Sierra Designs / Andrew Skurka Orienteering Videos

One minor point where I disagree with the video is that the declination adjustment requirements will change over time and I personally would use the link below to find the correct adjustment versus the map’s suggested adjustment which may be many years out of date.  The map’s suggested adjustment will work well enough for most people but if you navigate ala dead reckoning and require a high level of precision, the NGDC/NOAA link is a better resource.

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag-web/#declination

1. Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they use to find control points.[1] Originally a training exercise in land navigation for military officers, orienteering has developed many variations. Among these, the oldest and the most popular is foot orienteering. For the purposes of this article, foot orienteering serves as a point of departure for discussion of all other variations, but almost any sport that involves racing against a clock and requires navigation with a map is a type of orienteering.
2. Orienting.  Align or position (something) relative to the points of a compass or other specified positions
3. The above video deals with #2

Love you. If you were allowed to edit first posts and titles all would be good. That is BPL’s fault, not yours.

–K.T.–

You are most welcome Tuco

https://youtu.be/OQd64gnMQBA

These videos are not about orienteering. The first two address map & compass, but otherwise they are about entirely unrelated topics. The full lineup, http://andrewskurka.com/2016/backpacking-instructional-video-series-introduction/

Here’s a clickable link

http://andrewskurka.com/2016/backpacking-instructional-video-series-introduction/

Hi Andrew,

Point well taken.  Sadly the current BPL software will not allow for me to edit the OP.  If I could, I would cheerfully edit.

When using a map and compass, it involves orienting the map to the terrain. Orienteering is a sport where orienting the map to the terrain is the required skill. Semantics, and it doesn’t matter.

Regarding declination. You don’t need it.

Two assumptions

1. You know your location on the map. Critical.
2. You know where you want to go. Critical.

This method will work with almost any compass, including a military lensatic compass. This way you can navigate with any compass, without knowing all the specialized features and functions each different compass may incorporate.

• On the map, draw a straight line through your location and your destination, this is your direction line. You need a writing instrument and a straight edge. You could use the compass base as a straight edge, or bring a compass protractor or other straight edge. If you don’t have these, you could use dental floss, string, or even a thin guyline.
• Make sure the compass declination is set to zero if your compass has this feature. If you have a rotating bezel make sure it is set with north aligned with the marking on the center of the base plate, if you have this feature.
• Line the edge of your compass along a north-south gridline, and turn the map and compass together until the compass points north. You have now aligned the map to magnetic north. Technically you have aligned Grid north to Magnetic north. Depending on your location, Grid north may not be true north, because as of 1492 the earth is no longer officially flat.
• If the direction line you drew does not pass under the compass, move the edge of your compass to a north-south grid line so the direction line, passes under the compass and read the azimuth (angle between the north–south grid line and the direction line) on the compass. You now know your bearing. You could also use a map protractor to read the azimuth, which is more accurate.
• Optionally, if your compass has orienting lines in the bezel, you could line the edge of your compass along the direction line your drew, and read the azimuth; by rotating the bezel to north while aligning the orienting lines with the Grid north lines of the map or even visually confirming the orienting lines are pointing to the top of the map. The notch or arrow on your base place will show you the azimith. This isn’t the most accurate method, especially if you are traveling extremely long distances — unless you are taking readings every few days, which you should be doing if you are not on existing trails.
• If you located an ISIS stronghold in the High Sierra, you would want to know the declination so you could accurately direct artillery fire to their position.

I *think* I’m following what you’re describing Nick but I’ll have to bust out a map and compass later and walk through what you’re describing to make sure.

I can adjust the declination on my compass which I appreciate.  For me, it helps to reduce bonehead mistakes when I’m tired and do something stupid like add 15 degrees instead of subtract for example.  Normally it’s not a problem but I’ve done it a couple times in the military and on the 36th hour of a patrol as there was no way to adjust the declination on the military lensatic compass.

I do agree that a protractor is better for accuracy but I haven’t used one since I left the military and MGRS system.

I honestly can’t remember the last time that I’ve had to use dead reckoning as a backpacker.

I honestly can’t remember the last time that I’ve had to use dead reckoning as a backpacker.

I hear you!

I’m surprised and somewhat disappointed there has been little interest in this thread. It can be a critical skill, the difference between life and death. And when you need something, trying to figure it out when you need it is a poor strategy.

As you know, map and compass expertise is a skill that needs continuous practice. I learned this a few years ago when I discovered on a trip that my skills had greatly deteriorated due to a lack of serious need to use them.

I received more navigation training than most of the military personnel of my time. In those days there was no GPS or other electronic navigation tools. Just a lensatic compass and sometimes a protractor. Because air crews can suddenly find themselves in foreign territory, completely unplanned, with maybe a rudimentary map in a foreign language and without such niceties as we find on a USGS Topo map, we got to do such fun things as night navigation in the dead of winter in the Rockies in a snow storm with a map that had all the margins removed. When I completed SERE, we did the evasion part with a compass and a B&W copy of a large scale map that had prominent landmarks cut out and no margins. They did this to make it more difficult to navigate and more likely to be captured by the aggressors. Like you said, if you add instead of subtract its a problem.

Optionally, if your compass has orienting lines in the bezel, you could … This isn’t the most accurate method

Nick, can you go into why this is less accurate compared to orienting the method where you orient the entire map?

-J

Jeremy,

I wasn’t very clear.

I am assuming the use of a typical base plate compass. The orienting lines in the bezel don’t cover a large area, so if they don’t line up on top of a north south grid line when you place the edge of your compass along the line of travel and you rotate the bezel and map, you would have to guesstimate they are exactly parallel to a north-south grid line (or perpendicular to the top of the map). So you might introduce a bit of error. For most uses it will be “good enough.”

You could draw the direction line longer than the route, so it is close to a grid line. On most maps it is most likely that you will, in fact, probably be able to place an orienting line on top of, or very close to, a north south grid line. If you can place one of the bezel’s orienting line on top of a north south grid line you will be accurate.

One thing I should point out, and you know since I looked at the slide presentation you did awhile back, not all USGS Topo maps have north-south grid lines. If a Topo map has red lines are these mark the borders for sections of land; a section is approximately 640 acres or one square mile (most of the time). These are part of the PLSS survey system that was put in place in the late 1700’s, and I don’t think they are used on the East coast at all. They usually don’t run true north and south, but for general backpacking they are probably close enough to north-south. If a map has north-south grid lines, they are usually black or blue. All my maps with grid lines are the 1927 Datum, I don’t think I have any with the newer system. If a map does not have grid lines, you can draw them using a straight edge connecting the tick marks along the borders of the map.

The declination in Joshua Tree NP for the north-south Grid Lines is about 0 degrees, 40 minutes east. The magnetic declination is around 14 degrees east.

I have an older base plate compass that does not have an adjustable declination. I used it for a few years, but went back to a military lensatic compass.

With the lensatic it is easier for me to see the numbers, no chance of air bubbles since it is not liquid filled, virtually indestructible, and more accurate, but with a weight penalty. The compass is divided into 5 degree increments. It also has a mil scale, which is what I use. It is divided into 20 mil increments, but I can place the index line between two mil increments, giving me an accuracy of 10 mils, or 0.59 degrees. Not advocating that it is best and it does take longer to learn how to use it properly versus a base plate. I always bring a protractor. I have a small one that weighs 4 grams. If I am doing a lot of cross country and know I will need to use my compass, I will bring a larger protractor that weighs 13 grams, which is similar to the one Ian used with the MGRS system..