From: Doug Franklin
Bob W wrote:
> When you get off the road and out into the countryside following a map is a
> lot more difficult. The main difficulty is figuring out where you are if you
> do go astray.
That's when it's "helpful" to be able to visualize the terrain features
depicted on the map and match them up with the terrain features around
you. I don't think it's something that can easily be taught, other than
by taking someone to a spot, handing them a good topo map of the area,
and pointing out the real terrain on the one hand and the map's
depiction of that same terrain on the other. At the end, it seems like
the map reader largely has to figure out how to do it on their own, and
some folks just don't seem to "think visually".
Not EASILY taught, but it can be taught. I did it for years. (and if I
can do it, anybody should be able do it, blah blah blah ....)
In the Army, it was a skill required for promotion. Some people learn it
just well enough to get through the test and then promptly forget it.
http://www.survivaliq.com/navigation/elevation-and-relief_par6.htm
There's tricks to figuring out where you are when you go astray.
But first, use techniques to keep you from going astray - deliberately
build in a slight bias to one side or the other in your course toward
your objective.
Suppose you have to go through the woods and come out to a road where
there's a store where your friends are supposed to be waiting with the
beer. And for whatever reason, you don't want to follow the existing
trails that lead directly to it. You want to do it the HARD WAY.
(Murphy's law of combat #5 - the easy way is always mined)
Deliberately set your course to come out off to one side at the road.
Then you'll know which way to turn when you reach the road.
In North America and Europe, any flowing water points towards human
habitation (eventually). You follow any stream and you come to a road
crossing it.
If you have an old fashion analog watch, point the hour hand toward the
sun; halfway between the hour hand and 12 points SOUTH - down under it
points NORTH.
If you have to move at night, you should know how to find & use the big
dipper and/or the southern cross to find north & south.
Put a stick in the ground. Put a rock on tip of the shadow. Find a bit
of shade and rest a while. Drink a little water. Now put another rock on
the tip of the shadow. The first rock is west, the second rock is east.
MARK YOUR TRAIL so that anyone who's looking for you can follow which
way you went.
But, if you are truly LOST, the best thing you can do is STOP MOVING;
stay where you are, make yourself some kind of shelter and wait for
someone who knows where they are to find you. You're easier to find if
you're not wandering around. It helps to make some noise occasionally.
Every one of those "little kid lost in the woods" tales that has a happy
ending goes "I couldn't see him, but I heard a noise ... and there he was."
I carry a loud ball-whistle. Nothing on earth makes that noise naturally.
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