Navigation Tutorial
The Back Page
All content copyright © Ashley Burke 2008. Not to be copied, duplicated or used for any purpose without permission.
Navigation Tutorial The Back Page
All content copyright © Ashley Burke 2008. Not to be copied, duplicated or used for any purpose without permission. |
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Navigation course by Ashley Burke
11. The Back Page - quick tips
Well that's the end of this navigation tutorial for now. I hope you have found it useful. By far the best way to learn how to navigate is to get away from the computer and out into the bush and apply the skills that I have tried to pass on via this web page. To do this, why not join one of my 2 day navigation training weekends:
Before you go, here is a list of general tips that pull together some of the skills of navigation. Enjoy the world's wild places, and don't forget to take your map and compass with you!
| Your memory serves you well | Remember the country you have passed through. How many bumps along a ridge have there been? How many side gullies have you seen entering the creek you have been walking down? How many bends in the road? |
| Uphill is easier than downhill | Navigating up a hill is easy because you are converging to the same point regardless of what direction you are coming from. Contrast that with walking downhill, where you start at one point and could end up at a different place if you go in a different direction. |
| Downstream is easier than upstream | Same as for uphill versus downhill. Walking downstream is easy because tributaries are converging into a common course. Walking upstream leaves you having to make choices each time a creek forks. |
| Scientific method rules! | Use deductive reasoning when trying to work out where you are. Ask logical questions. If we are here on the map then there would have to be high ground to our left etc. Eliminate possibilities by finding a contradiction: we can’t be here because there is no spur in front of us! |
| Let the land do the navigating | Choose routes for your trip that take advantage of the lie of the land. Follow ridges, spurs and creeks. Avoid sidling. Traversing hillsides should be minimized. Don’t take short cuts, these usually end up long cuts. |
| Divide and Conquer | Divide your route into smaller straight line sections for increased accuracy. Several short bearings (eg: 300-500m each) are better than a few long bearings. |
| How far is far enough? | Knowing how long to follow a bearing before changing to a new bearing is made much easier by using the features around you. Choose bearings that start and end at a recognisable feature such as the top of a hill, bottom of a saddle, bend in the ridge or change in the steepness of a slope. |
| Read between the lines | Mine the map for information. The contours tell a rich story. Even the slightest change in a contour tells you something. Scrutinize the map in fine detail. The longer you study the map, the more you learn. |
| Enjoy your walk | Don’t walk off a cliff just because the compass says so! The compass is your guide not your gospel. Glance at your compass frequently to check your bearings but be flexible in route finding. Avoid scrub and other obstacles but don’t digress from your bearing for long. |
| The map is innocent until proven guilty | “The map must be wrong” is the cry of the lost walker. The map is always right unless you can prove otherwise. Some topographic maps have inaccuracies, particularly of human geography such as forest roads which are subject to change since map publication. However if some natural feature is amiss on a large scale, then it is 99% likely that it is you that is wrong. Check, recheck and check again. |
| Keep at arms length | The neck cord of your compass should be long enough so that you can hold the compass in your hand with your arm straightened in front of you without taking our compass off from around your neck. Always wear your compass around your neck when walking and don’t store it loose in your pocket or pack. If you lose your compass then you will likely lose yourself soon afterwards! |
| The unit of distance is time | When planning your trip or when trying to predict how far it is to a particular point, think not in distance but time. Distances can often be a less useful measure for gauging the length and difficulty of a trip than time. Terrain can vary greatly, as can impediments such as scrub, creek crossings, difficult climbs, steep slopes, fitness and size of the group etc. So for example, when planning the next stage of your trip, don’t think in terms of how many kilometres it is to the next camp site, but how many hours it is. If someone asks you “how far?” answer in hours. |
| Add or subtract? | As described in these notes, you always need to take account of the difference between grid north and magnetic north when converting from a compass bearing to a map bearing and vice versa. The rule is “Grid to magnetic subtract, magnetic to grid add”. A good way to remember it is that when taking your compass away from the map, subtract, when placing the compass on the map, add. Note: Some compasses eliminate the need to add or subtract the grid to magnetic variation by means of a declination scale on the inside of the dial. When set correctly, there is no need to add or subtract the grid to magnetic angle manually. But you must make sure that the declination scale is set correctly in the first place! Don't rely on it always being set right! Check it carefully before relying on it rather than adding or subtracting manually. |
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Web page created 9 Feb 2008, last updated 10 Feb 2018. All content copyright © Ashley Burke 2008. Not to be copied, duplicated or used for any purpose without permission. |
