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NOAA Magnetic Declination Map

Reader Poll: Does your Compass have a Declination Adjustment?

If you take a compass navigation class, the instructor is likely to teach you how to translate between magnetic bearings and “true” bearings, despite the fact that the grid lines on almost every map printed today are based on true north. One of the key reasons for doing this is to ensure that hikers who have [...]

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Height of land example

What is Height of Land?

The navigation term Height of Land is a phrase you’ll often encounter when reading hiking trip reports, trail descriptions, or guidebooks. But it’s very difficult to get a clear definition of what it means unless you ask someone who knows. Height of land is used to mean a local high point on a trail, road, or [...]

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Compass navigation

The Essential Wilderness Navigator

I have been reading a lot of books about compass navigation this year to improve my skills as an off-trail navigator and to figure out if there is a better way to teach compass navigation to hikers who want to learn it. The fact is, many people have a really hard time learning how to [...]

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Aiming Off Compass Navigation

Aiming Off – A Compass Navigation Technique

Aiming off is a cross-country navigation technique for finding a destination like a shelter or a landmark that is located along a natural or man-made landscape feature (also called a linear feature) like a stream, a ridge, or a path. Instead of setting a bearing directly for your target destination, the idea is to follow a [...]

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Garmin Colorado GPS

Reader Poll: Do you know how to use your GPS?

I had a reader contact me recently who wanted to learn how to use her GPS.  She wrote: That got me thinking – there must be other people out there in the same boat. I know this is a potentially embarrassing topic, but please share your experience . How many of you own a GPS [...]

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The Bonds from The Map Adventures Waterproof Map

Out of Date Maps in Digital Mapping Software

The first thing I do when I evaluate digital mapping software is to look at the accuracy of the maps provided or available with the software. You can have the best user interface or software features in the world, but if the maps you provide are inaccurate or out of date, I’m not going to use your [...]

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Off Trail in the White Mountains

Walking in Circles – Common Bushwhacking Mistakes

I got lost in the woods using a compass a few weeks ago when we were bushwhacking West Field, a seldom visited mountain peak near Crawford Notch in the White Mountains. I know how to use a compass quite well, so this experience was a real eye opener for me, and I’ve been thinking about [...]

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