Finding your way

Learning how to Orient a Map Orienting a map is one of the basic skills of map and compass. Why is it important to orient a map? When you orient a map, what your doing is turning the map to match the terrain. That way you can see where you are, and where you are going. This is a requirement for 2nd Class.

To orient a map, take the map and lay it on a flat surface, away from and magnetic substance like the hood of a car. Now take your compass and turn the compass housing until it says 360° or N for north. Look on the bottom of the map; next to the scale (the distance chart) and you will find a thin V, it may be a weird looking W. On one side of the V or W, it will say magnetic north (MN), and on the other side, it will say true north(most often just a star *). Put the edge of your compass on the side with magnetic north (MN). Now, without moving the compass off the magnetic north line, turn the map until the red needle in the compass points to the N on the compass. Congratulations!!! You have just oriented a map! 

Learn the Parts of a Compass To use your compass accurately and effectively, you need to know how you compass works and what it can do. Its important to know all of this before your out in the woods somewhere.

This is basically what is on the most common compasses. Many have various features like; a magnifying glass, more scales, measurements, and other fancy gadgets. You will not need anything more complicated than the compass shown, unless you need pinpoint accuracy, in which case you would need a engineer's compass.

The plastic that everything is attached to is called the baseplate.

The black ring with 360° on it is called the compass housing, used for making the compass "point" to different degrees. The compass housing rotates to change the degree of the compass.

The arrow towards the top of the baseplate (above the circle) is called the direction-of-travel arrow.

The red needle is called the orienting arrow. This arrow always points magnetic north. The white arrow always points south.

The needle with the red and white is called the compass needle.

The arrow just below the big red N, is referred to as "the dog house."

There are scales on three sides of the compass to help measuring distances.

Finding Your Way Without a Compass
What happens if you can't find your compass, or if for some reason it stops working? By knowing some of theses methods, you can be confident that you can find you way through any circumstance.

There are many different ways of finding your way with out a compass, I will tell you just a few of the many methods that can be used. All of these methods involve the sun or moon in some way, big or small.

 The Stick Methods
This methods will work well as long as the sun is shining. Another small down side is it may take a while for a shadow to develop.

Go to an open area and push a straight, short stick into the ground. Angle the stick into the sun so there is no shadow from the stick. Now wait until the shadow forms and grows to about six inches. This shadow will be pointing east. Now draw a circle around the stick, so the stick is in the middle of the circle. Draw a line from the center of the circle (starting at the stick), along the shadow to the edge of the circle. This line points east. Now draw a line completely opposite of the shadow. This line will point west. Now draw another line from edge to edge to Finnish the "cross" or "X". You now have North, South, East and West. You also have a place to make more accurate degrees, if you draw in-between North, South, East and West.

 The Moss Method
In forest, moss will grow on rocks and trees, but will grow the thickest or most on the north side.

 The Snow Method
Snow on mountain peaks and slops will melt faster on all sides but the north. Because the sun shines on the north side the least.

 The Star Method
The north star always points north. To find the north star, find the big dipper. The last two stars in the cup point to the north star, which is the last star in the handle of the little dipper.

 The Sun Method
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

How to Take a Bearing This method is pretty accurate if your sure to follow the directions. An easy and straight forward way to take a bearing.

A bearing, as the Boy Scout book defines it, is the number of degrees between an object in the field and north on your compass. That definition seem a little compacted, but its important to know how to take a bearing, you will use this skill many times in the outdoors. Taking a bearing is easy.

To get a bearing, take the compass in the palm of your hand and put it at stomach level. Point the direction of travel arrow at the target. Now turn the compass housing until the magnetic north needle moves exactly over the doghouse. Now read the degree that is over the direction of travel arrow. You now have a bearing.

Map Symbols This is a very important 2nd Class requirement. If you know what the map symbols mean, you have a much better chance of getting where you want to go.

You may wonder, "what do the all the colors on the map mean?" Well, its pretty easy, there are five different colors in a topo map. Green, white, blue, black, brown, and purple. Each color has a different meaning.

Green on any topo will always mean trees, bushes, forest. If its solid (big patches) green, its probably a forest or something with a lot vegetation.

White is just the apposite of green. No trees, bushes or forest. Completely barren of any vegetation.

Blue is really easy. Water. Any kind of water. Lakes, streams, well, creaks, springs, and even oceans.

Black. Everything is black is man-made. This includes all trails, roads, telephone lines, buildings and bridges.

Purple. Everything in purple is also man made, but was made a little more recently than the black stuff. An item will be purple if is the first time appearing on that map. That is, if it has been made since the last revision of the map.

All About Contour Lines You've always wondered what those weird lines were on the topographical maps. Well, now you can find out about one of the essential of Map and Compass skills.

Contour lines give a whole other dimension to maps. They take a plane old boring one dimensional map and turn it into a glamorous three dimensional model.

1. One contour line on a map is a single elevation. That is, the contour line is the same elevation where ever it is on the map. It may wind all over the place, but it always stays the same elevation. If you follow the dark brown contour lines(every five), you will find the elevation written on the dark brown line.

2. Contour Interval is the distance(usually feet) between the contour lines. If you look on the bottom of the map, near the legend, you will see what the contour interval is (its different on all maps, depending on the scale, but mostly its 40 feet).

3. The closer the contour line are together, the steeper the climb. If they are really close together or are overlapping, you'll find an abrupt drop like a cliff. The farther apart, the easier the walk. Plan accordingly.

Declination Declination can really screw you up if you don't know what your doing. If you don't account for declination while in the back country, you may end up miles of course.

Declination is the distance on your compass between true north and magnetic north. The map always points north and the compass always points magnetic north. You can change either map or compass to point the other way. When you do this on a compass, you are adjusting for declination.

The map always points true north. True north is at the top of the earth, at the north pole. Your compass always points magnetic north, which is about 700 from the north pole. The distance between true and magnetic north is called declination. Depending where you are on the earth, the distance between these two north's may grow or shrink. Find out what the declination is in your area. On the topographical map, it will say what the declination is. Look on the bottom, in the legend; next to or on the big V. When using the map you don't have to worry about declination that much because it's written on the map. But when you are using the compass only, that's when you need to know the declination.

For more detailed information on declination please see: www.cam.org/~gouletc/decl_faq.html