I like a mirror for accurate sightings & to have the mirror as mentioned above. I alway prefer offset navigating for bushwacking. aim to one side of a landmark so you always know if you have to go a little left or right to reach your destination.
I like a mirror for accurate sightings & to have the mirror as mentioned above. I alway prefer offset navigating for bushwacking. aim to one side of a landmark so you always know if you have to go a little left or right to reach your destination.
I dumped both for a smart phone... I prefer a sight in the past. - but to better answer the question the trails are well marked and less confusing.. the chance of clearing the woods for a sight on the AT is downright slim, a simple compass would be better to avoid going the wrong direction for a few miles. The few times I have been confused is jeep trails that cross and do dog legs.. and I miss a blaze. I honestly think about where the sun is on my face at almost all times, and take into account the season and azimuth. This works best when out at sea and cant see the shore in a kayak.
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
Joe- Don't get intimidated- good for you trying to learn a skill most people these days scoff at. My dad had some nice military lens compasses for us to use in Scouts when we learned orienteering, but we only borrowed those and use cheap baseplates. I think most of the fine folks who have commented thus far all followed a similar pattern you'll find in any backwoods skill- gear is your crutch until you master the skill- and then your skill becomes the crutch for inferior gear.
If a tricked out compass gets you out, makes you more comfortable, and helps build your skill- then go for it. It takes time to learn to replace a good compass with good map and terrain reading. Another Kevin described it best- other things replace or greatly enhance compass-work in the long run. In the short run- use your compass.
Generally though- out east as mentioned you won't see too far. Midwest too really- but we went to prairies and meadows to create opportunities to see long distances while we learned. Out west you have space to take advantage of better compass's. A bit like a gun- you can hit a pop can 10' away with a slingshot, 100' with a handgun, 100 yards or more you need a rifle. A decent baseplate is good to a mile or so, depending on your eyesight.
You also might want to define your bushwhacking a bit for yourself- a weekend wanderabout (making it back to the car) is a bit different than finding food caches (hitting very small points in the middle of nowhere) in remote wilderness. Bottom line- as most folks mentioned- you don't need razor accuracy for backpacking. BUT- all the people telling you that have learned lots of tricks to supplement the cheap baseplate compass they carry. So get to it- Good for you!
One less person asking about the best GPS app is one more person I'm happy to see.
This. Although I'd not say that "skill is a crutch for inferior gear" - because I honestly believe that a baseplate compass is superior for this purpose. It spares me from having to carry a separate protractor and something to serve as a plotting board, because I can use it to transfer a heading directly to a map. Sure, it's less accurate - but accuracy doesn't buy me much on short reaches.
The important tricks are mostly map reading - learn what the contour lines, streams, fence lines, and so on are telling you. And then get practice in choosing points of departure, collecting features and attack points, handrails and capture features. Learn how the rocks lie where you hike. (Are the strata tilted? If they are, which side of the hills is slabby and which side is ledgy?) Learn your ecozone boundaries. For that matter, learn how to transfer coordinates back and forth between your GPS and your map. The big thing is trip planning.
A sample bushwhack plan (from a hike that I led successfully a couple of years ago) follows. I put the plan together with careful study of current and 1890 topo maps (the old one shows haul roads that are now abandoned), of orthophotos, and of several other hikers' trip reports. I describe some of my thinking in italics.
Point of departure is the Spruceton bridle path, where it makes a hairpin turn across a stream in Ox Hollow. Elevation approximately 2240 feet
Intersection of two linear features, one of which is a marked trail. Easy to find.
Proceed generally WNW for a few hundred feet, crossing one tributary stream and turning right on the ridge following. A second tributary stream indicates that the ridge has been passed.
The ridge is a collecting feature that will lead me toward an attack point. It's easy to follow once established. It's hard to find the start of the ridge in the mostly-level marshy ground down low, so I add a capture feature, or backstop, to tell me when I've gone too far.
Climb the spur at approximate true heading 350 for 1.2 miles. If necessary in the band of ledges at around 3200 feet, stray to the right, toward the Ox Hollow headwall. Crest the major ridge at elevation roughly 3540, near a saddle point. Ground slopes off abruptly to the north beyond this point.
The collecting feature that I've been following peters out, but leads me to a well-defined handrail - another ridge. The cliff to the north gives an obvious line to follow. Another hiker reports dense brush on and to the left of the ridge, so I plan to err right.
Follow the major ridge at true heading approximately 265, gradually turning left to approximately 245. Summit is reached in 0.5 mile at 3680 feet and is marked with a canister of PVC sewer pipe on the N side of a gray birch. After summit, ground falls off abruptly to the SW-W, with spurs S and NW.
The summit is one destination, but is also serving as a point of attack for the viewpoint that follows. The cliff edge is a backstop. On the actual trip, I spotted the canister from about 150 feet off. On other trips, I've sometimes had to drop my pack or plant a trekking pole as a reference and spiral out to find a cache.
From the summit, whack less than 0.1 mile at true heading roughly 195, to an exposed boulder with views to W and S.
This is the only point on the whole trip that's defined solely by bearing and range - and it has a well-defined nearby point of attack. It's also bleeding obvious once you can spot it through the trees. I'd seen this outcrop with binoculars from the other side of a valley, and then spotted it on an orthophoto.
Return to summit, and retrace the ridge back to the col above Ox Hollow. Continue on the ridge (true heading 80 or so) 0.25 miles to a height of land. Ridge bends right, follow it at true heading roughly 105 another 0.5 mile across a dip to a secondary summit at about 3640 feet. Err to the left if necessary, staying within the line of yellow survey blazes at state forest boundary.
I'm following a handrail, but have a secondary feature to follow if I have to stray. Once through the dip, "the summit is up" will get me to the next point of reference.
From secondary summit, a spur extends at true heading roughly 125. Descend this spur 0.9 miles. Err to the RIGHT to avoid missing the trail at a turnoff. If the fire tower ahead is visible, desired course is roughly 3 degrees to the left of it.
Another handrail, but ridges are hard to follow downhill. On the actual trip, I spent a lot of time fumbling through dense spruce, went too far to the right, and got caught in ledgy terrain that forced me even farther off course. I wound up spending the night on a ledge and finishing up in the morning. Not a big deal, I'd planned for the possibility, although I missed a really nice campsite about 3/4 mile after getting back on trail. In any case, I was aware of the compass at all times; I knew I'd fallen off the ridge and which way to go to get back on it - and which way to get back on trail - but it was simply hard to get up there.
Emerge at intersection with a woods road, in a col at elevation 2900. If the road is marked with blue blazes, turn left (E or NE) to begin the next ascent. If instead an unblazed and unmaintained grade, sloping downward to the left, is encountered, turn right (S) back to an intersection with the blue trail. Nearest water sources to this point are the Robb spring, 0.5 miles and 500 feet elevation gain, on the right of the trail, or an unnamed tributary of the Ox Hollow brook, 0.8 miles and 400 feet elevation loss, crossing trail. Escape route from this point is 1.0 mile north on the abandoned road, leading to a paved maintenance road at the west boundary of the ski area.
A well defined feature that gets me back on marked trail, and an easy bailout route (admittedly, involving some trespassing) in case someone needs it.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
When I was back east, the compass I liked the most was the Sunnto Arrow 6. I originally bought it for orienteering. Super accurate and designed to be used while holding map and compass in one hand. In the think forest with lots of up and down, it was great to be able to course correct on the fly.
Now that I'm out west, I can often see for long distances and going cross country provides more challenges in the form of evil plants and reptiles. I now use a lensatic compass to provide a better sight line and accuracy.
Of course, YMMV.
Most recreational users are better served with a medium quality baseplate compass and not a military style lensatic compass. A great base plate compass is the Suunto M3. It has adjustable declination, which I would say is the most important feature, along with robust construction, a luminous dial, small magnifying lens, and a few other common features. Get it on Amazon, it's much less expensive than other outdoor stores. As of this writing, it's about $30.
No, I do not work for Suunto, I teach wilderness navigation to a lot of people and this is currently the best compass available for the average backpacker/climber/hunter.
for trail hiking I have a Clipper compass on the chest strap of my pack for a quick look-see. it has always been as accurate as I need it to be. If I need a higher level of accuracy than what this provides or to back it up/confirm a reading, I have the compass/GPS on my phone and on my Suunto Ambit2 GPS watch. all three give me a high level of confidence I can find the trail again after I step off to poop.
IME, a baseplate works just fine for mapwork but I bought a Lensatic because I like have a mirror to look at my ugly mug or for signaling...