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by reportingsjr 1411 days ago
Navigating with a map and compass on a well worn, maintained trail is one thing. Using a map and compass in an area with numerous social trails, unofficial/unmarked trails, animal paths, etc is a different beast. Especially if you're in an area where it is either difficult to see landmarks, such as in a heavily forested gorge area, or there are minimal landmarks.

Last month I took a trip to the swiss alps, and planned out a route with a topo map to try and link up some minor peaks off trail. Got to the first peak and realized the section I thought was a fairly steep, maybe tricky 3rd class, was actually well in to 4th class terrain and I had no chance. All because I misread the map!
1 comments
AdamJacobMuller 1411 days ago
> Using a map and compass in an area with numerous social trails, unofficial/unmarked trails, animal paths, etc is a different beast

Sure, it's different, but it's hardly difficult. I was a boy scout and was doing it regularly at 10 years old. The scoutmasters would hide caches of things (candy/toys/etc) in the woods somewhere and we were given compasses + paper maps only, not that there was anything else we would have reasonably had back in those days.

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s0rce 1411 days ago
I'm pretty experienced and if you lose track of where you are it can be very difficult to find yourself with a map and compass, often requiring significant moving around. This is particularly true in poor visibility or when everything is covered in snow. If you keep your bearings and know where you are (which you really need to when relying on a map and compass) then I agree its not terrible to navigate.
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jfoutz 1411 days ago
100% yup, it's surprisingly easy to not know where you are.

I was never much of a scout, but the best advice I ever got was go downhill. If you find water, follow the water down. People live downhill. people use water. Finding somebody, anybody, means food and shelter. There are a handful of box canons in the world where this doesn't work, but like, you should know that there is one nearby before the outset. And even if you fall into the box canyon trap, you know where you are.

Yeah, for any casual hiker that goes way off into the woods, first, you're and idiot. Second, why are you wearing cotton? Third, go downhill.

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s0rce 1411 days ago
Usually yes but one exception is very rugged mountains with steep valleys like the coast range in north Vancouver or big sur. You'll end up trapped.
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jfoutz 1410 days ago
That's a great point. I was working on the assumption that you had a map and a compass. When you get to dangerous terrain, hopefully you can pin down that you're on one of two or three possible spots - so maybe you can figure out where you are.

Regardless, yeah, wandering off in the woods unprepared is dangerous. and it's easy to get hurt and have worse things happen.

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bmacho 1411 days ago
Erm, no. Better to go up on a mountain so you can see where you are.
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reportingsjr 1410 days ago
A simple scenario to test your idea out: you're hiking lower on a mountain and not 100% confident exactly where you are on a trail. An unexpected thunderstorm appears and you want to bail ASAP.

Do you climb up to an exposed area in the mountains to figure out where you are? While a storm rolls in?

Or, do you stay roughly where you are, lower down, and try to use map to locate yourself?

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