Trasharoo Presents: Map and Compass Class - September 13th-14th

[adventureduo]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Much appreciated feedback.. I want to thank everyone that came out and also thank Doug one more time for his time. The class was excellent and we're looking at doing another one in 2012. We'll keep you posted. The money that was collected will buy Raffle Tickets for the USFS OHV program ATV giveaway. That money goes back into the pot for the entire forest. If we end up winning the ATV, it will be returned. Thanks again everyone!

[cnynrat]

Kudos to FishPoet and AdventureDuo for making this happen. Many of us have become a little too reliant on GPS technology that doesn't always work as expected. Can't recall the last time the batteries died on my map or compass.

I looked through the syllabus and didn't see a topic that addressed what is perhaps the most challenging aspect of navigating with a paper map, which is of course getting the bloody thing folded correctly.

Here's a little trick to deal with magnetic declination if you don't have a compass with that adjustment capability. At home, before you leave for your trip, take a long straightedge and use it to draw a series of lines at the angle of magnetic declination directly on your maps. I like to draw them at a spacing about equal to the width of the base of my compass. You'll end up with a series of diagonal lines on the map that are at magnetic north for that quadrangle, which can be used to orient the map easily when using a compass without declination adjustment. A little old school and low tech perhaps, but I used this approach for many years before I got a compass with adjustable declination.

[nwoods]

Here's a little trick to deal with magnetic declination if you don't have a compass with that adjustment capability. At home, before you leave for your trip, take a long straightedge and use it to draw a series of lines at the angle of magnetic declination directly on your maps. I like to draw them at a spacing about equal to the width of the base of my compass. You'll end up with a series of diagonal lines on the map that are at magnetic north for that quadrangle, which can be used to orient the map easily when using a compass without declination adjustment. A little old school and low tech perhaps, but I used this approach for many years before I got a compass with adjustable declination.

Doug showed us the trick that I had never known about regarding built-in adjustment that most compasses (but not the free KrackerJack kind) have. There is a small screw either on top or underneath (bottom of compass plate) of the bezel that allows you to crank in the necessary declination adjustment. I never knew about this, and man is it a time saver!

[nwoods]

Here are some compass recommendations quoting features similar to the one's Doug said were essential (but not quite the same I think):
http://roadsidenature.com/blog/2010/...-all-together/

[cnynrat]

Doug showed us the trick that I had never known about regarding built-in adjustment that most compasses (but not the free KrackerJack kind) have. There is a small screw either on top or underneath (bottom of compass plate) of the bezel that allows you to crank in the necessary declination adjustment. I never knew about this, and man is it a time saver!

Compasses with a built in declination adjustment are great, and I've been using a Silva Ranger for many years with adjustable declination. In times past not all compasses had that capability. Perhaps it's more common now.

There is another option besides a compass with adjustable declination or performing mental calculations.