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I learned to use a compass as a child and used it with the topo maps when I worked as a Ranger in Yellowstone. I would take a GPS if I had one but would never go without a map and compass. I have taught my children how to use a map and compass but it is rare to find hikers who know how to use them.
According to my compass north is in the direction of the driver to the left of me - all the way trough the roundabout!
That's quite true. But it is also true that there are those who believe that digital photography has replaced film-based photography, ball-point pens have replaced fountain pens, computers have replaced typewriters, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by Heroique
GPS technology (when it works) is clearly superior to compass and map navigation. But there are those (including OP) who like the challenge of doing it the old way. I prefer LF photography, and I write with a fountain pen (several of them, to be exact). Sure, we are the minority, but that's perfectly OK.
New technology always tends to bring new features and advantages. That's the way progress works. And in the world of commerce, competitive pressures help encourage technological evolution. But our hiking (or photography, or letter writing, etc) is not done as a business but rather as a passion, and we can afford to CHOOSE to do things the old fashioned way.
Map & compass all the way. No batteries. None in the camera, obviously, and none in the light meter either.
Compasses are just one part of the map & compass technology. Topo maps all too often are out of date can't be relied upon in backcountry areas prone to slides and washouts. Hell's bells, in the federal forest I most frequent, the original surveyor actually went to prison for falsifying elevations, and at least one of the quads still contained such errors 50-60 years hence (very bad contours had me thrashing around in thick brush on a S-facing slope one 115˚F afternoon, looking for a non-existent trail for a couple of hours instead of simply believing my eyes.)
Nowadays, there's much better tech available. When planning a traverse somewhere new, I'll definitely "fly" the route in Google Earth before orienteering via maps alone (paying particular attention to when the sector was photographed). And I'll try to talk to someone local who knows the route or can generally advise if a big windstorm just created a bunch of blow-down trees last month.
That's all fine with me--I like fountain pens (except I can't use them because they blow ink onto my shirt when I fly) and I certainly have no prboblem with old-fashioned large-format photography, if a Sinar F is old-fashioned.Quote:
Originally Posted by Louie Powell
But don't bring back that godforsaken typewriter!
Rick "ham-handed enough when there is a delete key" Denney
Anyone that relies solely on a GPS is an idiot. Always carry a map and compass.
Even in the UK it's easy to get lost, the last time I was walking around Coniston I encountered an older gent who was relying on a GPS alone, he had all the best gear that money could buy, yet was still headed in completely the wrong direction from the town he said he wanted to get to, this was 1.5 hours before nightfall in a dense fog with a 6K hike to go.
I'm convinced he would have become a statistic if I hadn't managed to convince him that he was going the wrong way - it took 3 attempts and a lesson in map and compass to do so.
His parting words were "I'll have to get a map and compass, they seem to be really useful"!
Though I am very confident in my wilderness skills, I still carry a map and compass. I get more confused in the city than I do in the forest; but there is absolutely no reason to be without a compass and paper w/pencil. If a map is to be had, so much the better. At least with paper/pencil, you can make your own map, even if it's just a general one, it's better to know where you are than not. Most people I know, take a map and compass with them no matter where they go - but then, we might be the rarity. No batteries to die, no government issue location devices, no computer needed other than my brain; and that functions under even stressful duress.
I still use a compass and a map. Wanted to buy a GPS for years but never did it for some reason. Still can't help to think about them as just an expensive toy. I'd like to buy a satellite phone someday.
Perhaps more important than getting from point A to point B is finding yourself with map & compass when you are lost.
For this, it's important to have a sightable compass, map, and drawing protractor (the C-thru plastic protractor/rulers are good for this).
Sight two known points in the distance, ideally at about 90 degrees from each other (ie one to the east, one to the south). Draw lines from sighted landmarks back towards your location, using the azimuth measured with the compass as an angle on the protractor.
X marks the spot.