Map Reading Skills

reply to post by Dan Tanna
No, i honestly have never been lost. And i hunt all over the place including places i'm not used to. But i pay attention to EVERY detail in my suroundings. Just paying attention to the terrain alone will save your ass.

reply to post by Vanitas
Modesty is a flaw If you've got it, flaunt it! That includes knowledge. But do it nicely, that way no one really notices your better than them

Yep, I admit that I have been mometarily lost on a few occasions and I CAN map-read (unlike most Officers - Joke).

Once while on the 'traditional' RN/RM map-ex on Dartmoor, I and my team completely missed one of the 'markers' - still ended up at the Public House at the end of the map-ex though

Another time was in a local Pine Forest to me that I know quite well. Its one of those man-made ones that are for timber production. It was at night and I was off the pathway and couldnt see the sky. Luckily for me I remembered what was around the edges of the forest so I just kept walking till I got to an edge. The rest then was easy.

Another sign of South/North in the Northern Hemisphere (reverse for Southern Hemisphere) is in which direction the flower heads face - they nearly always face South to the sunlight.

reply to post by Wotan
Good point indeed on the flowers. People just need to learn and pay attention to plant life and they'de never get lost.

There are supposedly companies that will produce topo maps of any requested area, and ship them out to you. This would be a wonderful thing to have if you just wanted to be able to get somewhere specific from your home in the case of Sit-X.

I like the idea, and I've been meaning to research the companies more, but I haven't had the time.

Besides, I know (in general terms) where I'm going in the event I have to bug out.

This might be very useful though, if you have to travel somewhere inland and need the coordinates and the lay of the land to get there safely and quickly.

Something to think about anyway.

Originally posted by Vanitas
reply to post by Anuubis

 

I am glad to see someone agrees with my "simpleton" mentality regarding the sun... :-) There are few sights quite as ridiculous as a grown man (just reminiscing...) trying to determine the direction of the West by means of a compass - with an open sky overhead.

Wotan, its because of crocks of poo in your thread that i'm not even going to bother reading any further. Between this guy and annubis I cannot even be bothered to add all the stuff I just spent time writing.

Teaching is not about personal vanity, its not about being bullish and 'it never happens to me', because it can and will. Talk like the above just kills any learning opportunity from a thread because it turns off the layman and turns them away from this forum.



[edit on 3-8-2008 by Dan Tanna]

Originally posted by Anuubis
reply to post by Wotan

 

Good point indeed on the flowers. People just need to learn and pay attention to plant life and they'de never get lost.

Mist, rain, fog, white outs, dust storms, darkness........ cut the cr##, get a map and compass.

reply to post by WyrdeOne
The USGS sells topo maps. All state land agencies do to. I believe the Federal Bureau of land management does also. The ones i get from the Idaho dept. of lands are well marked and detailed.

reply to post by WyrdeOne


How do you mean by this?

We in the UK have the Ordanance Survey that have mapped every square inch of the UK. They produce many types of maps in different scales. Any map of any area can easily be bought in any major bookshop or camping supply shop.

en.wikipedia.org...

Incidently, the Royal Navy Hydrographic Survey have mapped virtually every coastline and sea in the world.

Originally posted by Dan Tanna

Originally posted by Anuubis
reply to post by Wotan

 

Good point indeed on the flowers. People just need to learn and pay attention to plant life and they'de never get lost.

Mist, rain, fog, white outs, dust storms, darkness........ cut the cr##, get a map and compass.

Some of learned how to navigate without maps and cumpasses. The native americans never had maps and knew how to get where they needed to. So don't be rude just because people put out ideas that don't match your high and mighty ideals.

Native American Mapping Traditions

Native Americans had different mapping traditions. Their traditions were not based on the precise measuring of physical space. They were based on how much time it took to travel, what happened along the way, and what was important to remember about places. The maps were narratives that reflected the seasons of the year and events. Some of the maps were histories of the people.

Oooops.

North American Indian maps

So, umm, guess that means maps are 'in' this season after all?

reply to post by Wotan


You can get topo maps for the area you're in from an outfitters or the BLM, but if you want topo maps of a mountain down in Tennessee, because you've got an inkling you might like to bug out there, it's going to be hard to get one if you live in California. That was the point of my post - the ability to get topo maps for specific areas of the country shipped directly to you.

You could, for example, plan a rough route from Oregon to Mexico using a US map, and then get high-detail topo maps made for every section of every state you have to travel through to get there. Quite handy, I think...

I don't have any experience with the companies selling this service, but I've heard very good things from friends.