Years ago when I first started making some overnight hikes, I decided to learn how to use a map and compass. This was before GPS was common. I read and studied a book entitled "Be Expert with Map and Compass" by Bjorn Kjellstrom. I purchased the book from the old CampMor catalog. Anyone else remember the old CampMor catalogs that were illustrated on phone book-type paper? The end of each chapter includes quizzes and exercises just like a school text book to ensure that you can apply what you've just read.
After studying this book and doing the exercises, I was pretty confident that I could navigate successfully in just about any conditions so long as I had a good compass and a topo map. I used the knowledge while backpacking, and it works. Unfortunately, after many years of using a GPS and not nearly as much time off the beaten path in recent years, I forgot a lot of the skills I had learned.
One example of where a compass would come in handy as opposed to just looking at the sky to navigate is in a situation where intentionally "aiming off" your intended objective can save lots of confusion. Let's say you're headed for a unfamiliar river crossing located on a map and need to make it to a bridge to get across. Rather than taking a bearing directly to the bridge, it would be wise to aim off either above or below the bridge. Chances are when you navigate to a specific location miles away without a GPS, you will end up missing the objective by some margin. So if you arrive at the river without the bridge in sight, how would you determine whether you should head upstream or downstream to get to the bridge (or vehicle, or camp, etc.)? However, if you used your compass to intentionally aim off either above or below the bridge by some degree, you would know which way to turn to find it.
It's comforting to be able to look at a topo map in unfamiliar territory and with a compass be able to pretty much know where you are and where you are going at all times without electronic aids.
Last edited by CoalCracker; 09/02/18.
