LF hikers ― is “Map & Compass” a dying art?

[Heroique]

...all this GPS talk makes me scratch my head. How did people get around for the previous million years?

Below is the actual compass used by William Clark during the Lewis & Clark expedition.

It’s one of the very few remaining relics of the 1804-06 transcontinental exploration, and now part of the Smithsonian collection.

Clark’s accomplishment inspires confidence in the old ways, doesn’t it?

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“The captains held a public auction [after returning to Saint Louis], in which they sold off the public items that had survived their voyage. These included the rifles, powder horns, shot pouches, kettles, and axes. They brought $408.62. This was a dreadful disgrace. The artifacts should have been preserved as public treasures rather than sold for a pittance. But apparently the captains had always intended to sell them at the value of their immediate utility rather than preserve them for museums.” (Stephen E. Ambrose from his 1996 book, Undaunted Courage)

I presume Clark’s compass was a private item – not a “public” one – and therefore not part of the captains’ journey-end auction. My understanding is that Clark gave it to a friend, whose family passed it down as an heirloom, until the Smithsonian acquired it in the 1930’s.

[Greg Miller]

Here's an interesting article mostly about GPS causing troubles for people driving in remote areas: http://www.timesunion.com/local/arti...PS-1032617.php

But a good quote from the article:
"Lynn Malerba, a state-certified guide who founded Adirondack Connections Guide Service in 2002 in Tupper Lake, cautions students in her GPS training class that relying on the device alone is no substitute for having a paper map and compass, and knowing how to use them."

While some very experienced people are fine without any navigation aids, the vast majority of people venturing into hiking areas need to have a map and compass and know how to use them. People who do not have the experience to navigate with a map and compass should only travel with other people who have those skills. Anything less is just asking for for a big problem.

I wish I had a nickel for every time I have escorted someone out of the woods in the dark after I finished my photography and was hiking out. Those people would have had a miserable night (or worse in a couple of cases) if I had not just happened to be there and stumbled upon them.

[Drew Wiley]

Lewis and Clark were attempting to plot distances and map routes for others, and for
general scientific accuracy. The actaul routes they chose were used by French fur
trappers already, then Indian routes known for thousands of years. They didn't discover anything in a novel sense, but only in the Anglo sense. Pushing all the way
across from the Missouri west to the Pacific was certainly heroic; but they wouldn't
have succeeded at all without a lot of help.

[Heroique]

...they wouldn't have succeeded at all without a lot of help.

Yes, and Clark’s compass, of course, provided an indispensable part of it. I think his most impressive talent was judging the value of every piece of geographical information that he & Lewis could gather, and synthesizing the best of it. A sublime effort of “Western” critical thinking, even if it naturally misconstrued plenty of information from friendly tribes. But remember the Marias River episode – there was plenty of bad, fragmentary, and missing information about the landscape, too; and the compass helped the captains navigate these potentially fatal “obstacles” as well.

[Scratched Glass]

Anything can fail, and any tool can be inaccurate for a number of reasons. Part of natural resources class I took taught compass skills. One of my class mates could not get an accurate reading from his compass. One the students said "What's wrong do you have a metal plate in your head?" his answer was "Yes, actually I do" He had had a head injury.

[Drew Wiley]

You are probably familiar with the recent popular review of the expedition "Undaunted Courage", which I enjoyed reading. Jefferson was certainly a savvy guy
when he sent them out. On the one hand he had great scientific curiosity and sponsored this as a true scientific survey. On the other hand, he realized how accurate mapping would pave the way for what later became known as Manifest
Destiny, stitiching the country from sea to sea. It was also a horse race. The Spanish had already reached through the Southwest into tributaries of the Missouri
and Mississippi, and the French were active clear through the Rockies and even into
the Great Basin (and spread syphilis the whole way). Canada was itself traversed
around the same time. But mapping something is a lot more like making a claim to
it, or at least facilitating others of your kind to do it. Somehow they managed to miss Southfork Pass on the way west.

[Brian C. Miller]

When I was in the Army we were taught to keep metal object three feet away from the compass when taking a reading. So of course we dropped our gear when we pulled out a compass.

[Heroique]

…Somehow they managed to miss Southfork Pass on the way west.

Southfork Pass? If you mean a better way over the Divide than the one they took (Lemhi Pass), then I think you mean either MacDonald Pass (going down toward Helena), or Lewis and Clark Pass (going down toward Missoula).

Anyway, I doubt they would have done any better w/ a GPS.

Yes, Jefferson was an astonishing human being. Not only the visionary political thinker that you describe, but the country’s best naturalist, who actually trained Lewis how to be one in advance of the expedition.

[goamules]

It reminds me of the infamous "rock cairn" argument on another post. Some of which I saw yesterday, recently built along the 1/3 mile, obvious trail down to a local desert spring. Wouldn't want anyone getting lost in a sandstorm, heading down into the only canyon with green trees for 20 miles.... Must be when they are heads down texting and doing other electronics tasks when they should be hiking and looking!

[Thad Gerheim]

Southfork Pass? If you mean a better way over the Divide than the one they took (Lemhi Pass), then I think you mean either MacDonald Pass (going down toward Helena), or Lewis and Clark Pass (going down toward Missoula).

Anyway, I doubt they would have done any better w/ a GPS.

Yes, Jefferson was an astonishing human being. Not only the visionary political thinker that you describe, but the country’s best naturalist, who actually trained Lewis how to be one in advance of the expedition.

I think you mean (Lost Trail Pass) on the continental divide between Idaho and Montana. And I think they tried to blame the Lemhi Indians for not giving them a better map. When they finally made it down the west side and the Nez Perce Indians found them along the Clearwater river, they were close to starvation. The Nez Perce Indians held a council (democracy) to decide whether to kill them or feed them! After what us Anglos did to chief Joseph and the rest of the Nez Perce, they would probably like to have that choice again.

I go into the woods to lose myself, but I do carry a map, along with enough food for about 15 days on my trips that I tell people I'll be out there for ten or twelve days. I go with my two horses and myself so I always let someone know when they might send out help if I don't make it back.