Map Reading 101: Finding Your Zen Compass With a GPS

As I compile the August issue’s Reader Test on handheld GPS units, I have been contemplating their unexpected benefits. For all of you “directionally challenged” sportsmen who can’t put a compass on a map and follow your route to the next destination, a GPS may cure you.
The GPS creates a constant chart reference with longitude, latitude, and traveling direction in degrees that eventually becomes a map inside your head. When you least expect it, a synapse connects, a light goes on, and you’re ready to trek barren parts of the world with nothing but map and compass.
That’s a good thing because any time you enter into the woods with  a GPS and no map, you are asking to become a resident of the Land of the Lost. As near a Godsend that a GPS can be, mishaps happen. For example, your little handheld unit could fall into a 60-foot-deep Canadian lake (mine), or simply run out of battery power (also mine), or you could drop it in a roaring campfire (thankfully not mine).
Getting lost stinks. Embrace your GPS, but always have a back-up map and compass. Have you ever been seriously lost? Hit the comments bar and bare your soul.
      

Comments

[AJG]

The intense feeling you get when you realize you are "lost" is too powerful to put into words. It's close to that "incredulous feeling" you get when you realized you've been scammed. "It Can't be! I've been doing this for years!"

The most important thing you can do is to admit to yourself you ARE lost and sit tight for a while to collect your thoughts prior to starting off getting more lost.

I was still hunting in the White Mountain National Forest in NH. My intense focus on the "tracking" distracted my natural predisposition to pinpoint landmarks or mark my direction on my compass. Lost was the least of my worries.

I was alone and didn't tell my wife I skipped work to go hunting. No-one knew where I was.

After sitting tight for a good 45 minutes, I decided that the best course of action was to carefully extract myself from the woods by heading south until I hit the fireroad I parked on. A 2 hour walk in - took 4 hours to get out.

It's not a good feeling, but if you remain calm and don't panic - you will be OK. Just remember to tell someone where you'll be so they don't worry too much....

[tom]

On a Caribou hunt North of the Artic Circle we were heading back in total darkness and we had 5 caribou on sleds and there was 5 of us hiking back. We did not know how far the trucks were so we decided to stop and build a fire. This is very difficult because there are only shrubs available, under the snow. Hunting with anal military pilots (one of them my dad) we had a plan that the other half of the group would come look for us if we did not rendezvous at the right time. When we saw the trucks coming down the road we found out we were only 200 yards from the road and 300 yards off course. This was before Handheld GPS’s. Having a plan kept us from spending the night on the Frozen Tundra 200 yards from our trucks.

[Brian]

A dead GPS is no better than leaving it at home. They don't seem to work very well in tight mountain valleys, either. Tossed up in the air, they will reliably indicate which direction is "down." I admit to using my trusty old Recta Prospector compass twice. Recently replaced it with a Brunton Eclipse (F&S:Best of the Best).

[Gary Brennan]

Permalink is right on by saying GPS may not receive a signal in steep mountains. GPS signals can also be blocked by heavy tree density. I work in the redwoods of California. GPS is not effective under the giants and should not be relied upon for getting you out of the woods if you get lost. I also lived on Kauai in Hawaii for three years. Triple canopy jungle blocks out the signals as well as a redwood tree. Take the time and learn map and compass techniques. I will someday save your life if you are an avid outdoorsman. Most GPS units today have some other nice built in features such as a digital compass and altimeter. These two features alone can help when you are lost. Thye compass can be set to make it a true bearing if you use the setup feature to change the declenation and the altimeter can give you an idea of where you are on the topographic maps available through USGS or REI. Barometers can warn you of changes in the weather by the decrease in preasure allowing you to seek shelter before the storm if you are lost. PANIC is the enemy. Stop is an acronym I use in my hunter education classes to get the class to S-stop, T-think, O-observe & P-plan.