A Compass Tune-Up

Recently I was watching a rifle expert on one of the many outdoor cable shows.   This gent is a noted ballistics expert, writer and occasional backcountry guide.  During a segment of the interview he was demonstrating what was in his day pack.  It kept my interest, had the Compass practice in a navigation class  Outdoor Quest image ten essentials, and all was going just fine until he brought out his compass.  It looked like a wonderful antique, might have come across the Great Plains and Rockies with Lewis and Clark –but in terms of reliability-it was questionable. The sad part is he spent absolutely no time discussing key factors of having a reliable compass.  He touched his compass and quickly put it down.  And touching a compass is about all that most people do too.  Hunters preparing to go afield will spend hours with their rifle at the range evaluating their zero, adjusting optics, and measuring the initial velocity of that hot new round.  Navigation takes time to get dialed in too. Navigation is not “rocket science” but it takes practice.  It is a perishable skill.  The analogy that I use in my wilderness navigation classes is that you can hop on a bike after not riding one for ten years and head on down the road.  But trying to triangulate after ten months can be a chore.  For starters, you need a decent compass.  Leave the $5.00 compass on the shelf at the store.  For more information on buying a compass check out my article on selecting a compass. Here are a few recommendations for a compass tune up: ·     Store your compass in a safe spot.  Keep the compass off the dash of the rig, away from flashlights and the GPS.  Let’s not take a chance that an electrically induced magnetic field will degrade your compass. ·     Compare your compass with another to verify that the red needle is pointing to magnetic north.   Take it a step further and find a road in town that is aligned north/south.   Most likely it will be aligned in degrees true; as in true north.  Again, verify that the compass is pointing correctly.  Do this for every compass you own. ·     Is the compass leaking?  Is there an air bubble floating in the compass housing?  I “deep six” (toss) those units. ·     Brush up on your compass navigation skills.   June Fleming’s book “Staying Found” is a excellent read.     Practice shooting a bearing, triangulating your position and orienting your map and compass to your surroundings. ·     Review the components of a Topographic map.  Start with the USGS’ site here. ·     Insure you have the compass adjusted to the correct declination. ·     Practice with your children.  Give them a good education with a map and compass before you give them a GPS. ·     Don’t depend on your friends being the navigation experts.  Make it a goal to exceed their skills.  You might find that your initial impression was mistaken. Instead of a “sense of direction” develop the skill of navigation. Practice with a compass is essential to safe wilderness travel.  To quote Fleming, “The key to knowing where you are is constant awareness.”

Maps for Emergency Evacuation

My friend Leon at the blog www.survivalcommonsense.com has a great post on the maps you should have during emergency evacuation. 

Adventures In Stoving

You have to just like Hiking Jim's blog "Adventures in Stoving."  This is a blog to book mark.


Right now he a has a post reviewing a stove system and a methodology on how to determine how much stove fuel to take in to the back country.


Great  work.

Adventure In Stoving Image.

Using Your Cell Phone In The Backcountry

Last month Jenny Rough wrote an interesting article about why it is a mistake to count  on a cell phone when you go hiking.  Her article was featured in the Washington Post.

She stressed that basic navigation "is a use-it-or-lose-skill.  How true.

The thrust of the post is that hikers have an over dependence of electronic navigation while forsaking the rudimentary  principles of using a map and compass. 

Take a look at Jenny's post.

Visit my other articles on land navigation too:

• Compass Tips
• GPS Tune-up
• Terrain Association

• A Hiker's Trip Plan

What Is An Azimuth

An azimuth is the angular direction to an object.  Azimuths are described commonly in degree increments from either true, magnetic or grid north.

In the world of recreational navigation, GPS receiver operations and orienteering the use of the term “bearing” has become synonymous with azimuth.

Azimuth direction is measured from north clockwise in 360° increments. The point from which the azimuth originates is from the center of an imaginary circle.  This imaginary point is the operator.

Azimuth can be measured with a magnetic compass, a map and by rough estimation using the sun and North Star.

Azimuths can be expressed in degrees true and degrees magnetic.  Degrees true uses the north pole as the principle reference while degrees magnetic refers to reference from the magnetic pole.

Outdoor Quest Image

For more information on bearings and azimuth read Making Sense of The Declination Diagram.