5. Land Navigation

Oh what a blast! We did this back in July (Maybe... it's been a while), and unfortunately I got busy with camp and then that whole college nonsense. But at last here it is. I know y'all have been anxiously awaiting the day when you'd get to hear the lovely escapades of how to navigate by compass and contour map. I know I have.

Here's a video of me talking about all the important points.... which appears to be having trouble with that whole "uploading" thing. It must be rebelling due to not being used. Such is life.

Well assuming you don't like watching videos or don't have 11 minutes of  your life free, here's the important bits:

1) A good source to learn the all important map symbols is a guide, straight from the source. It's fantastic, really. I used it in my research.

2) Contour lines. Basically, the closer together they are, the steeper the slope. (I believe I had this backwards in the video. My apologies, it's 2 in the morning.) I had tried to find the picture with the hand as seen in the lovely BSA Fieldbook and Handbook, but alas it must be copyrighted. Instead I found a drawing that shows how contour lines make things look 3D, enjoy!

Honestly, I think it's a little creepy, but you can see how they work.

3) Land Navigation. This is relatively simple. There's a few steps to it though - 

• Find your pace! This is done by seeing how many steps (full cycles, meaning left foot + right foot = 1) it takes to travel a premeasured 100ft. Once you know that you can accurately travel for miles. Which leaves...
• Know your heading! Conventionally, this is done by sighting with a compass. Find the heading, look in to see where the landmark is, get your distance and go. Alternatively, assuming you're trying to follow a map, get your heading and pick a landmark and travel to it.
• You have arrived at your destination! Congo-rats. You deserve it.

4) The all important GPS. Use technology to your favor. With the advent of smartphones, hiking/geocaching is simple. Just type in your coordinates (or pick a geocache from their lovely app, and align your blue dot with the target. Then all you have to do is search!)

Well that's all for now folks. As the handbook points out, I'm now allowed to start Wilderness Survival, which is a whole other kettle of fish. It's mostly easy - except for the parts that aren't, so yeah. This might take a while, but I'm almost confident it will be done by next summer. If not sooner. 

Have a pleasant new year!


EDIT: It turns out, orienteering was on June 23rd, by the recking on the hints I left myself in earlier posts. June 23rd. Might not mean much to y'all, but there you go!