This is a thread about different land navagation concepts, thoughts, differences in usage, some pros and cons of each etc. This hopefully will be a mostly positive thread for those who want to pick up some new ideas.
I myself have been the woods navagating for 40+ years since age 10. Small local woods when younger, bigger wilderness when older. I always made it back home when on my own, however I did get turned around a few times over the years. I did not use a map and/or compass or gps until my 30's. I did not have a cell phone until my late thirties. For about 2.2 decades if I was in the woods I was using stone age methods. I mostly did not travel that far out , but sometimes I did.
In my skills I am a generalist, fairly good in most everything I have an interest in doing, but I would not call myself a top expert in anything, I am always learning.
Navagation by back tracking is primary, even instinctive for many people, but not instinctive for all. I lump all land navagation skills that do not involve a map, compass or gps as part of back tracking skills.
I will give a list of back tracking skills here, if I miss any let me know.
Back tracking usually means coming back using the same path you went out. (One can learn an area by many back tracking trips and observing land marks, then making loops over time.)
The most basic practical back tracking skill is noting everything as you go in, trail junctions, landmarks-rocks, trees, streams, hills and mountains, etc. Coming back, if at any point you get confused or losing your way, stop and start thinking and looking to regain confidence of your direction. If needed back track to the last known position and start over again, or circling around etc. Never keep on going in an unknown direction, the most critical moment is the instint you are starting to lose your way. It is most important to regain the correct orintation or direction right away. This is important with all navagation methods, but more crtitcal with back tracking.
One can use marking or blazing if needed. It depends on the situation, typically the harder in the particular area to see existing visable clues the greater the need. Some examples of marking are rock piles, wands on a glacier, flagging in dense forrest, cut marks on trees in dense forrest, sticks placed in arrow form at trail junctions, heavy dragging foot marks on ground when walking and breaking down small trees or limbs, etc. Ideally flagging and wands should be picked up, the rest will heal in time.
Back tracking can be just following your foot prints back, this can be fun to practice alone or with others (kids).
Back tracking encourages everyone to have their minds turned on and paying attention to surroundings, every member should be engaged, navagating back is much better with everyone involved.
In back tracking, going out is the noting landmarks and blazing phase. Coming back is the remembering landmarks and back tracking phase.
Map, compass and gps are not absolutely neaded for land navagation. For many eons people have been in the wilderness with only the "woods sense" skills.
More posts on navagation coming.
If ever get lost in the woods, and no method of communication or finding your way. It may be best to stay where you are at, but if the need to keep moving. Boldly mark your place with something, boldly write your name on the ground with sticks or rocks or on tree with knife and then boldly blaze your trail as you move along. This is for SAR to help find you.
Why do we have to repeat this over and over again? You should NEVER blaze or flag your route or even place cairns. End of story. This isn't a navigation skill it is littering and defacement. If you want to navigate in the wilderness learn some real skills.
that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
In your previous post you asked for suggestions as what is the single most important skill to teach a beginner hiker.
In this post you suggest that a map or compass are not needed for navigation. You suggest a lost person should stay put, yet encourage them to keep moving, blazing their way thorough the woods.
How about teaching common sense. Without common sense people who follow your advice will be a subject in a news report.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
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Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
If ever get lost in the woods, and no method of communication or finding your way. It may be best to stay where you are at, but if the need to keep moving. Boldly mark your place with something, boldly write your name on the ground with sticks or rocks or on tree with knife and then boldly blaze your trail as you move along. This is for SAR to help find you.
Ugh. WaState quietly edited the OP. It didn't help much, (s)he is still giving terrible and inappropriate advice. Lesson learned, I guess, always quote the trolls. The trouble is that this advice is going to sit there with the risk someone might take it.
that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
DO NOT BLAZE/DEFACE ANY TREES.
DO NOT ADD MORE FLAGGING IN THE WOODS.
If you can't find your way without doing those, you should stay out and learn map and compass or GPS.
"Backtracking" is simple. You just notice things that ARE ALREADY THERE. No need to add.
Example: "Hey Jed, there's that %$#spiral grained buckskin snag we passed on the way up."
"
What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
I am going to ignore all posts unless they are instructive in some manner or have some kind of constructive criticism, that I can somehow extract out of the post. However I encourage the postings as it increases the readership. thanks!
Quote:
Why do we have to repeat this over and over again? You should NEVER blaze or flag your route or even place cairns. End of story. This isn't a navigation skill it is littering and defacement. If you want to navigate in the wilderness learn some real skills.
I guess this is part of the new ECO warrior movement of today? Here is a story, I remember from years ago a news lady up at the climbing area in the Gunks in New York state. She was doing a news story on how the bicycles were tearing up the trails in the area, how it must be stopped... I pointed out that most everywhere the forests were logged, and in most places several times over. Bulldozers make roads when logging in the woods most everywhere, what about this? Seems her boss had little interest in this story. This is much of modern environmentalism of today to a T.
To put it in perspective other than protected lands most all forest land is logged over and over, these have bulldozer roads through those lands and are brush piles after they are logged. The land will heal, it takes a long time but it will heal.
If one decides not to use wands so you don't fall in a crevasse in a white out that is your choice. If one does not want to use cairns to navigate with, that is a free choice. However in some places like in the white mountains in winter, no cairns can likely mean death to several people over a winter season.
To the reader make your own choices, use your own mind.
Quote:
In your previous post you asked for suggestions as what is the single most important skill to teach a beginner hiker.
In this post you suggest that a map or compass are not needed for navigation. You suggest a lost person should stay put, yet encourage them to keep moving, blazing their way thorough the woods.
How about teaching common sense. Without common sense people who follow your advice will be a subject in a news report.
Yes, I say map and compass is not absolutely needed for land navigation. People have been doing so for eons, your argument is with our ancestors not me, go to it. I do say a person may should stay put if lost, but nothing is set in stone, if up high and going hypothermic it likely be better to move down to a lower elevation. Common sense.
If one is lost and in a situation that no one is going to look for them for a very long time it is likely best for them to start moving. In most cases it may be best for a lost person to stay put, but I can't say this for certain, especially for every situation. Common sense.
I am going to the next post about Map and Compass skills later on.
Like I said in a past post. I think all navigation skills are important. However I think it most appropriate to teach a beginner back tracking first, especially children.
There is timber land. For your information, some of us have worked in that field and we watch carefully to keep damage at a minimum. I have heard that Weyco allows only so many scars (what you want to do by blazing) and they do not want any scars bigger than a fist. We forest types do not want any scarring ideally, but it does happen. That is not an excuse for some rookie who can't find their way around to hack into any old tree. You can cause loss of value in the tree. A scar is cause for devaluing a log and reduces the grade (more value lost). You are messing with the most valuable part of the tree--the butt log. So don't bring up the excuse that the area is likely to be logged so damaging trees won't hurt. It does.
Not everywhere is clearcut.
The DNR in our fair state sometimes has a day of classes you can go to. I suggest you try to learn more about forestry before advocating scarring up trees.
What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
Here is another irrelevant and meaningless story: There once was an archaeologist from Vossel who found an unusual fossil. By the shape of it's end and the crook in the end.......
Interesting ,, correct logging and bulldozing roads through a forest is good, a bad old hiker making a small cut on trees for navagation is horrible!!
Really? Think on this a little. This is plainly corporate ran enviromentalism.
In truth cuts on trees for navagation are very rare, flagging left behind is also fairly rare. I am going to write about the skills and leave it to the good sense of the reader to use or not.
I suggest to the reader to walk through logged land at all stages, this will give a very clear idea of what is going on. One bulldzer making roads for logging for a year will do more damage than everyone using the forests for recreation in year. That includes hikers, climbers, snowmobliers, four wheelers and etc..... This also includes all blazing and marking actually done.
This battle you can't win, I suggest we move on or my next thread may be many photos of logging
verses blazing and flagging. That would spread nicely through the internet.
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