30 degrees. You have to make an adjustment for declination every time you use your map and compass together.There are all kinds of mathematical formulas you can use to add or subtract the proper number of degrees from every bearing you take, but there is a much simpler method. In the lower left-hand corer of USGS topographic maps is a drawing of an angle consisting of a side that points to geographic or true north and a side labeled "MN" that points to magnetic north. The number of degrees in the angle is printed between sides. If you have the kind of compass that allows adjustments, you can adjust it to read 15 degrees (if the true north line is west of you) or 345 degrees (if true north is east of you), for instance, instead of 0 degrees so the readings will agree with your map.
Using another method, you can line up a straight-edge along the magnetic north side of the angle printed on the bottom of the map and continue that line all the way to the top of the map with a pencil. Just use that line instead of the margins of the map (which represent true north and south) as your reference point. Your map and compass will agree, and you can forget about declination.
Modern locater devices such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) give coordinates of precisely where you are on your map. Knowing those coordinates is useless, though, unless you have a map and know how to read it. If you are injured or stranded, GPS coordinates will not help you if you cannot communicate with rescuers. They use a lot of batteries, too.
Even if this all sounds complicated, remember that it is only intended to give you an idea of the possibilities. You will not become proficient at navigation in a few minutes ( or even a few hours) or by reading a couple of pages. Take a class, read one of the excellent books available on the subject, and practice, practice, practice.
