The ‘Ten Essentials’ - Navigation
Every day you survive, you get a free sunset.
– Beans on Toast
Navigation
This article isn’t a lesson, a tutorial, or a “how-to-use-a-compass” entry. There’s plenty of map and compass tutorials out there and I don’t have any additional input on the subject. Map and compass are fairly easy to learn with preparation and I’ll provide some good links at the end of this post. This article comprises some thoughts about how I use navigation as a concept (while using a map, compass, and the land around me).
The 10 Essentials are a framework for managing risk. Being able to navigate confidently, whether faced with a blinding storm or a dead battery is critical for the safety of any wilderness traveler.
We have an extensive network of public and federal lands in the west, and exceptional trail crews creating walks into the backcountry. With all that laid out for us, it might seem that navigation is a skill without a purpose. And for most, that might be true. Trails are the highways of the hiking world, after all, and curated trails lead to some amazing places. That ease of travel, however, leads to outsized impacts on the land when too many people follow the same trails to the same places.
Trails on your favorite hiking app give you a line to follow, but maps give you freedom - it doesn’t matter if it’s digital or paper. Navigation allows us to design our own experiences and permit us to explore places the majority does, or can not travel to.
Maps
Maps probably seem pretty archaic or mundane to some. To me, they are fascinating pieces of graphic design with the power to stir up imagining of far away places. With a bit of practice, they help us arrange data in such a way that we can envision a landscape that we haven’t (or maybe will never) set foot on.
So, why does that matter beyond romance? Before I set out, I want to know if that 3 mile loop is actually a 1,500ft uphill slog for the first half, or maybe I want to have the freedom to navigate an impromptu route through the desert.
© Lee Corkett, 2024
Maps are representations of our world, in varying degrees of abstraction, illustrated and coded in such a way that we can foresee the peaks, valleys, drainages, and saddles - and make plans through and around those obstructions toward whatever destination catches our eye.
Compasses
I have a terrible sense of direction. My body basically thinks whatever direction I’m facing is north. It’s annoying. Part of being self-reliant is knowing your weaknesses and developing strategies to manage them. I would be quite literally be lost in the woods without a compass.
But compasses aren’t just about pointing my nose north. When coupled with a map and some easily developed skills, our compass orients our map to north, opening up the landscape before you from a bird’s eye view. Suddenly the squiggly lines of a topo maps relate to that saddle over here and that drainage over there.
It’s about orienting your body and your map to the world around you. Humans have been using orienting devices for navigation since around the 11th or 12 century, and “pole-indicating” devices for centuries before that. I won’t even go into the Viking “Sunstone.” Pretty cool.
Where to get physical maps
You can get maps directly from the U.S. Forest Service, but I prefer using a layered map application like Gaia GPS for my pre-backcountry preparations. For a variety of reasons, I might also use CalTopo, FatMap, TrailForks, OnX, or even AllTrails. There’s no shortage of resources and so there’s no excuse for not accessing and carrying a printed map.
Skills
Theory and my personal thoughts won’t really help you if you don’t have tangible skills. As I mentioned, I’m not going to dig into the details of maps, compasses, contour lines, or features of a landscape. There’s scores of resources already out there and I’ve provided some starting points at the end of the post.
Here’s a basic checklist of skills or concepts I’d recommend you practice until you’ve got it down:
- declination
- using a compass to orient yourself to north
- using a compass to orient your map to north
- topographic contour lines
- distance scales on maps (as well as understanding your walking speed on various terrains)
Know Before You Go
Always study a map of your route before you head out. It’s extremely easy to lose your bearings when:
- several routes share a trailhead.
- you take a wrong fork in the middle of trail, or
- several trails converge into one (imagine you’re heading back from an in-and-out walk, standing in front of a three way fork that wasn’t a concern on the way in)
Know more than just your trail
Here’s a map of a trail in the Santa Clarita Valley of Southern California.
In the case of an unexpected emergency - let’s say a landslide, a flash flood, or you simply lost the trail and couldn’t find it again - in which direction could you walk in order to return to safety? Is safety to the north, south, east, or west? Is it easier to walk east than south? There’s usually plenty of options, but you need to know what those options are and know which direction you’re facing in order to execute a plan. Being able to read a basic map and use a compass at its most basic level (finding north) could be the difference between a confident exit, or a very anxious experience.
Don’t rely on JUST your phone. Carry that compass.
GPS and map apps are invaluable. We all use them. They make our lives easier. But they are useless if your battery dies, you drop your phone, or you forget to download that map and you don’t have service (which happens quickly). A basic button compass is better than nothing and an easy addition to your 10 Essentials kit.
Navigation is like a story
- Where was I?
- Where am I?
- Where am I going?
Those three questions are all you really need to be able to navigate. It’s called Dead Reckoning. If you know 1) where you started on a route, 2) where you currently are, and 3) where you are intending to go, you will never be lost. If you can’t answer any one of those questions, you need to return to the last place where you COULD answer all three questions, and start again.
If you need to triangulate, you’re lost. Try not to get lost in the first place by always being able to answer those three questions.
Observational Navigation
The easiest (and oldest) form of navigation is “observational navigation.” You already do it and probably don’t realize it. Once you’ve taken a moment to study a map and can imagine a landscape before you set out, you can observationally navigate.
Use “handrails” and “backstops.”
Like those on a staircase, a handrail is something you can follow to a destination. A backstop is some sort of recognizable feature that indicates you’ve reached your destination, or an intermediary point.
Using the staircase analogy, the handrail is the thing you hold onto as you ascend the stairs, and the backstop is something you reach at the end of route up the stairs - maybe it’s the third level, a wall, or any recognizable feature.
Here’s some examples:
- I’m going to follow this route, and keep the canyon wall to my left (handrail) until I reach the creek (backstop). Then I’m going to cross the creek, turn left and follow it (new handrail) to some destination. On my way out, I’ll do the opposite.
- I’ll be taking this trail (handrail) for about 20 minutes, where I should come to a fork (backstop). I’m going to take the left fork. Trails are essentially handrails in and of themselves.
- I’m going to walk down this ridge (handrail) until I get to that meadow (backstop) I can see down there. When I get to the meadow, I’m going to keep the mountain on my right (new handrail) until I get to the parking lot.
Practice
All the above skills are “easy” and intuitive, once you’ve practiced them a bit. Easy is in quotes, because they do take practice. Below are some good introductory videos and articles about maps and compasses that describe the process at least as well, or better than I could myself. The best way to develop comfort with the skills and tools is to head out to a safe and known space to practice.
How I Use a Map & Compass to Navigate
Even if you live in a city, you can still practice these skills in an albeit simplistic, but still achievable way. When I was learning these skills, I was in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County. I set a route around my neighborhood to follow on a paper map with compass navigation (the map below is literally the route I set. It’s still in my map archive!). Very few cities are oriented truly north/south. You may be turning 90 degree right, but you’ll likely not be heading 90 degrees east! You’ll see what I mean when you try it. It’s an eye-opening and easy to manage experience. Once you figure out how to use and trust your new skills, you’ll probably find it more fun to use a compass than a GPS system.
Happy Navigating!
