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  1. #21

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    "Orienteerers never get lost.....they just lose map contact"
    Translation, You must read the Topo/Map, know how to use the compass and be aware of where you are "on the map" at all times. Orienteering teaches "thumbing" the map. You fold the map and use the tip of the compass to "point' on the map, exactly where you are. "I'm at the point on the map where the bridge crosses the river'. Walk a bit, note that you are now where the trail is climbing the hill and you are at the top, move the pointer to the trail shown on the Topo at the top of the hill. Maintaining contact with the surroundings and the map at the same time.
    For a couple of bucks, get a weird haircut and waste your life away Bryan Adams....
    Hammock hangs are where you go into the woods to meet men you've only known on the internet so you can sit around a campfire to swap sewing tips and recipes. - sargevining on HF

  2. #22
    Registered User swjohnsey's Avatar
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    Another Silva fan, both the book and their compass. That said you don't need a map or compass to navigate the trail. It can be helpful to know how to determine direction in the woods without a compass.

  3. #23
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    The basics of the Silva book are summarized in these three video clips from the Silva YouTube channel:



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mh5N...e_gdata_player


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=988WL...e_gdata_player


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8isq...e_gdata_player

    Silva 1-2-3 Baby!


    Cheers!
    Last edited by Spokes; 03-07-2012 at 11:48.

  4. #24
    lemon b's Avatar
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    Map & compass skills are field learned not book learned. Get a geo map of an area you've been in alot and work with the compass and map. Then go somewhere you've been to once or twice and repeat. You'll pick it all up. I'm lucky my Dad taught me map and compass skills way back in grade school.

  5. #25
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lemon b View Post
    Map & compass skills are field learned not book learned. Get a geo map of an area you've been in alot and work with the compass and map. Then go somewhere you've been to once or twice and repeat. You'll pick it all up. I'm lucky my Dad taught me map and compass skills way back in grade school.
    I taught my son on the boulder between Mahoosuc Arm & Speck Pond, on a beautiful blue sky day, we could see the smoke from the cog rail train on Mt. Washington.

  6. #26
    Registered User woodstock64's Avatar
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    I have this book and a Suunto MC-2G mirror compass. I highly recommend both. You're right the Essential Navigator is a very well written, easy to understand book. I find it chockful of very useful information presented in a concise manner. David Seidman really makes the subject of navigation with a map and compass accessible to even the person with absolutely no previous knowledge on the subject. He presents the information the reader needs to learn map and compass skills without all the unnecessary "fluff".

  7. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by woodstock64 View Post
    I have this book and a Suunto MC-2G mirror compass. I highly recommend both. You're right the Essential Navigator is a very well written, easy to understand book. I find it chockful of very useful information presented in a concise manner. David Seidman really makes the subject of navigation with a map and compass accessible to even the person with absolutely no previous knowledge on the subject. He presents the information the reader needs to learn map and compass skills without all the unnecessary "fluff".
    Very cool,isn't that a good feeling knowing that as long as you have your trusty compass,and knowing how to use it,that you'll never be lost.....well at least not lost for long.

  8. #28
    Registered User Papa D's Avatar
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    I love map and compass skills and enjoy the craft - - I haven't read through the whole thread, but I'll point out that there is NO need for a compass on the AT - none - not in a fog, the rain, a snowstorm - - really never. I occasionally refer to a map on sections of the AT if I am looking for a side trail, creek, or some geographical feature, but in terms of hiking the AT, if you can't follow the white blazes and remember which direction you were traveling (NORTH OR SOUTH ) you simply don't have the mental capacity to figure out the relatively simple basics of map and compass.

  9. #29
    Registered User AAhiker's Avatar
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    Don't get a Silva! They used to make great compasses but they outsourced to china and make garbage now. I replaced my old Silva with a new one for SAR and it leaked, got a replacement...same deal. Buy Suunto or Brunton. I personally have the Brunton adventure racing compass because I like baseplate models, just slimmer and quicker in my opinion. Someone else posted that all you need to learn is on youtube, its a fact. Anyway the adventure race compass will do everything you need it to do and do it accurately. And as you learn more skills it has what you need to adapt to those as well minus a clinometer like some of the mirrored compasses.

  10. #30
    Registered User AAhiker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rhjanes View Post
    "Orienteerers never get lost.....they just lose map contact"
    Translation, You must read the Topo/Map, know how to use the compass and be aware of where you are "on the map" at all times. Orienteering teaches "thumbing" the map. You fold the map and use the tip of the compass to "point' on the map, exactly where you are. "I'm at the point on the map where the bridge crosses the river'. Walk a bit, note that you are now where the trail is climbing the hill and you are at the top, move the pointer to the trail shown on the Topo at the top of the hill. Maintaining contact with the surroundings and the map at the same time.
    Another way is to use what they call "ranger beads". its a way for you to measure distance based off your natural stride. If you keep track of that, know how to measure distance on a map, and know where your hike started your golden. Orienteering is a very handy skill though.

  11. #31
    PCT, Sheltowee, Pinhoti, LT , BMT, AT, SHT, CDT, TRT 10-K's Avatar
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    REI holds a free map and compass class regularly here in the Asheville area. I went to a really good weekend map and compass skills and topo map reading class at the Smokey Mt. Field School in GSMNP.

    Still.. learning to use a compass out of a book is like trying to learn cloud types by looking at a cloud book.

    You can learn more in 2 hours from someone showing you than you can in a week trying to figure it out from a book.

    Find somebody that knows how to show you and then practice.

  12. #32
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    Staying Found by June Fleming is pretty invaluable

    that being said a class and hands on use is the greatest way to learn

  13. #33

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    This is a good site, I downloaded it and printed it out:

    http://www.learn-orienteering.org/old/lesson1.html

    "To make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." - T.S. Eliot

  14. #34
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    The original poster asks a great question, and I am reviving this thread to give a good answer. I I have taught wilderness navigation classes to hundreds of people, and have some well informed opinions on this.

    Compass: Suunto M3. Simple baseplate compass with adjustable declination. Cost about $30. Buy it online rather than REI, much less expensive.
    Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XANJRHG/

    Books: two of the books mentioned above are good, the one Bob and Mike Burns and the complete wilderness navigator.
    I do not recommend the "be an expert with map and compass," because the material is a bit outdated and about half of the book is about the sport of orienteering, which is a great fun thing to do but not exactly backcountry navigation.

    Several people above mentioned YouTube, which is a great resource, depending on which videos you watch. A lot of them are made by ex-military people, who like to dress in camouflage clothing, talk in a hillbilly accent, and tell you how to use a lensatic compass, which for civilians is usually a poor choice.

    Here's how to find the most complete and easy to understand a series of navigation instruction on YouTube: do a search for "Columbia river orienteering club" and you will find some excellent navigation instruction videos.

    Most people find learning compass use much easier with a live demonstration or video then reading about it in a book.

  15. #35
    Clueless Weekender
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    Since this thread has come back from the dead:

    Silva, Brunton and Suunto have all had problems with outsourcing to (I seem to recall) a Malaysian contract manufacturer. Some years they're good, some years they're not. The usual problems are that they have tiny cracks in the capsule that allow bubbles to get in.

    As far as I know, K+R still manufactures in Germany. So far, my K+R mirror-sight compass has held up well.

    The high-end Bruntons are still good, but heavy and expensive. The Cammengas are even heavier, and lack a baseplate, so you need a separate protractor and something to serve as a plotting board in order to use them effectively. (In short, they're a poor choice for a hiker.)

    For textbooks, it's hard to beat the ones from National Wildfire Coordination Group: http://www.nwcg.gov/sites/default/fi...ons/pms475.pdf
    or the US Army: https://ia800809.us.archive.org/17/i...navigation.pdf

    It's almost certainly better to get some hands-on instruction, and a lot of orienteering clubs offer classes free of charge in the interest of public safety.

    For the classroom part of a land navigation course, I steal a lot of slides from http://landnavigation.weebly.com/lan...2-3-and-4.html, throwing out the stuff about the lensatic compass (which is usually a poor choice for hikers) and adding material on mirror-sight and baseplate compass use. I also try to emphasize orienteering skills - handrails, catching features, collecting features, approach points, aiming-off, .... which I use on almost any off-trail hike. I can't think of when I last used resection except for teaching it. Maybe if I hiked in the West where the sight lines are longer it would make sense.

    I also try to include a little unit on use of the altimeter. That's an invaluable addition to your kit with the short sight-lines in the East, since it can make any contour line into a backstop or handrail. A lot of the time around here, altitude and aspect is what you have for a fix, or if you're lucky, altitude resected with a single sight.
    I always know where I am. I'm right here.

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