Orienteering Tips

Ever been out on the trail and reach into your pack and found out you’ve forgot to pack your compass? Well there is a way to figure out your headings with your watch.

Aim the hour hand of your watch at the sun and half way between the hour hand and 12 o’clock is do south in the northern hemisphere and do north in the southern hemisphere. Yes I know, some of you use a digital watch. Draw the watch in the dirt with the proper time and you can find your way home from that.

Finding North:

Need to find north with out a compass? Take a stick and place it into the ground to form a shadow line. Put a stone at the end of the shadow and wait about 15 to 20 minutes. Now put a stone at the end of that shadow line.  Draw a line between the two stones and that’s your east/west line. Remember the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Using a Compass & Map:

Did you know our planet’s magnetic North Pole moves about 25 miles a year? That minor variation doesn’t dramatically affect navigation, but the 500-mile gap between magnetic north and true north does.

The difference between your magnetic and true north is called your declination. In our area the declination is anywhere between 14 ½ to 16 ½ degrees west of true or geographical north.  Take you compass and point it at an object in your yard that is due magnetic north. Now set you compass 15 degrees out and sight another object. Not to much of a difference close by is it? Well extend that difference out a mile or so and now you’re lost.

When I’m planning a trip into a new area I always pick up the newest topographical or trail map I can find and I start my map work at home.  Taking the map out, I find the declination and using a rolling ruler (You can find one at most dollar type stores) and lining it up with the magnet north arrow on the map I extend the line across the map with a pencil.  Now using this line I draw lines across the map about every inch or so. With this you can use your compass easily on any part of the map either to layout your trip at home or triangulate between three known objects in the field to figure out where you are.