/out/ - Outdoors » Thread #1758864

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Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 04:01:30 No.1758864 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>1758882 >>1759146 >>1759194 >>1760072 >>1760146 >>1761059 >>1761069

How do you use this? People always say take a map and compass in the woods in case you get lost. But why, especially when I don’t know how to navigate anywhere with one. If I’m lost, in the middle of the forest and all I can see are trees and no landmarks, what good is a map going to do me. I suppose at least with a compass I can just follow the direction of the arrow so I’m at least walking in a straight line.
Is this a boomer meme?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 04:02:29 No.1758866 Report

Quoted By: >>1758869

Unless you’ve majorly fucked up, you’re probably on a trail, and chances are that trail will lead to a landmark

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 04:04:22 No.1758869 Report

Quoted By: >>1758873

>>1758866
But then you’re not really lost so why do you need a map and compass

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 04:18:47 No.1758873 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758869
Wandered off the right trail, trying to find the right trail signs again

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 04:33:48 No.1758882 Report

Quoted By: >>1758885 >>1758886 >>1760080 >>1761071

>>1758864
the basics are this:

If you know where you are on the map, but not how to get where you want to go
>use compass to find where north is
>orient map so map is also pointing that way
>put centerpoint of compass on map where you are, with compass and map both pointing north
>use something straight to connect centerpoint of compass to where you want to go
>see which direction that is on the compass, that's the direction you need to walk in
>hold compass and face the direction you figured out you need to walk in
>walk in that direction, periodically checking compass to make sure you're not going the wrong way

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 04:38:08 No.1758885 Report

Quoted By: >>1758963 >>1758971 >>1760072 >>1762975

>>1758882
But what if you’re lost and don’t know where you are mon the map? People always say have a map and compass in case you get lost...

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 04:38:55 No.1758886 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758882
if you don't know where you are on the map:
>look for topographical features on the map that correspond to things you can see in the landscape (e.g. rivers, streams, mountains, valleys)
>go in the direction of those things until you can more specifically locate where on the map you are
>then you know where you are and can use >>1758882 to get where you're trying to go

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 04:53:06 No.1758898 Report

Quoted By: >>1758900 >>1758905 >>1758906 >>1759755 >>1760139 >>1760185 >>1762385 >>1763000 >>1763044

You guys must live out west. In the eastern kingdom, all we see is pic related. You have about a 40yd visibility max in any direction. Not a whole lot of distinguishable landmarks without finding a mountain and getting lucky and ending up on a cliff face.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 04:54:22 No.1758900 Report

Quoted By: >>1759771 >>1760185

>>1758898

THe_KvD !ZNBx60Gj/k

THe_KvD !ZNBx60Gj/k Sun 10 May 2020 05:02:07 No.1758905 Report

Quoted By: >>1758907

>>1758898
You generally know which road you took in and which way that runs. If you took a north-south road to your hike, and pulled to a parking lot on the west side of that road to begin hiking to the west, use your compass and walk east until you hit the damn road.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 05:02:13 No.1758906 Report

Quoted By: >>1760139

>>1758898

Yeah, east of the Mississippi I wouldn't go out with only a paper map, assuming I'm going to do backpacking or bushwhacking. It's so easy to get lost when your only points of reference are trees and the occasional stream. Not to mention washed-out trails, paths on the forest floor that disappear after a few yards, overgrown trails... it's a different story from much of the west.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 05:03:33 No.1758907 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758905

There is this though, most public lands are relatively small in the east compared to the west, so if you pick a direction and keep going you're bound to eventually come to a road before starving. Still, that ends your trip.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 07:04:33 No.1758963 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758885
Did you start out lost?
The time to start using the map is when you start hiking, not when you get lost
You use a map by looking at it at the beginning of a trip, and constantly during the trip
You maintain your relationship with the map instead of looking something up on your phone when you suddenly need it
It requires planning and awareness

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 07:25:57 No.1758971 Report

Quoted By: >>1758972 >>1759122

>>1758885
Get somewhere you can view two significant landmarks that can be found on the map. A bend in the river, valleys/mountains/other changes in elevation, etc.

Orient your map

Point compass at first landmark to read it's bearing.

Find landmark on map and scribe line at appropriate angle. You're roughly somewhere along that line.

Repeat with second landmark. You're roughly where the two lines intersect.

Optionally repeat with a third landmark to improve accuracy. Congrats, you've performed rough "triangulation," and should be within the resulting triangle of the three lines.

Now you know where you are and can go to the other anons post about figuring which way to go. Good, recent maps will also include an offset for "magnetic declination." This corrects for variation between true north and magnetic north and should be taken into account when orienting the map.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 07:30:44 No.1758972 Report

Quoted By: >>1760935

>>1758971
Correction: you adjust your compass for declination.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 14:43:36 No.1759122 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758971
This is good.

Reading a bearing is done by tilting the mirror down so you can see the face of the compass. It helps to pull the cord tight towards your eye to make sure the compass is level and pointed straight at your target. Rotate the outer ring until the red marks on the compass face are on either side of the red end of the needle (think "red in the bed") Your bearing can then be read as indicated at the top of the compass, provided your declination is set properly. Declination is simply an offset to account for the discrepancy between magnetic and geographic North.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 15:04:51 No.1759146 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758864
you could use the paper map and magnifying glass on the compass to make a fire

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 15:25:34 No.1759159 Report

Quoted By:

Pointing out the obvious but the lines on the map show the terrain. Closer together means you are going uphill or downhill. Further apart is flatter. You might not see landmarks but I would think you would know if you’re going up or down a hill.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 16:08:00 No.1759194 Report

Quoted By: >>1759198

>>1758864
In the woods, a compass is virtually useless unless you know what direction you need to go in. For example, the forest I'm usually in is aligned in north-south direction, and I'm entering from the east, so going east gets me out.
Only exceptions are natural forests (not planted by men and with little to no hunting) in temperate or arctic climate. Those are usually thin enough that you can still see the sky and tall landmarks (ex. mountains, steam clouds from powerplants), so you can at least navigat to some extent.

Normally, if you get lost in the woods, your best bet is to follow a flow of water. Then, once you're out of the woods, you can navigate with map and compass. Though in most of the western world, walking along a river will get you to a road, from where on you can just navigate by roadsigns even without a compass.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 16:15:46 No.1759198 Report

Quoted By: >>1759220

>>1759194
This really depends on the terrain in your locale. I'm currently in northern Alberta, where it's flat as fuck and the forest is quite dense. A compass is next to useless without a major landmark to orient myself. However, in the mountains it's easy to gain a bit of altitude, pick a landmark, and set a bearing to follow.

If you're going to be relying on something to lead you out of the middle of nowheres and you doubt your ability to use a compass, I would recommend you either get a GPS or don't leave the safety and comfort of your mom's basement.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 10 May 2020 17:03:06 No.1759220 Report

Quoted By:

>>1759198
>However, in the mountains it's easy to gain a bit of altitude, pick a landmark, and set a bearing to follow.
Only if those mountains aren't entirely covered in forest. And even then, I wouldn't want to spend half a day climbing a mountain just on the chance that I might be able to see landmarks from the summit.
In the woods, either use a GPS or follow paths or rivers.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 May 2020 06:04:11 No.1759755 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758898
Learn to read elevation markings as landmarks. pretty simple.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 May 2020 06:37:46 No.1759769 Report

Quoted By:

y'all would never survive the pathfinder course lol

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 May 2020 06:40:32 No.1759771 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758900
Wait, there's parts of the country where this environment ISN't the norm if you're innawoods?

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 May 2020 15:43:03 No.1760072 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758864
>>1758885
You really shouldn't go /out/ at all. And if you do anyway, inform your caretaker so he can lead you back home to the facilty if need be.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 11 May 2020 15:54:31 No.1760080 Report

Quoted By: >>1760132

>>1758882
> keep walking
> still lost
> realize /in/doorsman didn't tell you about true and magnetic north
> endup on page 8 in newspaper
Such is summer life on 4chan.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 May 2020 16:57:36 No.1760132 Report

Quoted By: >>1760185 >>1760885 >>1762383

>>1760080
declination is pretty minimal. If you're as much of a compass noob as OP, 15 degrees here or there isn't gonna make a difference

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 11 May 2020 17:04:12 No.1760139 Report

Quoted By: >>1763001

>>1758898
>>1758906
GTFO. Maybe you can't see but there is a road or trail somewhere close. Byproduct of logging every spot we could.Hell I cant ever go into a wilderness area that doesnt have a road/trail within 1 mile.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 11 May 2020 17:11:04 No.1760146 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758864
>http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=594856D4684FEE80CFF5FAE8EE81BA3C
>http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=FBCEC5BF32135B2D20186F1EAEF8AD97
>http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=BC09C81B7EBF9F215E656CC7A6717E8B

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 May 2020 18:01:16 No.1760185 Report

Quoted By: >>1760418

>>1758898
>>1758900
Mid Atlantic checking in, the latter half of this video covers proper route planning and briefly covers tips on keeping on route, how to correct a route, and what to do if you find yourself lost.

https://youtu.be/gn_yY6L8wy4

A lot of the time you're emergency plan can be as simple as a fixed bearing guaranteed to intersect some means of regaining your bearings. It might be a clear-cut where power lines, pipelines or railways run, or even just the road you drove in on.

Pack appropriately for the risks you'll take. You can probably leave behind the water filter or whatever for a short day hike on a clearly trodden trail if you've no plans to deviate from it. If you're going for a "day hike" innawoods with no pre-planning save for a surefire bearing back to a road/clear-cut/etc (maybe you just parked somewhere along Skyline Drive or picked some random Central PA game lands to wander) and you're not regularly taking bearings or being mindful of your pace to estimate distance travelled, you're putting no effort into not getting lost. You'll need to at least bring extra layers, extra water, filtration and probably shelter in case you'll be spending a couple days going up and down heavily wooded mountains until you can hit your designated way out.

>>1760132
15 degrees is a quarter mile off for every mile. That's pretty fucking substantial.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 May 2020 22:13:46 No.1760418 Report

Quoted By:

>>1760185
the sound of me clapping your asscheeks is substantial, BITCH.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 12:47:54 No.1760885 Report

Quoted By:

>>1760132
Confirmed for can't navigate for shit

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 13:51:50 No.1760917 Report

Quoted By: >>1760945 >>1760969

So this thread confirms that the vast majority of /out/ knows shit about navigating, and/or a map and compass is an utterly useless survival meme pushed by boomers.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 14:17:37 No.1760935 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758972
I adjust my map for declination. It has markings from which you can draw a line to use as N/S direction.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 14:30:14 No.1760945 Report

Quoted By: >>1760979 >>1761076

>>1760917
Both, more or less. I know how to navigate with compass (both the magnetic and the drawing tool) and map, but I'm probably the only one on here. And unless you're on a ship, in the air or on a wide open plain, compass and map are useless. And even then, they're only useful if you either have a clock and sextant (for navigating with the sun) or at least two visible landmarks.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 14:53:45 No.1760969 Report

Quoted By:

>>1760917
>vast majority of /out/ knows shit
well yeah lmao

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 15:06:06 No.1760979 Report

Quoted By:

>>1760945
As a native Floridians, it's absolutely possible to navigate with no visual (distant) landmarks; you just have to use your noodle and equate small terrain features with the map (eg the river I'm following just hooked north then west by a hill, just like this spot on my map)

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 16:11:33 No.1761024 Report

Quoted By:

I'd rather have a sat system and multiple redundant ways of ensuring it has power. But I like compass and maps because it feels like larping and learning things is fun.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 16:40:39 No.1761048 Report

Quoted By:

Here's a common use case of my compass for my purposes.
>follow firebreak to approximately west of a lake I want to visit, think I can see a break in the trees
>leave break, not nearly as downhill and much thicker than I anticipated
>old man's beard and succesionary pine keep visibility really low
>really wet forest from snowmelt, little rivulets everywhere make it impossible to go straight
>get to lake, can't stay to watch peak of the sunset, too much anxiety
>no way to know I'd be headed back to the break once I put the lake behind me since I forgot my compass at home last night.
Had I had it, I could have simply just taken a western reading in the complete dark and been fine.
Bring a small reliable compass everywhere; you don't need your orienteering merit badge, but being able to navigate off of known linear landmarks is incredibly helpful.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 16:54:09 No.1761059 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758864
Hopefully you will still be able to see landmarks (mountain tops, church spires, electricity pylons, etc). You find them on the map, take a bearings from a few and use that to find your location on the map. If you cant see anything though, well, yes, you are fucked until your view or the weather clears up and you can spot something. Navigating in a desert or arctic tundra is hard as fuck. Better than nothing though.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 17:07:11 No.1761069 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758864

let OP flat earther get lost and die, waste of effort to try and teach someone that stupid

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 17:08:34 No.1761071 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758882

nice job not putting grid/magnetic north conversions on there you palsy fuck, i hope the woods take your dumbass

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 12 May 2020 17:11:42 No.1761076 Report

Quoted By:

>>1760945

i bet you're the sperg who posted instructions earlier without conversions

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 13 May 2020 21:40:33 No.1762383 Report

Quoted By:

>>1760132
That's only true if you're going short distances and have very well defined terrain and a good map.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 13 May 2020 21:41:35 No.1762385 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758898
Pace count, map checks, and micro terrain is key there.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 14 May 2020 05:16:28 No.1762828 Report

Quoted By:

You don't. Rub your penis on a wool sock than spin around till you get an erection. This is the direction you need to go. Walk till you go flaccid than rub on a wool sock again and repeat the process till your where you wanna go.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 14 May 2020 10:41:25 No.1762975 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758885
>But what if you’re lost and don’t know where you are mon the map? People always say have a map and compass in case you get lost...
OK, so let's presume that:
>you wake up in the middle of nowhere
>you have a map, and we presume that where ever you are, your position can be found on that given map
>you also have a properly functioning compass
>you have a pencil and a liner too (tho not necessary, just helps)
What do?
>find north on the map
>find north with the compass and position yourself toward that direction
>draw a str8 line on the map toward north
>start your journey, attentive of your environment
>chances are, this str8 line intersects with a road
>once you find a landmark (road, sign, etc) you can relatively position yourself to this original line
>even if you find an impassable obstacle, it may help further pinpointing your location
>for every such event, you draw another line perpendicular to the original one
>i would say by line 3 you'd be pretty sure of your location (you just test more location in case you made a mistake by reading the first few)

At least, that's how I would attempt to escape this hypothetical situation.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 14 May 2020 11:56:50 No.1763000 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758898
This, sometimes the trails are so faint that you have to actually search for them.
This is why it's important to bring something to make trail markers with such as spray paint.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 14 May 2020 11:58:43 No.1763001 Report

Quoted By:

>>1760139
Look at your picture, when you walk in a perfectly straight line then yes you will reach a road or trail. When you're bushwacking and getting turned around you could walk parallel to that trail for 7 miles without ever knowing it was there.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 14 May 2020 13:04:47 No.1763044 Report

Quoted By:

>>1758898
Eh, you can run into the same out west, if you've ever gotten disoriented in laurels or early successionary thickets, you'd find the same thing in manzanitas. In bottom land you always have the way water runs and sun fleck, remember shit flows down hill.

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