As a Welsh bog-hopper, my navigation is all about avoiding the suck, keeping to high/dry ground and often following the rivers because I’ve got no choice. I’ve done so much wading icy “streams” that have become torrents due to heavy rainfall, that I always expect the worst. Felled sections can sometimes be even harder going, unless you’re lucky enough to find the caterpillar tracks the loggers have surfaced with branches. A forest mile on the map for me is often three miles on the ground. Keep up the great work. I’m loving your videos.
Ooh, hello fellow bog-snorkeller 😀 If there's one thing you can guarantee in the Cambrians, it's wet ground. I regularly get lost, but in a casual 'I know roughly where I am' way. Handrails are my go-to navigation method. I'll also make use of a farmer's quad track if it's going vaguely in the right direction. If all else fails the sheep usually have found the best route over/through/around an obstacle too.
@@MultiVogon Worst of it is being off the track and being able to see ahead precisely where you want to go, but being unable to take a straight line without having your boots literally sucked off your feet by the bog.
One needs to keep in mind when walking in the forest that obstructions are often encountered and really must be avoided by going around. Marshes, bogs, lakes and other wet areas are the worst, but even fairly large hills will take their toll on you if you try to go straight over. Areas of thick brush or areas that have been logged with tops laying every which-way can be tough. What often looks like a straight line A-to-B on a map is often very, very different when you are out there walking it!
Those obstacles could be used for reference points for navigation, but that also may take more time and effort trying to get to know the terrain. Still not a secure way, but it could help. If possible use map and compass too
Yes. There are some areas of Kielder where the lower branching of the trees is only 2 or 3 feet high very closely planted and areas where the trees are so young and densely planted in new furrows that you just cannot walk through them. They are not evident on maps. Some of the streams on OS maps are not much more than deep ditches that you might not be able to cross or get out the other side of unless you can jump and some are just too big to cross or amongst a wide deep boggy area that stops you approaching. I have also found myself in deciduous woodland with so many winding interconnecting tracks that it was just impossible to know which was which, you're not exactly lost but it was more like a maze with only one path leading to the right gate out.
Your "studio" being a clearing in a forest is much more appreciated than a boring stale studio like most other content creators. I like your style very much.
I was a Forward Observer attached to the Lite Infantry at Fr. Wainwright, AK, and so land navigation is what we did all the time. I loved it - those were the times I could go do my thing and be left alone without some overbearing jackass micromanaging or second guessing everything! As you know, when you get good at it then navigation in an unknown forest is as easy as following a highway map on a road trip. Practice practice practice!
Landnav courses were honestly one of my favorite things to do when I was in the Corps. I picked up on it pretty easily the first time it was introduced to me during boot camp and there was just something fun about it. When I was at 99 palms I'd go off and explore the desert by myself all the time
Got any navigation tips for swamp, like lower Louisiana where there is no elevation change, you can only see 20 yards in front of you. Everything I read says to sight to a distant landmark or look for elevation changes that we don’t have.
Good video. You covered the most important stuff. These are what I know about orienteering: 1. Handrails. You covered it. 2. Aiming Off. Aiming for the left of a handrail, then turning right when you get there (or right, left). 3. Attack Points / Collecting Features. You covered that. 4. Point To Point Navigation. You covered. 5. Pacing, Estimated. I can hike 100 meters on flat smooth ground in 59 paces (118 steps). It could take a lot more for elevation and rough terrain, but never less. 6. Boxing. To go around a big obstacle, turn 90 degrees, go X paces, turn 90, go X, turn 90, X paces, turn 90. You are X paces from your starting point, and avoided the obstacle. 7. Safety Direction. When you leave your car / the road, take a bearing backwards toward the road. That's your safety direction. If all else fails, hopefully you have a working compass, and can bushwhack (off-trail) straight back to the road. One or two small button compasses are nice to have as backup, in case one of them breaks or gets lost.
Re: Boxing - You may not be able to take such a structured approach (90 degree turns) when encountering an obstacle. You can also take another compass bearing when encountering the obstacle you are forced to go around. Hopefully there will be a tree or rock or other feature on the other side of the obstacle you can focus on. Then all you need to do is go around the obstacle (by whatever means) and go to to the "bearing point" (tree, rock, etc on your bearing line) and continue as before.
Classic Army Infantry Landnav principles! We called safety directions “Panic Azimuths” though. Practice honing those few basic principles, and you can easily navigate in about 95% of environments!
A safety azimuth once saved my butt during a winter section hike of the White Mountain portion of the Appalachian trail after I lost the trail at night.
@@RobinBaker49 Good point, especially in mountainous forest conditions and with additional poor visibility due to mist/low-hanging clouds, where there are no features to focus on. My personal "Panic Azimuth would then to take the straightest possible way downslope to reach any stream, cheer up quickly, and try to figure out how to reach your ultimate waypoint.
My dad served in the US Air Force as a translator. He didn't particularly want to and was completely uninterested, but it was the best thing he could do to make money with his French degree and knack for language learning. In basic training he was supposed to learn to navigate in the wilderness by the stars, but he didn't pay attention in the class part. During the test, he wandered around lost for a while, stumbled upon another recruit who knew what he was doing, and followed him at a distance to the meetup point. My dad was commended for his quick navigation lol. So, if you ever need to navigate the forest, just follow someone who knows how. Easy!
Long-time forest roamer here from the pacific Northwest of the USA, a region where Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, and Lodgepole pine (plantation species of the Keidler forest) grow natively. I agree with your take on forest navigation. It's a lot about interpreting map features and topography, and rough-and-ready bearings. And one frequently doesn't know exactly where one is. Which is not the same thing as being lost, I should note. One point I occasionally make to the trail-dependent, is that most trail-walkers don't know exactly where they are either, but they have an algorithm (following the trail) for getting to a known destination. So they're not lost, unless they lose the trail. Similarly, if I preserve general orientation in the woods and know that If I keep going in a given direction, I will eventually emerge at a known or identifiable spot, I am not lost, even if I am unsure within a kilometer of where I am. I applaud you for being invested in map and compass usage rather than a GPS device, or a mobile phone screen. It's more skill-demanding, sure, but it's much more robust. And I do believe also that over time it aids in developing terrain intuition, a "mental map", so that one does not need to consult map or compass often, or even at all in familiar terrain. And I think that's a good objective to work towards. Fiddle-faddling around with the map and compass takes time and breaks the rhythm. It's often much more satisfying to intuitively follow terrain. One should strive for efficiency, ease of movement, and that means navigating enough, but not too much. Use the heavyweight tools, such as precisely and slavishly following a compass bearing, only if you really need that precision. Most of the time, in woods or obstructed terrain, it'll just slow you down and drive you nuts. Follow the bearing sloppily, letting obstacles and terrain influence your path, and check once in a while to make sure you're not deviating too much. One thing I would note explicitly is that orientation is hardest in relatively featureless terrain with relatively poor visibility. In landscapes where the topography gives off strong signals, even if forested or with otherwise limited visibility (fog, dark) one can frequently rely just rely on topography without much reference to compass. One could say, in fact that the relative importance of compass vis-a-vis topographic map varies with terrain and visibility. Your instructional example relies on streams a lot as identifiable features. Over here in the US, even the best topographic maps we have, at 1:24000 scale, not infrequently get streams wrong, something I have learned the hard way. Mostly I think there is little field verification used on those maps, it is largely photographic interpretation, so a stream under unbroken tree cover may be missed or misplaced. Quite possibly UK ordnance survey map-making is more painstaking and better-funded. But the lesson still applies, I think, that one should learn what can be expected of one's maps. In large parts of Canada (British Columbia is what I know), the remoter and more interesting parts, naturally, the largest scale available is 1:50000, which takes a bit of getting used to. One striking and interesting and near-universal phenomenon which you do not mention is what I like to call (with apologies to Kenneth Grahame) "the terror of the wild wood". Being in trailless woods, particularly in situations of obstructed visibility (head-high brush, dark) has the capacity to really freak people out. It's built in, I think: we are visual creatures, and who knows what might be lurking out there? Bears? Tigers? Woozles? It is all very well for the rational mind to point out that there are no free-roaming bears, tigers, or woozles in the UK, the older and more primitive parts of our minds are still convinced that they are out there. The proper response to this fear is to condition it out through repeated exposure; over time one is as easy as Mr Darcy might be lounging in his deer park.
Great principles! Over 50 years ago my father taught me to always go downhill if I didn’t know which way to go…civilization is down. If you live in the mountains you understand the value of such a simple statement.
I live in Vancouver, BC and this is one of the things that gets a lot of people in trouble here funnily enough. We have a lot of mountains that are steepest near the bottom, meaning a lot of people start heading down to get out and end up stuck or injured by cliffs and gulleys. Our SAR teams have had so many calls for people in ski areas that have ended up injured and alone in these steep sections because they tried that. Of course, it's still a good rule of thumb, just need to take it with a grain of salt and analyze where you are.
Except when it leads you to an impassable dropoff, and, you can't go back up, and you die of starvation or hypothermia. Or the down leads you into a swamp/drainage that's further away from help. You really need to understand the terrain you are in. Sometimes dads aren't the experts we think they are
@@christopherellis2663 or, one direction leads you into an isolated drainage, further from help or resources, and the other leads you back to trails . Ideally you have an underhanding of the surroundings. Ideally you have a map and compass plus a gps unit. Ideally you don't get dangerously lost
I stupidly wondered off a path in a National Forest in Kentucky without a map or compass, and worse 1st time ever there. First time I had ever truly got lost. I was lost for about 20 minutes. What kept me from horribly getting in very deep dodo was I kept calm and before I walked off the path I looked up at the Sun. After about 15 minutes of a bit of wondering about I looked back up and from the position it was when I got started and at that point, I knew which way to go and when I walked back onto the path, I was about 5' away from where I first walked off it. True story.
Something similar happened to me right next to my own woodlot. (I live in SW NH, in a pocket of rural country surrounded by small towns & villages.) I'd gotten engrossed in photographing a subject from different angles, and when I finished & stood, realized I'd gotten disoriented. I knew I was only a few hundred yards from my own land, but in which direction? The closest road in the wrong direction was about 5 miles away. Just as panic started creeping in, I remembered it was early afternoon, so the sun had to be in the southwest; and I knew I was westerly of my property. So keeping the shadows to my 10:00 should bring me home; and in a matter of minutes, it did. I've since taught myself to use map & compass, but it's always reassuring having the sun overhead as a beacon.
@@lesnyk255 Daytime, understanding the path of the sun is essential. Nightime being able to find the North star (northern hemisphere) and reading the Southern Cross (southern hemisphere) will help keep you on track. These plus re-assessing your location/bearing every few hundred meters and using handrails like streams/rivers, fences, tracks will usually get you to some useful location eg. a bridge or road.
TO THE PRODUCER: This is the first video I have watched from this channel, but it was so good, so helpful, and nicely illustrated, that I will subscribe to learn more. I learned orienteering many years ago, and was taught in the military, but the tips in this video (so nicely illustrated by on the location footage) was VERY helpful along with the map visuals shown to correlate the features on the map with the scenes on the ground. Very helpful tips, I won’t forget. Thanks for producing the video! I look forward to learning more from you. Also I like how the video ended with a note about the relative size of forests in different locations. In the USA (and Canada) there can be very large forested areas, where someone can get lost easily, and many do. I also like how you showed the density of the forest too. Those make it very difficult or impossible to use typical “sight a distant object” techniques that are so often mentioned in books and lessons given by instructors. Your video shows how dense a forest can be, with undergrowth that prohibits any distant viewing, and makes hiking through it very difficult.
Another useful technique when you're headed for a linear object (stream, road, shoreline or whatever) is to aim for a deliberate miss. If it's a N-S road, aim so you will clearly hit it to the south of your intended target. Then when you get there you know that you'll need to turn left.
@@darbyl3872yes then use the stream as the "handrail" to find the junction. The problem I have found in places like Florida is that streams and ponds that are shown on the map are often very shallow and actually dry up in the heat of the summer. I also ran into this in the jungle of Panama where a water waypoint on a GPS had dried up during the drought.
Aiming off is not really necessary in a forest when you're heading to a stream/river as once you arrive it's very simple to locate your position. If you were heading towards a straight road, edge of forest, etc. it would be, but not a river. I have a video on “aiming off”. ruclips.net/video/2eQlZlKRlLM/видео.htmlsi=9L7h0Xl30MrKlUyp
Brilliant video sir, one of your best. How many times have I "doubted" my map and compass in favor of the terrain? Only because I was wanting it so, or too tired or very calorie depleted etc on the given day. I've seen others do it as well and fro me the crazy thing is, when my mind gets confused and starts to lie to me...I KNOW that it's lying but still find it's very hard to change my view point. A tip from an expert in dealing with bad map reading :-)...when in doubt, take a minute, grab a quick cuppa if you can or have a bite of food or just sit down and close your eyes for acouple of minutes, it'll save you time in the long run. That I can promise you. Here is central Sweden we have lots of dense forest and very little ground or small rivers...no tricks work here only solid map reading skills. Thank you again for the great video mate and Happy Christmas and look forward to 2024 with The Map Reading Company.
I've been back packing for decades and know my way around with map and compass; however, I learned something from this video that I hadn't thought about before. Pacing. It's tough to do where I backpack because of the mountains and rocky outcroppings that can really mess with pacing (Smoky Mountains in North Carolina). But, smaller segments should work. I'll put it to the test this summer. Oh, and the bit about your mind lying to you? Spot on advice!
I took a Hunter safety class that touched on emergency supplies people should have with them in the woods, and his tip here reminded me of that class. They said bring 2 compasses. If you get lost in the woods, there’s a good chance you’ll look at your compass and say “there’s no way that’s the right way out, I could swear it was the other way. This compass is broken.” If you have 2 it will prove to you that the compass isn’t lying.
Another tip for pacing is "pacing beads". They make pacing beads, but you can just gather, say, ten small pebbles and carry them all in your left pocket. Each pebble counts 10 paces.Count ten steps, take a pebble from the left pocket into the right pocket. !0 more steps, another pebble moved over. This becomes very helpful the farther you have to go. Even if you lose your immediate count (1-10), you are no more than 10 paces off where you should be. You can count the pebbles moved to get the big number (60, 70, 80). This only keeps up your step count, however. You have to know your own pace count for given distance.
Again, not always true. Moss will grow wherever there is shade, and sometimes that shade can be facing south. But it can be ONE tool used to determine your berring
I'm glad you talked about the difference between civilian and military. In my day if you walked along a stream, path or any other rail it got you a big fail on the course or deselected for certain units within the Army.
Hi, I'm doing a lot of forest navigation in a forest, to prepare for a course I'm doing later this year. I'm feeling confident and have walked checkpoints up to 3.5km, without using any tracks or roads and arriving pretty much on point, using my GPS to confirm my position. The techniques I implement are: - Walking on a bearing/Point to point - 'Up the guts' approach. - Aiming off - approximately 100-150m off target - terrain association - Checking for increases in elevation to confirm approximate location and direction. - Backstops - Using tracks and terrain features as a backstop to know if/when I have walked too far. The only doubt I have is that I don't use pace counting. In a forest, I have found: - my pace count to be wildly inaccurate and a waste of mental energy - Trying to following my compass bearing while counting my paces. - using the above techniques to be more effective in keeping me on track. My old orienteering club also didn't encourage pace counting due to its inaccuracy. Do you recommend I still practice it?
I see it as a tool that can help, but if its tripping you up maybe focus on it once all the other stuff becomes second nature. everyone is different, if you are getting results without it, and find it a waste of time/effort then don't worry about it
When orienteering you usually have a detailed map, so you can check your position every 50m or so with details on the map (rocks, reentrants, clearings etc). Pacing always give you a rough estimate, maybe 20% off depending on the terrain, and noly really useful when you have no details on the map to work with.
Great video. Thanks for braving the conditions to make it. I had to navigate a team through dense forestry commission land a good few years ago when we were doing an archaeological survey of land to be felled for a windfarm. It got very dark under the canopy there too. We had to walk transects to make sure we covered all the ground. Had to use the take a bearing onto a tree and walk to it method to do it accurately but it takes a huge amount of concentration to do that for 6-7 hours a day (was that the tree? No, this is the tree. Ha). We managed it though. Staying together in the dense areas was also a challenge. Definitely picked up a few extra techniques from your video that I could have used. Oh, one extra complication. We kept finding empty plastic bottles tied to trees that had a pencil, a note and a picture of a heavily tattooed guy with his top off (face obscured). The note said that he came up to this woodland to practice naked yoga and to leave your name if you were insterested in joining him! That added a tiny bit of fear to the whole proceedings! There are some strange people out there.
Thank you! A brilliant and very clear presentation of the realities and the practicalities of deep forest navigation. I spend a good amount of time in the backcountry of the Adirondack and the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York and I am constantly dismayed by the number of hikers that I encounter who do not carry a compass or a map, instead relying entirely upon a smart phone or a GPS as their lone means of finding their way home.
I wonder if we've met Out There? The Cat's and 'Daks are my stomping ground, too! And you won't find me there without a compass and a paper map - in addition to my altimeter and my GPS. I use GPS only to check my work -- often an hour or more will go by with the smartphone sitting in my pocket. I was struck by how sort-of-open the forest in the video was - not like the balsam-and-spruce that we swim in. There's nothing like deriving an half-arsed fix by altitude and aspect because you don't have a clear view ten yards in any direction!
I really appreciate the skills you are demonstrating. Yes, I passed the military test by demonstrating good map to ground skills in very similar terrain, and also yes you tend to avoid the more obvious routes if you can because that is a good way to get ambushed. I think I also saved my own and a companion's life once. We were in the channel country in northern Queensland (Australia) on a short hike hunting away from the vehicle. When it was time to return my companion headed off... in exactly the wrong direction. This pretty well surprised me because I had always thought of him as having some serious bushcraft skills, so it took a few minutes of double checking before I pulled him up. He actually took some convincing since I was just using sun position, but eventually he had to concede that he was heading west, when we really needed to be heading east. After some walking we got back to the road, about 100 meters from the vehicle. It was only after this that I remembered the warnings about the channel country. It's very easy to get turned around in there because it's almost impossible to walk a straight line. It's heavily wooded, criss crossed with "channels" that are too numerous to map or memorise, and there's no high features to navigate from. We were also very unprepared if we had got lost, and seriously would not have lasted very long in the hot humid conditions of that landscape. We were extremely dehydrated when we did get out, and I no longer go out so unprepared and thank my army training for my survival. I now always have a lensatic compass and water on my belt, and I'm adding a very basic GPS to it as backup for crosschecking. In fact, on subsequent hikes we did on that trip, I always took my webbing with all it's essential tools. Lesson learned.
Living in central Pennsylvania, USA, we have lots of forest, streams, and greatly varying topography... and few open vistas... unless you are on a ridge top! Your video is great for the navigating I am learning to do. One complaint I have about the maps I have available in Pennsylvania is that most of them do NOT have radio towers, water towers, and other highly visible manmade features marked!! So I use Google Earth to find them and add them to my maps BEFORE I go out and use those maps.
The problem is that a ton of maps are derived from the USGS topos, and USGS was deeply defunded during the George HW Bush administration and never recovered, so the topos are horribly out of date. You might want to check out OpenStreetMap-derived sources like CalTopo to see if they're any more current. (I've done a lot of mapping for OpenStreetMap - if you get out a lot, you might want to consider joining the project.)
I've just started with compass and map navigation and find your videos very helpful and they're fun to watch too. I also love your "waffling". Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Hats off to you Sir, very well done and exactly the way I’ve been doing it for the past thirty years here in Northern New Mexico. I still love my paper maps and compass over electronics and a valuable trait too have. Keep training those willing to learn 👍🏻
I was always Mr. USGS map and compass guy for whatever outdoor adventure. One of my college buddies I went on adventures with got a Garmin GPS in 2005. Over the next year, he would whip out his GPS and do instantly what took me a few minutes to sort out with my map and compass. After a year of my map and compass being all but useless backups on our adventures, I left them at home for a trip. You can probably see where this is going... We decided to do a long snowshoeing backpacking trip deep into the wilderness around the middle for of the Snoqualmie river. At the start, we had easy snowshoe tracks to follow, then it started snowing so the tracks vanished, a thick fog settled in, and about 3 miles up a very gradual valley the GPS died due to dead batteries and he didn't bring extras. In these conditions there was no real way to find the trail, but, we could follow the stream/river back. And when I say "steam", I mean the the headwaters of a river with a series of box canyons and waterfalls... Needless to says, we had to endure a very sketchy bushwhack until we found our way back. And I learned my lesson and am back to being Mr. USGS map compass guy, even if it doesn't seem necessary.
Another thing is that GPS is not always 100% reliable even when batteries are working. A satellite signal can get interrupted by things like weather, reflections from various surfaces, other radio frequencies, intentional jamming, solar flares... It may be fine most of the time but if your life and safety in a remote area depend on it that's not a good risk. The only thing that really messes with a compass are weird magnetic fields, like an area highly rich in iron. Common sense begs the question - when your life is on the line are you going to rely on an ultra-complex tech that's 12,550 miles overhead or simple, time tested tech and skill?
I learned to use a compass strictly from youtube videos. I went out to the middle of the Adirondacks, marked a point on the map that interested me and practiced. my trick was downloading a map of the area on my phone before hand, and double checking my work against my GPS. after a few times it became relatively easy. the most important thing is getting out and doing!!!
Liked and subscribed. Ive over 40 years of navigation experience, this is the best tutorial ive seen by far. Teaching is very different than understanding! Great video. Cliff. Devon.
loved this, dont watch these topics as it used to be my job and Im retired now, like to think about other things, lol. This is not an argument but more of how those in the job of Forest Measurements, assesment of forest with sample plots is done. Your description of military had me laughing, having bumped into them on training excursions, they are more task oriented, lol. But I have to say, while canoing a lake a guy in military gear just drops out of the forest onto the beach, we stop and my buddy making small talk asks where we are, This guy pulls out a map, compass, pencil , and ruler (2 seconds), triangulates two mountain peaks, (10 seconds), transphers info to the map and points to a spot on the beach and declares," Sir, you are standing right here, Sir", we were impressed. Turns out he was running a trail reconnacence for a military group bush wacking canoes (you cant get more Canadian than that!). Yes I worked in that vast Canadian stuff. Forest Management objectives make this more of a surveying exercise, but the skills may transpher to the average forest user. This is a statistical exercise, sample plot locations predetermined locations, 50 to 200m spacing typical. All distances are map distances, not ground traveled, so pacing is a joke, compass and chain (measuring tape). A day in the life: A crew will be dropped in some dank swamp to set up camp by helicopter in an area of rolling terain, swamps, moose and Grizzly. At night the crew boss pours over ariel photos of area of interest the next day, he draws on the photos routes with headings and map distances that will meet the statistical needs. This route is in an area none of us have been to, they will fly us to the swamp closest to our starting point and we expect to get picked up just before dark in another swamp (clear landing areas), this gets fun later! I work as the compassman, when I land I have no idea where I am and they hand me the photos and the other guy says get me to the end of the traverse, usually a lone tree on a swamp edge you can identify on the photo. We strangly did not need maps for contours, objective is follow a route, and you had to deal with what ever got in your way, as long as you got to that swamp. The compassman went first, taking the first bearing and walking as far towards a plot as terrain would allow, take a slope reading back to the guy on the back end of the tape, make a little triagle to see how far you actually went on the map walking up that slope. So compassing, some times you could see to the next plot, or 20 meters and a rock bluff, the line must go on. If your compass heading pointed you right at a tree you could not see beyond you measure up to the tree, measure the width of the tree, stand up aganst it on the other side and continue from there. IF you could see clearly just 1 degree either way you cant deveate from the route, errors compound! im sure in compassing tips you have mentioned you get the straightest line the farther you look for the end reference, so if standing with bush in your face look over it, and the farthest thing, rock/tree, look at that while punching through the brush. I did this in area I would say was more mountaous and you could use a tree on a mountain peak miles away, just keep walking that way. Talked to a guy mowing a golf green, aksed how he was getting the lines so straight. He pointed off the Island we were on towards North America proper and said IM looking at that mountain, about 60 miles away. Lastly that last tree in the swamp at the end, the satisfaction time. I would get to the last bearing that would take us to that last traverse point for the day, several kms, totally strange terrain, the other guys says stop, not wanting you to take that last bearing, he passes you and walks out to the tree, you can see it and as he would get to the tree he would declare..."now lift up your compass and my face better be in the compass sighting knotch". A quick note specific to the navigate and forest, a couple of things I dont know if I just developed it,but allot of getting out there is a process of observation, when you park the truck what position is the sun in, its expected track over the next few hours, then run a mental tab of terrain changes as you go using the sun or those long distance ridge top trees, etc. Funny thing is 26 years in the bush, got lost briefly once, 8 guys, two trucks, onne map, 8 opions of where we parked the trucks. When we spent longer than we thought it should to intersept a road below us, never saw one and hit the valley botttom (creek).8 guys wondering how coud so many folks be lost? Stay safe out there!
Interesting subject, as an MIC , Orienteering coach and a former Soldier I have always dissected navigation into the following disciplines which has served me well for 50 years: Close country, Open Country, Mountain and Urban. It is my opinion that Close country, Forest, Woods and Jungle is the most demanding. As a young soldier? I particularly remember Parachuting into Germany once and having to set up an Echalon in a Large forest and using Map interpretation the ground looked nothing like the map.... Lesson learned, I ll let you do the maths, I'm not here to lecture on the different environments. One bit of advice for all avid navigators? If you want or need to nav well and consistently in Close Country? Then concentrate both your training and efforts on 'Micro Navigation' ... Orienteering is a fantastic discipline in which to start.... Good luck... Great video mate 👍👍
I was fortunate enough to live in a very remote rainforest on the coast of Australia in the early 80s. I learned how to orient myself under a full canopy and know basically where I was when a kilometre into a dense canopied forest. But I was lucky. I learned that stuff from childhood. I can read a map and navigate with a compass in unfamiliar areas as you're describing.
Some people also naturally have a better sense of orientation than others. Their brains take better subconscious note of where they've been compared to where they are
Where I live there are thousands of miles of forest in just about any direction you choose, so learning to read the land and navigate are very important. I did not realize the amazing quality of OS maps until I came here where the topo maps are no where near the same quality. my whole concept of scale had to change in these mountains. navigating in the brecons is much different than here in the rockies., great video nicely presented . as I always tell people that head out with me . I dont always know where I am but im never lost.
Great video. Thank you for doing the hard yards to make this a real and informative video. I particularly liked the discussion pieces when going from or to certain objectives. I think it is really important to understand the strategy before moving off and then conforming that you have arrived at the point you intended to. The water courses of small streams can be affected by so many variables, logging, natural dam, heavy rainfall etc. This piece of the video was especially important and useful. Thank you.
I've recently started exploring a very dense Pine woodland. After getting lost several times I've realised the best way to navigate is contour lines. There's nothing to take a bearing off as you can't see anything but the trees around you but easy to know if you're walking up or down! Thanks for the instructive video!
One thing that threw me was when I was struggling to locate the river I'd marked out on the map. Turned out the "river" was the one centimetre deep puddle I was standing in. Likewise, "footpaths" on maps are not always nicely formed paths but sometimes just inaccessible areas that aren't worth following. Lesson learned.
I really enjoy your Videos. I started to lead a boy/girl scout group and learned how to use a compass there. Since than my interest in orienteering has risen to the point that I wished for a Silva Ranger S compass for Christmas. 😂
A well crafted presentation. Land navigation isn't about " tricks ", it's about learning to read maps and use a compass. As stated, practice in friendly environments, you will make mistakes until your skills improve. As with a majority of things in life, preparation and recognizing your limitations is key.
I love the enthusiasm of your teaching. By the way that little grey spot on top of your head means your always on the right spot and we have a target to head for.
Excellent video, I did my MLC assessment years ago and the night nav started in a forest. It was a nightmare as the forestry commission let foot paths overgrow and make new ones where it suits them and also cut down small and large areas of woodland. Out of all the assessment for navigation I recon in the trees is the hardest ..I now always carry a GPS not for the maps but for the ability of getting an accurate GR...
Thanks Laurie (means a lot coming from one ML to another). Have you got OS locate for the GR’s? I always recommend that to my participants as it's a free app. It’s only down to 100m but for most uses that close enough.
Hi. Another ML here. I do most of my work with DofE students learning navigation so found your video an especially helpful reminder of those basic skills. I have subscribed and will use as part of my CPD. Thank you. Btw: I have heard OS Locate is no longer available to download (no substantiated as I already have it) but found out that Whst Three Words has an option to give grid reference too.
Thanks for keeping it real! Your instructions and demonstrations are invaluable for real-life navigation. A question: Don't natural features, like streams, change over time? How recent is your map and shouldn't that be an important consideration to avoid incremental changes of landmarks during this type of navigation?
While waterways change over time it happens very, very slowly in most cases. Geologic time scales most of the time. Human activity may also change geologic features but usually aren't a problem in this kind of situation. In fact, when I had to check with the State Archeologist about archeological sites, he always wanted a topographic map because surface features like woods and even human activity change but the large scale lay of the land does not.
You have really great content. I would watch this any day over Man vs Wild or even Survivorman. I originally watched your "no one can read this compass" video and really liked your knowledge and personality. Very humble, teaching real things. I'm sad to admit I've never learned how to properly use a compass at 35yo until today. Keep it up.
Thanks sir, I just learned to use a compass this week. Your video is timely, I am going to use this info to bushwhack 80 miles across the forest in eastern Maine. I’ll let you know how it goes. 😂
I was a forestry worker for a time. Sighting compass and air photos were standard.....the mantra was " stay found".....later I joined an orienteering club....so much fun . Those rivers and roads were called handrails.b
I love this, very useful I'm prepping for my first back country trip without trails so This was a great video to brush up my map reading and navigational resource! I'm gonna look through your other videos too :)
10:00 my plan before watching the rest of the video: go east until you reach the creek, then go up south, which is up hill, so that you can get to the other side of the creek. the creek will eventually head east, then southeast, then northeast. when it heads northeast you're almost there, but i don't know exactly how to navigate from there.
Fantastic videos sir. You offer excellent information and explain complex concepts in a way most people could understand if they thought about it enough. Well done.
Okay, okay, Mr. Map Reading, I came from a different school--time with traditional natives here in Canada. I have never used a compass, but once, and only to confirm the direction I believed to be true by looking at the tree roots, the branches (both for the weight on which side and also to see where they point). Do those "old ways" work? My proudest moment was finding the friends I was searching for at an encampment in an off-and-on snowstorm about 15 miles into "trackless" bush, ...at night!! Those observations do work. But, I tip my hat to you as you have shown a much easier way to navigate than mine (I call it "mine" as I have made it my way of looking at the woods). What you showed, quite simply, was a wonderfully easy way for anyone to find their way around the bush. I even learned something from your video that I will try next time out. I liked and I subscribed, keep it up!!
Missing audio aside, I had to give this episode a thumbs up. The good information I was able to glean makes it worthwhile. On a side note, the terrain and flora make it almost like my home the PNW of the U.S. Wet, thickly forested conifers interspersed with deciduous trees and shrubs. Great video.
Hi Tom, same answer as I gave to Tom. I don’t think the Rode Wireless GO II microphones are really designed for the British winter weather which is basically rain 😀 I did spend a long time trying to clean the audio, but I’m not an expert with DaVinci Resolve so maybe someone else could have done it better. To start with there was no sound on L1. What’s on the video is an L3 and L4 mix. Not brilliant, but hopefully folk will understand that working outside is not always ideal for filming.
Very useful info. If it's a planted conifer forest there should be gaps left for harvesting equipment every few trees. And those gaps run in straight lines.
I greatly appreciate your teaching. Your delivery methods hold my interest and your content is spot on, at least it is for me. I have observed more than a few other teachers,and I fine I have learned more from you than any other. Thank you!
What is also important to add in my opinion, is to avoid such dense wild forests if you dont know them well or dont have a local with you, because its where the bears and other deadly animals live! At least its what we learn in Russia from young age :) and yes some forests are so big that if you get lost you might end up walking HUNDREDS of km before meeting anyone or anything. Great video!
Fascinating subject and excellent presentation. I was giddy to hear that my intuition was spot on, at least this time. It brings back memories of being "lost" in the forest as a child.
Great looking studio. I have always thought even a rainy day outside is better than a day warm and dry at work. Thanks for this. I tend to get a bit turned around a bit in heavy forest.
Amen. Always believe your compass. When navigating in the massive forest of the Pacific Northwest in the United States I have the compass on a shoestring around my neck. A compass it the last thing you want to lose.
Your visual cortex remembers EVERYTHING well enough for you to recognize where you've been, helping you by recognizing reversed images. This long ago caused me to wonder about the strongly dyslexic female climber who instructed me. Was she, and other dyslexic people, just a little too freely imaging what i was doing in forests and strange places like coral reefs, just pre-emptively noticing things, making it easier to downclimb? Recognition of familiar living or other shapes brings exhilaration! When you allow yourself to FEEL this, the "skill" of reversing direction NEVER leaves you.
Very good video .. covers the basics well , in a very understandable way .. from a US Army wrecker driver who learned land navigation from artillery school .
7:50 Is it an advisable technique to, on purpose, aim besides the location you want to go? So for example instead of the ~60 degrees, you aim for ~70 degrees, so that you are fairly certain you end up on the south side of your intended location, and just follow the river northwards? I love the visualization of the map and compass versus the real world features. Its awesome. The examples are great, truly a hidden gem on youtube.
Good video, glad to see navigating videos. Every one should learn to navigate before going into the woods. Boy scouts, college class, army ranger training r some ways to get this knowledge.
Excellent video. All best practices. Remember, waypoint are critical. I do not know if you cover them in a different discussion. In your scenario, I planned a 100 deg heading, expecting a waypoint at 1st stream. If not encountered in expected time, deduce an actual heading in excess of 100. Terrain, individual characteristics or confirmation bias brought me caused deviation to right. In any case, continue 100 deg bearing. Encountered waypoint excellent reference point if retrace required due to distraction from route (mishap, animal encounter, excessive weather event).
My wife and I went out for our usual woodlands walk we went every weekend we were so confident we knew the way we didn't bother taking a mobile phone or cumpass only this time we had a snow storm all the the paths got covered in snow and everything looked so different it took us ages before we found our way back to the car Alec from Scotland
I've always been able to get around thru the woods fairly well but had a humbling experience headed out fishing on a very foggy morning. I wanted to motor 3 miles to the opposite side , headed out and held a straight course or so I thought. There was maybe 2 hundred yards visibility and when I finally sighted docks along the shoreline again , I was a quarter mile from my starting point. I would say my ability to operate watercraft in conditions like that morning , safely , as well as getting back home is commendable even if my fishing aint.
9:10 made me have a good laugh hahahahaha excellent video! very impressed, in the first minute when you said the audio was bad due to the mic being waterlogged, I knew that instant I was going to get good advice. Feeling very informed! Thank you!
Thank you ever so much, another brilliantly executed description of navigating through a difficult environment. I'm really good at getting lost, which is unfortunate, because I walk a fair bit in the Cambrian Mountains, wherever there's forestey bits (my dogs love forestey bits:)).
Great video, thank you so much for the information and knowledge! About the audio quality drop around 19:30, I noticed it seems to end up being only from the left side, perhaps a post edit making that segment mono instead of stereo would have "fixed" the issue?
@@TheMapReadingCompany I get that it rained, but that does not explain why I only get audio in the left ear for that single segment? (Unless you use two or more microphones for stereo sound and only one of them failed?) Overall I found the audio quality more than good enough!
Thank you so much for your most helpful video. I am learning navigation and have read a couple books. I know it takes a lot of experience to, so I need to practice a lot more.
Thank you, love your style and use of proper examples rather than best case scenarios. Also the audio was fine for me, the work you did to clean it up paid off. Even that later section where it was noticeably different was still completely comprehensible. 👍
As a Welsh bog-hopper, my navigation is all about avoiding the suck, keeping to high/dry ground and often following the rivers because I’ve got no choice. I’ve done so much wading icy “streams” that have become torrents due to heavy rainfall, that I always expect the worst. Felled sections can sometimes be even harder going, unless you’re lucky enough to find the caterpillar tracks the loggers have surfaced with branches. A forest mile on the map for me is often three miles on the ground. Keep up the great work. I’m loving your videos.
Ooh, hello fellow bog-snorkeller 😀 If there's one thing you can guarantee in the Cambrians, it's wet ground. I regularly get lost, but in a casual 'I know roughly where I am' way. Handrails are my go-to navigation method. I'll also make use of a farmer's quad track if it's going vaguely in the right direction. If all else fails the sheep usually have found the best route over/through/around an obstacle too.
I wanna go hiking with you. That sound fun
@@MultiVogon Worst of it is being off the track and being able to see ahead precisely where you want to go, but being unable to take a straight line without having your boots literally sucked off your feet by the bog.
As long as you avoid the Boglim
@@IDoBeSmarter Aaaaagh! The Boglim!
One needs to keep in mind when walking in the forest that obstructions are often encountered and really must be avoided by going around. Marshes, bogs, lakes and other wet areas are the worst, but even fairly large hills will take their toll on you if you try to go straight over. Areas of thick brush or areas that have been logged with tops laying every which-way can be tough. What often looks like a straight line A-to-B on a map is often very, very different when you are out there walking it!
that's why it's called .. 'bushwhacking' ..
Those obstacles could be used for reference points for navigation, but that also may take more time and effort trying to get to know the terrain. Still not a secure way, but it could help. If possible use map and compass too
Yes. There are some areas of Kielder where the lower branching of the trees is only 2 or 3 feet high very closely planted and areas where the trees are so young and densely planted in new furrows that you just cannot walk through them. They are not evident on maps. Some of the streams on OS maps are not much more than deep ditches that you might not be able to cross or get out the other side of unless you can jump and some are just too big to cross or amongst a wide deep boggy area that stops you approaching. I have also found myself in deciduous woodland with so many winding interconnecting tracks that it was just impossible to know which was which, you're not exactly lost but it was more like a maze with only one path leading to the right gate out.
Yes indeed, that is where you really require a proper compass with bearings do you can "walk back" to your original path ❤
Your "studio" being a clearing in a forest is much more appreciated than a boring stale studio like most other content creators. I like your style very much.
It also means that you making a video and not a podcast.
I was a Forward Observer attached to the Lite Infantry at Fr. Wainwright, AK, and so land navigation is what we did all the time. I loved it - those were the times I could go do my thing and be left alone without some overbearing jackass micromanaging or second guessing everything! As you know, when you get good at it then navigation in an unknown forest is as easy as following a highway map on a road trip. Practice practice practice!
Land nav practice was always great. I had everyone convinced I was hopeless at it so I could stay out way longer lol
Landnav courses were honestly one of my favorite things to do when I was in the Corps. I picked up on it pretty easily the first time it was introduced to me during boot camp and there was just something fun about it.
When I was at 99 palms I'd go off and explore the desert by myself all the time
You were a liability
@@dungeonmaster6292 💩👀🤦♂🤷♂
Got any navigation tips for swamp, like lower Louisiana where there is no elevation change, you can only see 20 yards in front of you. Everything I read says to sight to a distant landmark or look for elevation changes that we don’t have.
Good video. You covered the most important stuff. These are what I know about orienteering:
1. Handrails. You covered it.
2. Aiming Off. Aiming for the left of a handrail, then turning right when you get there (or right, left).
3. Attack Points / Collecting Features. You covered that.
4. Point To Point Navigation. You covered.
5. Pacing, Estimated. I can hike 100 meters on flat smooth ground in 59 paces (118 steps). It could take a lot more for elevation and rough terrain, but never less.
6. Boxing. To go around a big obstacle, turn 90 degrees, go X paces, turn 90, go X, turn 90, X paces, turn 90. You are X paces from your starting point, and avoided the obstacle.
7. Safety Direction. When you leave your car / the road, take a bearing backwards toward the road. That's your safety direction. If all else fails, hopefully you have a working compass, and can bushwhack (off-trail) straight back to the road. One or two small button compasses are nice to have as backup, in case one of them breaks or gets lost.
Re: Boxing - You may not be able to take such a structured approach (90 degree turns) when encountering an obstacle. You can also take another compass bearing when encountering the obstacle you are forced to go around. Hopefully there will be a tree or rock or other feature on the other side of the obstacle you can focus on. Then all you need to do is go around the obstacle (by whatever means) and go to to the "bearing point" (tree, rock, etc on your bearing line) and continue as before.
Classic Army Infantry Landnav principles! We called safety directions “Panic Azimuths” though.
Practice honing those few basic principles, and you can easily navigate in about 95% of environments!
A safety azimuth once saved my butt during a winter section hike of the White Mountain portion of the Appalachian trail after I lost the trail at night.
@@RobinBaker49 Good point, especially in mountainous forest conditions and with additional poor visibility due to mist/low-hanging clouds, where there are no features to focus on. My personal "Panic Azimuth would then to take the straightest possible way downslope to reach any stream, cheer up quickly, and try to figure out how to reach your ultimate waypoint.
My dad served in the US Air Force as a translator. He didn't particularly want to and was completely uninterested, but it was the best thing he could do to make money with his French degree and knack for language learning. In basic training he was supposed to learn to navigate in the wilderness by the stars, but he didn't pay attention in the class part. During the test, he wandered around lost for a while, stumbled upon another recruit who knew what he was doing, and followed him at a distance to the meetup point. My dad was commended for his quick navigation lol. So, if you ever need to navigate the forest, just follow someone who knows how. Easy!
In the army they tell you how to shoot an azimuth and all this other stuff. I literally navigated completely by landmarks and did quite well.
Instructions unclear....Followed a bear home and now I have to be a dad to 3 bear cubs.
The hiker knows where he is, because he knows where he isn't.
Get off of reddlt, it is rotting your brain.
However the hiker must know where it was.
Not always. You can use terrain association to determine your approximate location even without knowing where you are to start @@osXFan
Missile copypasta
you always are where you are.
Long-time forest roamer here from the pacific Northwest of the USA, a region where Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, and Lodgepole pine (plantation species of the Keidler forest) grow natively. I agree with your take on forest navigation. It's a lot about interpreting map features and topography, and rough-and-ready bearings. And one frequently doesn't know exactly where one is. Which is not the same thing as being lost, I should note. One point I occasionally make to the trail-dependent, is that most trail-walkers don't know exactly where they are either, but they have an algorithm (following the trail) for getting to a known destination. So they're not lost, unless they lose the trail. Similarly, if I preserve general orientation in the woods and know that If I keep going in a given direction, I will eventually emerge at a known or identifiable spot, I am not lost, even if I am unsure within a kilometer of where I am.
I applaud you for being invested in map and compass usage rather than a GPS device, or a mobile phone screen. It's more skill-demanding, sure, but it's much more robust. And I do believe also that over time it aids in developing terrain intuition, a "mental map", so that one does not need to consult map or compass often, or even at all in familiar terrain. And I think that's a good objective to work towards. Fiddle-faddling around with the map and compass takes time and breaks the rhythm. It's often much more satisfying to intuitively follow terrain. One should strive for efficiency, ease of movement, and that means navigating enough, but not too much. Use the heavyweight tools, such as precisely and slavishly following a compass bearing, only if you really need that precision. Most of the time, in woods or obstructed terrain, it'll just slow you down and drive you nuts. Follow the bearing sloppily, letting obstacles and terrain influence your path, and check once in a while to make sure you're not deviating too much.
One thing I would note explicitly is that orientation is hardest in relatively featureless terrain with relatively poor visibility. In landscapes where the topography gives off strong signals, even if forested or with otherwise limited visibility (fog, dark) one can frequently rely just rely on topography without much reference to compass. One could say, in fact that the relative importance of compass vis-a-vis topographic map varies with terrain and visibility.
Your instructional example relies on streams a lot as identifiable features. Over here in the US, even the best topographic maps we have, at 1:24000 scale, not infrequently get streams wrong, something I have learned the hard way. Mostly I think there is little field verification used on those maps, it is largely photographic interpretation, so a stream under unbroken tree cover may be missed or misplaced. Quite possibly UK ordnance survey map-making is more painstaking and better-funded. But the lesson still applies, I think, that one should learn what can be expected of one's maps. In large parts of Canada (British Columbia is what I know), the remoter and more interesting parts, naturally, the largest scale available is 1:50000, which takes a bit of getting used to.
One striking and interesting and near-universal phenomenon which you do not mention is what I like to call (with apologies to Kenneth Grahame) "the terror of the wild wood". Being in trailless woods, particularly in situations of obstructed visibility (head-high brush, dark) has the capacity to really freak people out. It's built in, I think: we are visual creatures, and who knows what might be lurking out there? Bears? Tigers? Woozles? It is all very well for the rational mind to point out that there are no free-roaming bears, tigers, or woozles in the UK, the older and more primitive parts of our minds are still convinced that they are out there. The proper response to this fear is to condition it out through repeated exposure; over time one is as easy as Mr Darcy might be lounging in his deer park.
That note about land nav developing a general sense of direction whereas relying on GPS does not is absolutely spot on in my experience.
@@ladytalkchat And when the battery runs flat, what then?
Informative and knowledgeable, thank you! Especially that detail about US maps.
It’s been 45 years since I trudged through the woods. Inspiring wisdom. Thank you
Great principles! Over 50 years ago my father taught me to always go downhill if I didn’t know which way to go…civilization is down. If you live in the mountains you understand the value of such a simple statement.
My dad taught me the same thing or follow a stream down.
I live in Vancouver, BC and this is one of the things that gets a lot of people in trouble here funnily enough. We have a lot of mountains that are steepest near the bottom, meaning a lot of people start heading down to get out and end up stuck or injured by cliffs and gulleys. Our SAR teams have had so many calls for people in ski areas that have ended up injured and alone in these steep sections because they tried that. Of course, it's still a good rule of thumb, just need to take it with a grain of salt and analyze where you are.
This does not apply in many cases. Civilisation is on a plateau, and the valley is a national park.
Except when it leads you to an impassable dropoff, and, you can't go back up, and you die of starvation or hypothermia. Or the down leads you into a swamp/drainage that's further away from help. You really need to understand the terrain you are in.
Sometimes dads aren't the experts we think they are
@@christopherellis2663 or, one direction leads you into an isolated drainage, further from help or resources, and the other leads you back to trails . Ideally you have an underhanding of the surroundings. Ideally you have a map and compass plus a gps unit. Ideally you don't get dangerously lost
I stupidly wondered off a path in a National Forest in Kentucky without a map or compass, and worse 1st time ever there. First time I had ever truly got lost. I was lost for about 20 minutes. What kept me from horribly getting in very deep dodo was I kept calm and before I walked off the path I looked up at the Sun. After about 15 minutes of a bit of wondering about I looked back up and from the position it was when I got started and at that point, I knew which way to go and when I walked back onto the path, I was about 5' away from where I first walked off it. True story.
Something similar happened to me right next to my own woodlot. (I live in SW NH, in a pocket of rural country surrounded by small towns & villages.) I'd gotten engrossed in photographing a subject from different angles, and when I finished & stood, realized I'd gotten disoriented. I knew I was only a few hundred yards from my own land, but in which direction? The closest road in the wrong direction was about 5 miles away. Just as panic started creeping in, I remembered it was early afternoon, so the sun had to be in the southwest; and I knew I was westerly of my property. So keeping the shadows to my 10:00 should bring me home; and in a matter of minutes, it did. I've since taught myself to use map & compass, but it's always reassuring having the sun overhead as a beacon.
@@lesnyk255 with the right set of skills Mother Nature is always there for you.
@@michaelbruce2699 I wander to wonder sometimes
@@lesnyk255 Daytime, understanding the path of the sun is essential. Nightime being able to find the North star (northern hemisphere) and reading the Southern Cross (southern hemisphere) will help keep you on track. These plus re-assessing your location/bearing every few hundred meters and using handrails like streams/rivers, fences, tracks will usually get you to some useful location eg. a bridge or road.
@@lesnyk255 But are you going to bring a map and compass when photographing things close to home?
TO THE PRODUCER: This is the first video I have watched from this channel, but it was so good, so helpful, and nicely illustrated, that I will subscribe to learn more. I learned orienteering many years ago, and was taught in the military, but the tips in this video (so nicely illustrated by on the location footage) was VERY helpful along with the map visuals shown to correlate the features on the map with the scenes on the ground. Very helpful tips, I won’t forget. Thanks for producing the video! I look forward to learning more from you.
Also I like how the video ended with a note about the relative size of forests in different locations. In the USA (and Canada) there can be very large forested areas, where someone can get lost easily, and many do.
I also like how you showed the density of the forest too. Those make it very difficult or impossible to use typical “sight a distant object” techniques that are so often mentioned in books and lessons given by instructors. Your video shows how dense a forest can be, with undergrowth that prohibits any distant viewing, and makes hiking through it very difficult.
This bloke is a great teacher and this a great channel, fair play to him..
Agreed, his scenarios, explainations, instructional aids, and classroom are on point.
Another useful technique when you're headed for a linear object (stream, road, shoreline or whatever) is to aim for a deliberate miss. If it's a N-S road, aim so you will clearly hit it to the south of your intended target. Then when you get there you know that you'll need to turn left.
I use this trick often when I worked in the woods
I call that aiming off, which I think is the term for it.
@@darbyl3872yes then use the stream as the "handrail" to find the junction.
The problem I have found in places like Florida is that streams and ponds that are shown on the map are often very shallow and actually dry up in the heat of the summer. I also ran into this in the jungle of Panama where a water waypoint on a GPS had dried up during the drought.
Aiming off is not really necessary in a forest when you're heading to a stream/river as once you arrive it's very simple to locate your position. If you were heading towards a straight road, edge of forest, etc. it would be, but not a river.
I have a video on “aiming off”.
ruclips.net/video/2eQlZlKRlLM/видео.htmlsi=9L7h0Xl30MrKlUyp
Often used by me for years - before we had GPS.
Brilliant video sir, one of your best.
How many times have I "doubted" my map and compass in favor of the terrain? Only because I was wanting it so, or too tired or very calorie depleted etc on the given day. I've seen others do it as well and fro me the crazy thing is, when my mind gets confused and starts to lie to me...I KNOW that it's lying but still find it's very hard to change my view point. A tip from an expert in dealing with bad map reading :-)...when in doubt, take a minute, grab a quick cuppa if you can or have a bite of food or just sit down and close your eyes for acouple of minutes, it'll save you time in the long run. That I can promise you.
Here is central Sweden we have lots of dense forest and very little ground or small rivers...no tricks work here only solid map reading skills.
Thank you again for the great video mate and Happy Christmas and look forward to 2024 with The Map Reading Company.
I've been back packing for decades and know my way around with map and compass; however, I learned something from this video that I hadn't thought about before. Pacing. It's tough to do where I backpack because of the mountains and rocky outcroppings that can really mess with pacing (Smoky Mountains in North Carolina). But, smaller segments should work. I'll put it to the test this summer. Oh, and the bit about your mind lying to you? Spot on advice!
I have a video about pacing, which may help.
ruclips.net/video/Fls-y7qeEtk/видео.html
I took a Hunter safety class that touched on emergency supplies people should have with them in the woods, and his tip here reminded me of that class. They said bring 2 compasses. If you get lost in the woods, there’s a good chance you’ll look at your compass and say “there’s no way that’s the right way out, I could swear it was the other way. This compass is broken.” If you have 2 it will prove to you that the compass isn’t lying.
Another tip for pacing is "pacing beads". They make pacing beads, but you can just gather, say, ten small pebbles and carry them all in your left pocket. Each pebble counts 10 paces.Count ten steps, take a pebble from the left pocket into the right pocket. !0 more steps, another pebble moved over. This becomes very helpful the farther you have to go. Even if you lose your immediate count (1-10), you are no more than 10 paces off where you should be. You can count the pebbles moved to get the big number (60, 70, 80). This only keeps up your step count, however. You have to know your own pace count for given distance.
My favorite forest navigation tip: Moss grows on the north side of the bodies of those who forgot their compass.
Again, not always true. Moss will grow wherever there is shade, and sometimes that shade can be facing south. But it can be ONE tool used to determine your berring
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Doesn´t work.
@@FriteVerte he meant moss will grow on death people corpse
Ever tried to do that in New Zealand 😂 nope moss grows in the shade (.) Boy scount knowledge
I'm glad you talked about the difference between civilian and military. In my day if you walked along a stream, path or any other rail it got you a big fail on the course or deselected for certain units within the Army.
Hi,
I'm doing a lot of forest navigation in a forest, to prepare for a course I'm doing later this year.
I'm feeling confident and have walked checkpoints up to 3.5km, without using any tracks or roads and arriving pretty much on point, using my GPS to confirm my position. The techniques I implement are:
- Walking on a bearing/Point to point - 'Up the guts' approach.
- Aiming off - approximately 100-150m off target
- terrain association - Checking for increases in elevation to confirm approximate location and direction.
- Backstops - Using tracks and terrain features as a backstop to know if/when I have walked too far.
The only doubt I have is that I don't use pace counting. In a forest, I have found:
- my pace count to be wildly inaccurate and a waste of mental energy - Trying to following my compass bearing while counting my paces.
- using the above techniques to be more effective in keeping me on track.
My old orienteering club also didn't encourage pace counting due to its inaccuracy.
Do you recommend I still practice it?
I see it as a tool that can help, but if its tripping you up maybe focus on it once all the other stuff becomes second nature. everyone is different, if you are getting results without it, and find it a waste of time/effort then don't worry about it
When orienteering you usually have a detailed map, so you can check your position every 50m or so with details on the map (rocks, reentrants, clearings etc). Pacing always give you a rough estimate, maybe 20% off depending on the terrain, and noly really useful when you have no details on the map to work with.
Great video. Thanks for braving the conditions to make it. I had to navigate a team through dense forestry commission land a good few years ago when we were doing an archaeological survey of land to be felled for a windfarm. It got very dark under the canopy there too. We had to walk transects to make sure we covered all the ground. Had to use the take a bearing onto a tree and walk to it method to do it accurately but it takes a huge amount of concentration to do that for 6-7 hours a day (was that the tree? No, this is the tree. Ha). We managed it though. Staying together in the dense areas was also a challenge. Definitely picked up a few extra techniques from your video that I could have used.
Oh, one extra complication. We kept finding empty plastic bottles tied to trees that had a pencil, a note and a picture of a heavily tattooed guy with his top off (face obscured). The note said that he came up to this woodland to practice naked yoga and to leave your name if you were insterested in joining him! That added a tiny bit of fear to the whole proceedings! There are some strange people out there.
Thank you! A brilliant and very clear presentation of the realities and the practicalities of deep forest navigation. I spend a good amount of time in the backcountry of the Adirondack and the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York and I am constantly dismayed by the number of hikers that I encounter who do not carry a compass or a map, instead relying entirely upon a smart phone or a GPS as their lone means of finding their way home.
I wonder if we've met Out There? The Cat's and 'Daks are my stomping ground, too! And you won't find me there without a compass and a paper map - in addition to my altimeter and my GPS. I use GPS only to check my work -- often an hour or more will go by with the smartphone sitting in my pocket.
I was struck by how sort-of-open the forest in the video was - not like the balsam-and-spruce that we swim in. There's nothing like deriving an half-arsed fix by altitude and aspect because you don't have a clear view ten yards in any direction!
I really appreciate the skills you are demonstrating. Yes, I passed the military test by demonstrating good map to ground skills in very similar terrain, and also yes you tend to avoid the more obvious routes if you can because that is a good way to get ambushed.
I think I also saved my own and a companion's life once. We were in the channel country in northern Queensland (Australia) on a short hike hunting away from the vehicle. When it was time to return my companion headed off... in exactly the wrong direction. This pretty well surprised me because I had always thought of him as having some serious bushcraft skills, so it took a few minutes of double checking before I pulled him up. He actually took some convincing since I was just using sun position, but eventually he had to concede that he was heading west, when we really needed to be heading east.
After some walking we got back to the road, about 100 meters from the vehicle. It was only after this that I remembered the warnings about the channel country. It's very easy to get turned around in there because it's almost impossible to walk a straight line. It's heavily wooded, criss crossed with "channels" that are too numerous to map or memorise, and there's no high features to navigate from. We were also very unprepared if we had got lost, and seriously would not have lasted very long in the hot humid conditions of that landscape. We were extremely dehydrated when we did get out, and I no longer go out so unprepared and thank my army training for my survival. I now always have a lensatic compass and water on my belt, and I'm adding a very basic GPS to it as backup for crosschecking. In fact, on subsequent hikes we did on that trip, I always took my webbing with all it's essential tools. Lesson learned.
Living in central Pennsylvania, USA, we have lots of forest, streams, and greatly varying topography... and few open vistas... unless you are on a ridge top! Your video is great for the navigating I am learning to do. One complaint I have about the maps I have available in Pennsylvania is that most of them do NOT have radio towers, water towers, and other highly visible manmade features marked!! So I use Google Earth to find them and add them to my maps BEFORE I go out and use those maps.
That's great to know. Thanks. As a fisherman, it will help me a lot.@@markembeck7099
The problem is that a ton of maps are derived from the USGS topos, and USGS was deeply defunded during the George HW Bush administration and never recovered, so the topos are horribly out of date. You might want to check out OpenStreetMap-derived sources like CalTopo to see if they're any more current. (I've done a lot of mapping for OpenStreetMap - if you get out a lot, you might want to consider joining the project.)
What county and area, if you'd care to say?
I've just started with compass and map navigation and find your videos very helpful and they're fun to watch too. I also love your "waffling". Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Hats off to you Sir, very well done and exactly the way I’ve been doing it for the past thirty years here in Northern New Mexico. I still love my paper maps and compass over electronics and a valuable trait too have. Keep training those willing to learn 👍🏻
I was always Mr. USGS map and compass guy for whatever outdoor adventure. One of my college buddies I went on adventures with got a Garmin GPS in 2005. Over the next year, he would whip out his GPS and do instantly what took me a few minutes to sort out with my map and compass. After a year of my map and compass being all but useless backups on our adventures, I left them at home for a trip. You can probably see where this is going... We decided to do a long snowshoeing backpacking trip deep into the wilderness around the middle for of the Snoqualmie river. At the start, we had easy snowshoe tracks to follow, then it started snowing so the tracks vanished, a thick fog settled in, and about 3 miles up a very gradual valley the GPS died due to dead batteries and he didn't bring extras. In these conditions there was no real way to find the trail, but, we could follow the stream/river back. And when I say "steam", I mean the the headwaters of a river with a series of box canyons and waterfalls... Needless to says, we had to endure a very sketchy bushwhack until we found our way back. And I learned my lesson and am back to being Mr. USGS map compass guy, even if it doesn't seem necessary.
Another thing is that GPS is not always 100% reliable even when batteries are working. A satellite signal can get interrupted by things like weather, reflections from various surfaces, other radio frequencies, intentional jamming, solar flares... It may be fine most of the time but if your life and safety in a remote area depend on it that's not a good risk. The only thing that really messes with a compass are weird magnetic fields, like an area highly rich in iron.
Common sense begs the question - when your life is on the line are you going to rely on an ultra-complex tech that's 12,550 miles overhead or simple, time tested tech and skill?
This instructor is absolutely brilliant. He knows his stuff.
Sincere positivity, thats what the world needs
I love how you taught us while in the outdoors instead of indoors. Made this way more appealing and interesting. Great video.!
I like this instructor. Keeping it real. He is spot on! Semper Fi
Thank you. Outstanding demonstration. Grey, wet day makes it even more realistic and valuable.
I learned to use a compass strictly from youtube videos. I went out to the middle of the Adirondacks, marked a point on the map that interested me and practiced. my trick was downloading a map of the area on my phone before hand, and double checking my work against my GPS. after a few times it became relatively easy. the most important thing is getting out and doing!!!
Liked and subscribed. Ive over 40 years of navigation experience, this is the best tutorial ive seen by far. Teaching is very different than understanding!
Great video.
Cliff. Devon.
loved this, dont watch these topics as it used to be my job and Im retired now, like to think about other things, lol. This is not an argument but more of how those in the job of Forest Measurements, assesment of forest with sample plots is done. Your description of military had me laughing, having bumped into them on training excursions, they are more task oriented, lol. But I have to say, while canoing a lake a guy in military gear just drops out of the forest onto the beach, we stop and my buddy making small talk asks where we are, This guy pulls out a map, compass, pencil , and ruler (2 seconds), triangulates two mountain peaks, (10 seconds), transphers info to the map and points to a spot on the beach and declares," Sir, you are standing right here, Sir", we were impressed. Turns out he was running a trail reconnacence for a military group bush wacking canoes (you cant get more Canadian than that!). Yes I worked in that vast Canadian stuff. Forest Management objectives make this more of a surveying exercise, but the skills may transpher to the average forest user. This is a statistical exercise, sample plot locations predetermined locations, 50 to 200m spacing typical. All distances are map distances, not ground traveled, so pacing is a joke, compass and chain (measuring tape). A day in the life: A crew will be dropped in some dank swamp to set up camp by helicopter in an area of rolling terain, swamps, moose and Grizzly. At night the crew boss pours over ariel photos of area of interest the next day, he draws on the photos routes with headings and map distances that will meet the statistical needs. This route is in an area none of us have been to, they will fly us to the swamp closest to our starting point and we expect to get picked up just before dark in another swamp (clear landing areas), this gets fun later! I work as the compassman, when I land I have no idea where I am and they hand me the photos and the other guy says get me to the end of the traverse, usually a lone tree on a swamp edge you can identify on the photo. We strangly did not need maps for contours, objective is follow a route, and you had to deal with what ever got in your way, as long as you got to that swamp. The compassman went first, taking the first bearing and walking as far towards a plot as terrain would allow, take a slope reading back to the guy on the back end of the tape, make a little triagle to see how far you actually went on the map walking up that slope. So compassing, some times you could see to the next plot, or 20 meters and a rock bluff, the line must go on. If your compass heading pointed you right at a tree you could not see beyond you measure up to the tree, measure the width of the tree, stand up aganst it on the other side and continue from there. IF you could see clearly just 1 degree either way you cant deveate from the route, errors compound! im sure in compassing tips you have mentioned you get the straightest line the farther you look for the end reference, so if standing with bush in your face look over it, and the farthest thing, rock/tree, look at that while punching through the brush. I did this in area I would say was more mountaous and you could use a tree on a mountain peak miles away, just keep walking that way. Talked to a guy mowing a golf green, aksed how he was getting the lines so straight. He pointed off the Island we were on towards North America proper and said IM looking at that mountain, about 60 miles away. Lastly that last tree in the swamp at the end, the satisfaction time. I would get to the last bearing that would take us to that last traverse point for the day, several kms, totally strange terrain, the other guys says stop, not wanting you to take that last bearing, he passes you and walks out to the tree, you can see it and as he would get to the tree he would declare..."now lift up your compass and my face better be in the compass sighting knotch". A quick note specific to the navigate and forest, a couple of things I dont know if I just developed it,but allot of getting out there is a process of observation, when you park the truck what position is the sun in, its expected track over the next few hours, then run a mental tab of terrain changes as you go using the sun or those long distance ridge top trees, etc. Funny thing is 26 years in the bush, got lost briefly once, 8 guys, two trucks, onne map, 8 opions of where we parked the trucks. When we spent longer than we thought it should to intersept a road below us, never saw one and hit the valley botttom (creek).8 guys wondering how coud so many folks be lost? Stay safe out there!
Interesting subject, as an MIC , Orienteering coach and a former Soldier I have always dissected navigation into the following disciplines which has served me well for 50 years: Close country, Open Country, Mountain and Urban. It is my opinion that Close country, Forest, Woods and Jungle is the most demanding. As a young soldier? I particularly remember Parachuting into Germany once and having to set up an Echalon in a Large forest and using Map interpretation the ground looked nothing like the map.... Lesson learned, I ll let you do the maths, I'm not here to lecture on the different environments. One bit of advice for all avid navigators? If you want or need to nav well and consistently in Close Country? Then concentrate both your training and efforts on 'Micro Navigation' ... Orienteering is a fantastic discipline in which to start.... Good luck... Great video mate 👍👍
You are a good teacher, you make it simpel and keep it simpel…your advice is genuine. Good walking and happy new year
I was fortunate enough to live in a very remote rainforest on the coast of Australia in the early 80s. I learned how to orient myself under a full canopy and know basically where I was when a kilometre into a dense canopied forest. But I was lucky. I learned that stuff from childhood. I can read a map and navigate with a compass in unfamiliar areas as you're describing.
Some people also naturally have a better sense of orientation than others. Their brains take better subconscious note of where they've been compared to where they are
Where I live there are thousands of miles of forest in just about any direction you choose, so learning to read the land and navigate are very important. I did not realize the amazing quality of OS maps until I came here where the topo maps are no where near the same quality. my whole concept of scale had to change in these mountains. navigating in the brecons is much different than here in the rockies., great video nicely presented . as I always tell people that head out with me . I dont always know where I am but im never lost.
Another top quality lesson. Thank you for your time , effort, technical ability - and wet feet.
Great video. Thank you for doing the hard yards to make this a real and informative video. I particularly liked the discussion pieces when going from or to certain objectives. I think it is really important to understand the strategy before moving off and then conforming that you have arrived at the point you intended to. The water courses of small streams can be affected by so many variables, logging, natural dam, heavy rainfall etc. This piece of the video was especially important and useful. Thank you.
I absolutely love the fact that you are in Natures Studio and using a" TRUE GREEN SCREEN "as your background 👍👍
Excellent video! Thank you for making the effort to show real conditions. Your advice on believing the map is spot on.
Very much appreciating you actually going into the wilderness for us.
First time seeing this channel and instant subbed! I get a strong, sneaking suspicion this guy was very high-speed back in his military days.
I've recently started exploring a very dense Pine woodland. After getting lost several times I've realised the best way to navigate is contour lines. There's nothing to take a bearing off as you can't see anything but the trees around you but easy to know if you're walking up or down! Thanks for the instructive video!
One thing that threw me was when I was struggling to locate the river I'd marked out on the map. Turned out the "river" was the one centimetre deep puddle I was standing in. Likewise, "footpaths" on maps are not always nicely formed paths but sometimes just inaccessible areas that aren't worth following. Lesson learned.
Topography changes with seasons and time.
I really enjoy your Videos. I started to lead a boy/girl scout group and learned how to use a compass there. Since than my interest in orienteering has risen to the point that I wished for a Silva Ranger S compass for Christmas. 😂
Best bit about navigating cross country is stopping for a brew 👌 Nice and restorative and gives space for planning, reviewing.
Navigating in the Panama jungle in the eighties was a beyatch. Was there at jungle school. Ft Sherman. Right before the Panama invasion.
A well crafted presentation. Land navigation isn't about " tricks ", it's about learning to read maps and use a compass. As stated, practice in friendly environments, you will make mistakes until your skills improve.
As with a majority of things in life, preparation and recognizing your limitations is key.
I love the enthusiasm of your teaching. By the way that little grey spot on top of your head means your always on the right spot and we have a target to head for.
Excellent video, I did my MLC assessment years ago and the night nav started in a forest. It was a nightmare as the forestry commission let foot paths overgrow and make new ones where it suits them and also cut down small and large areas of woodland. Out of all the assessment for navigation I recon in the trees is the hardest ..I now always carry a GPS not for the maps but for the ability of getting an accurate GR...
Thanks Laurie (means a lot coming from one ML to another). Have you got OS locate for the GR’s? I always recommend that to my participants as it's a free app. It’s only down to 100m but for most uses that close enough.
Hi. Another ML here. I do most of my work with DofE students learning navigation so found your video an especially helpful reminder of those basic skills. I have subscribed and will use as part of my CPD. Thank you.
Btw: I have heard OS Locate is no longer available to download (no substantiated as I already have it) but found out that Whst Three Words has an option to give grid reference too.
Thanks for keeping it real! Your instructions and demonstrations are invaluable for real-life navigation. A question: Don't natural features, like streams, change over time? How recent is your map and shouldn't that be an important consideration to avoid incremental changes of landmarks during this type of navigation?
While waterways change over time it happens very, very slowly in most cases. Geologic time scales most of the time. Human activity may also change geologic features but usually aren't a problem in this kind of situation. In fact, when I had to check with the State Archeologist about archeological sites, he always wanted a topographic map because surface features like woods and even human activity change but the large scale lay of the land does not.
@@jg2072 Makes sense...thanks for your reply.
Kept it really real. Great video I think
Thank you for these tip. Checking bearing of river flow was great. And keeping it short bearing checks.
Thanks.
You have really great content. I would watch this any day over Man vs Wild or even Survivorman.
I originally watched your "no one can read this compass" video and really liked your knowledge and personality. Very humble, teaching real things.
I'm sad to admit I've never learned how to properly use a compass at 35yo until today.
Keep it up.
I've watched several of your videos now. All good info in short order. I appreciate it, and don't worry too much about waffling.
Thanks sir, I just learned to use a compass this week. Your video is timely, I am going to use this info to bushwhack 80 miles across the forest in eastern Maine. I’ll let you know how it goes. 😂
😂I can't wait to hear!!!🎉
It's all too new to me but it's fascinating that there is such a reality to Aspire to knowing.
I was a forestry worker for a time. Sighting compass and air photos were standard.....the mantra was " stay found".....later I joined an orienteering club....so much fun . Those rivers and roads were called handrails.b
I love this, very useful I'm prepping for my first back country trip without trails so This was a great video to brush up my map reading and navigational resource! I'm gonna look through your other videos too :)
This is so entertaining and educational at the same time. I really like the channel. Dankeschön from Germany !
Thanks for watching!
10:00 my plan before watching the rest of the video: go east until you reach the creek, then go up south, which is up hill, so that you can get to the other side of the creek. the creek will eventually head east, then southeast, then northeast. when it heads northeast you're almost there, but i don't know exactly how to navigate from there.
When you arrived at the hilltop I really was expecting your friend to be there with coffee and sandos! :)
Good to be reminded of what I had forgotten! Easy to follow with excellent graphics. Thanks again
Fantastic videos sir. You offer excellent information and explain complex concepts in a way most people could understand if they thought about it enough. Well done.
There's a lots of lessons those who listen. Thank you.
Okay, okay, Mr. Map Reading, I came from a different school--time with traditional natives here in Canada. I have never used a compass, but once, and only to confirm the direction I believed to be true by looking at the tree roots, the branches (both for the weight on which side and also to see where they point). Do those "old ways" work? My proudest moment was finding the friends I was searching for at an encampment in an off-and-on snowstorm about 15 miles into "trackless" bush, ...at night!! Those observations do work. But, I tip my hat to you as you have shown a much easier way to navigate than mine (I call it "mine" as I have made it my way of looking at the woods). What you showed, quite simply, was a wonderfully easy way for anyone to find their way around the bush. I even learned something from your video that I will try next time out. I liked and I subscribed, keep it up!!
Missing audio aside, I had to give this episode a thumbs up. The good information I was able to glean makes it worthwhile. On a side note, the terrain and flora make it almost like my home the PNW of the U.S. Wet, thickly forested conifers interspersed with deciduous trees and shrubs. Great video.
Hi Tom, same answer as I gave to Tom. I don’t think the Rode Wireless GO II microphones are really designed for the British winter weather which is basically rain 😀
I did spend a long time trying to clean the audio, but I’m not an expert with DaVinci Resolve so maybe someone else could have done it better. To start with there was no sound on L1. What’s on the video is an L3 and L4 mix. Not brilliant, but hopefully folk will understand that working outside is not always ideal for filming.
Very useful info. If it's a planted conifer forest there should be gaps left for harvesting equipment every few trees. And those gaps run in straight lines.
I greatly appreciate your teaching. Your delivery methods hold my interest and your content is spot on, at least it is for me. I have observed more than a few other teachers,and I fine I have learned more from you than any other. Thank you!
I really appreciate these kind of videos. Very helpful. Thank you and greetings from germany.
Nice video. Immediately made me recall my land navigation training in the army. Thanks!
What is also important to add in my opinion, is to avoid such dense wild forests if you dont know them well or dont have a local with you, because its where the bears and other deadly animals live! At least its what we learn in Russia from young age :) and yes some forests are so big that if you get lost you might end up walking HUNDREDS of km before meeting anyone or anything. Great video!
Fascinating subject and excellent presentation. I was giddy to hear that my intuition was spot on, at least this time. It brings back memories of being "lost" in the forest as a child.
Great looking studio. I have always thought even a rainy day outside is better than a day warm and dry at work. Thanks for this. I tend to get a bit turned around a bit in heavy forest.
Excellent lesson in terrain association! Your lesson is spot on!
Finally a video that is practical and realistic! I hunt is a very dense area. Your teachings are 100% accurate.
Amen. Always believe your compass. When navigating in the massive forest of the Pacific Northwest in the United States I have the compass on a shoestring around my neck. A compass it the last thing you want to lose.
Your visual cortex remembers EVERYTHING well enough for you to recognize where you've been, helping you by recognizing reversed images.
This long ago caused me to wonder about the strongly dyslexic female climber who instructed me.
Was she, and other dyslexic people, just a little too freely imaging what i was doing in forests and strange places like coral reefs, just pre-emptively noticing things, making it easier to downclimb?
Recognition of familiar living or other shapes brings exhilaration!
When you allow yourself to FEEL this, the "skill" of reversing direction NEVER leaves you.
Very good video .. covers the basics well , in a very understandable way .. from a US Army wrecker driver who learned land navigation from artillery school .
7:50 Is it an advisable technique to, on purpose, aim besides the location you want to go? So for example instead of the ~60 degrees, you aim for ~70 degrees, so that you are fairly certain you end up on the south side of your intended location, and just follow the river northwards?
I love the visualization of the map and compass versus the real world features. Its awesome. The examples are great, truly a hidden gem on youtube.
Super informative video. Thanks for the education. Useful. Might watch it again to internalize it all.
Great videos learning a lot. Please explain the re-entrance bit re the first stream and how you know that would be the wrong one, sorry to be dim.
Good video, glad to see navigating videos.
Every one should learn to navigate before going into the woods.
Boy scouts, college class, army ranger training r some ways to get this knowledge.
Your videos are always brilliant. Very helpful to your viewers. Keep up the great work.
Excellent video. All best practices. Remember, waypoint are critical. I do not know if you cover them in a different discussion. In your scenario, I planned a 100 deg heading, expecting a waypoint at 1st stream. If not encountered in expected time, deduce an actual heading in excess of 100. Terrain, individual characteristics or confirmation bias brought me caused deviation to right. In any case, continue 100 deg bearing.
Encountered waypoint excellent reference point if retrace required due to distraction from route (mishap, animal encounter, excessive weather event).
My wife and I went out for our usual woodlands walk we went every weekend we were so confident we knew the way we didn't bother taking a mobile phone or cumpass only this time we had a snow storm all the the paths got covered in snow and everything looked so different it took us ages before we found our way back to the car Alec from Scotland
Love the brilliant British understatement.
I've always been able to get around thru the woods fairly well but had a humbling experience headed out fishing on a very foggy morning. I wanted to motor 3 miles to the opposite side , headed out and held a straight course or so I thought. There was maybe 2 hundred yards visibility and when I finally sighted docks along the shoreline again , I was a quarter mile from my starting point. I would say my ability to operate watercraft in conditions like that morning , safely , as well as getting back home is commendable even if my fishing aint.
9:10 made me have a good laugh hahahahaha excellent video! very impressed, in the first minute when you said the audio was bad due to the mic being waterlogged, I knew that instant I was going to get good advice. Feeling very informed! Thank you!
Real world , terrific . Where I live we have wooded swamps and some terrain is floatant de marais . Love Your videos Sir .
VERY INTERESTING...START TO FINISH...!!
Thanks for posting this. Invaluable for a new adventurer. What map holder do you use?
Brilliant. Lots of logic (applied common sense) in these nav tips.
Thanks for the instruction!
Thank you ever so much, another brilliantly executed description of navigating through a difficult environment. I'm really good at getting lost, which is unfortunate, because I walk a fair bit in the Cambrian Mountains, wherever there's forestey bits (my dogs love forestey bits:)).
Great video, thank you so much for the information and knowledge!
About the audio quality drop around 19:30, I noticed it seems to end up being only from the left side, perhaps a post edit making that segment mono instead of stereo would have "fixed" the issue?
The problem was that it rained so much the microphone was waterlogged. Sorry about the audio quality.
@@TheMapReadingCompany I get that it rained, but that does not explain why I only get audio in the left ear for that single segment? (Unless you use two or more microphones for stereo sound and only one of them failed?)
Overall I found the audio quality more than good enough!
Thank you so much for your most helpful video. I am learning navigation and have read a couple books. I know it takes a lot of experience to, so I need to practice a lot more.
Highly educational, thanks for the video
Thank you, love your style and use of proper examples rather than best case scenarios. Also the audio was fine for me, the work you did to clean it up paid off. Even that later section where it was noticeably different was still completely comprehensible. 👍
So happy i came across this, really well done my friend, thanks for doing this in the field. You were clear and entertaining, good stuff!