Staying Found

We could not have asked for a nicer day to be afield for our Introduction to Compass Reading and Land Navigation class. What started out at the freezing mark at sunup quickly jumped up into the 60’s by noon. Not long past mid-morning we were all shedding layers that were warm friends when we started out.

This business of being able to use a compass and navigate the wilderness is one of the old school skills lost to most of modern civilization. Modern G.P.S. technology has fairly well relegated compasses to the antiques archive.

The small handheld G.P.S. units are neat little devises.

I have one and have used it a few times. My experience, at this point with it, is that we would have been better off had we resisted the urge to spent that few hundred dollars on the modern technology thing. 

It does afford practically pin-point accuracy. The downside of it is that it is affected by geographical and climatological circumstances. It also requires batteries to operate. In a short-term situation the unit may not be able to locate three satellites in order to triangulate position. In a long-term situation the batteries will be dead and the unit will be just more weight to lug.

Owning a compass and making a habit of carrying the thing can, at the very least, get your fanny out of a bad bind by pointing out which way is north.

I know the sinking feeling down in my gut … that feeling that follows the realization that things aren’t right and you need to get them right in a hurry. It was that compass in my pocket that made it possible for me to set things right and walk out of what would have otherwise been a really bad situation for me.

“It isn’t so much a question of whether or not we can get along without a compass. That most of us can do, for even in the strangest surroundings there are numerous recognizable signs that indicate direction, and some of these are more accurate than the wavering magnetized needle. But traveling through unmarked places without a compass is in the same unnecessary category as lighting a fire without matches.” (Bradford Angier, How To Stay Alive In The Woods, © 1956).

Angier is right … if you are savvy to those signs. The reality of the matter is that most people these days are clueless. Even folks that consider themselves seasoned veterans of the woods are known to get “turned around” and spend uncomfortable days self-rescuing or waiting on a search and rescue team to find them. The point of the matter is simply that some things become unnecessary with a little forethought and advanced planning … like being able to get a fire going, sheltering in place, and using a compass to navigate.

Staying found is the simple art/skill of not getting lost to begin with.

Even with a very basic understanding of the lay of the land, and its surrounding manmade landmark features, one can use a compass to navigate toward a landmark feature … a road, creek, river, power line, etc. … that will lead them to safety. There is another side to this that takes into consideration other applications where a good map and compass allows one to navigate deeper into wilderness and away from populated traffic areas.

Our minds are constantly mapping our surroundings.

Every sight, sound, and smell is constantly being processed and recorded. So many of these sights, sounds, and smells become so familiar to us that we simply pay them no regard in our familiar surroundings. We develop a comfortable familiarity with our familiar surroundings. We no longer pay any attention to the sound of a refrigerator when the compressor starts, the familiar landscape that surrounds us, or the smell of an approaching rain. Familiarity, in our familiar surroundings, really dumbs us down. 

Things change drastically when we remove ourselves from our familiar surroundings and replace them with those that are unfamiliar to us.

Remove those familiar way points and landmarks and our minds lurch into overdrive mentally mapping the sights, sounds, and smells that surround us. Remembering them all at will and using them all at will as navigational guides is a difficult proposition on a good day. It becomes an even more difficult proposition when the proposition involves some sort of dire circumstances. The drastic changes can be alarming at the least and catastrophic at the worst if we are unprepared for them.

Being able to use a compass to determine a bearing and follow a course to an objective is a great personal confidence builder. Not only does it allow us to navigate out of what would otherwise be a negative situation. It also allows us to more confidently explore deeper into unfamiliar wilderness areas. It allows us to create crude maps of landmarks that serve as way points and navigational aids.

Most of us wander in circles.

It is a natural inclination that we have for one reason or another. My own inclination is to wander to the right. The wandering inclination has not much effect on us as long as we are walking roads and sidewalks that take us to our destination. It has not much effect on us as long as there are clear and visible objectives and reference points to keep us traveling in a desired direction. Remove those straight lines and visible objectives … something that we encounter in a number of natural environments … and we have a problem that has to be dealt with.

The problem presented by our wandering inclination is easily remedied with a compass.

One of the things that I regularly stress in our classes and outings is the importance of slowing down.

It is hard for us to slow down.

We live our day to day lives in such a hurry to get things done just to keep up with everything that is going on that we don’t have time to slow down. We live our day to day lives in high gear because of impressed necessities in our personally constructed familiar surroundings. Remove ourselves from our personally constructed familiar surroundings and place ourselves in the unfamiliar natural surroundings of a wilderness environment and necessities drastically change.

The importance of paying attention to our senses becomes much more important … hearing, smelling, and seeing … if we are going to get along well or get along at all.