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[at-l] Map and compass - and GPS
OK -- I'm gonna start something here. Periodically somebody brings up
the idea that a compass is an essential item to carry for an AT
thruhike. A couple times I've pointed out that it's nothing but extra
weight - and each time I've gotten these stories about people who
"needed" their compasses on the AT. So I just stopped saying anything
about it. But I think it may be time to bring it up again. I'm no
stranger to map and compass work - or to the necessity for a compass in
some situations, but I'll tell you plainly that for an AT thruhiker, a
compass is nothing but extra weight. Remember, we're talking about the
AT here, with thousands of volunteers who come out each year and clear
and blaze it. On the AT, if you go 5 minutes without a blaze, it's
because you aren't on the trail. If you live in Montana, or California,
or Arizona, this doesn't apply. But most Eastern trails are well
blazed, whether or not they get much maintenance. It's the AT influence.
Because of that, compasses aren't really necessary. Fun perhaps, to try
to figure out why a northbound hiker is going south, or east or west or
round in circles and everywhich way but north, but not as necessary as
common sense and the willingness to turn back when you realize that
you've lost the white blazes.
Yeah - I've heard the stories about how people come out of a shelter
and turn the wrong way on the Trail. And how people get turned
around in the fog in the Whites. So - let's talk about that.
And let's start with the proposition that a compass without a map is
nothing but a very poor rock. I'll give you an example - you're at a
shelter and when you come out in the morning, you get to the AT and
you're not sure which way to turn. So you whip out your handy compass
and find that the Trail runs East-West. Which way do you turn? ;-)
Or - at a different shelter, your compass tells you that South is to
your left, so you turn right. Don't need a map for that, do we?? Or do
we?? If you were at Standing Indian shelter and did that, you'd be
headed back to Springer. You WERE doing a southbound hike, weren't
you?? :-) Or were you headed for Katahdin? :-(
In both cases, the compass by itself is utterly useless - you need a
map to interpret what the compass is telling you. You need the map
to tell you where you are. And if you have the map - and know how to
use it - then the compass isn't necessary in either of these situations.
Why? - because the only real purpose of the compass on the AT is to
help you orient the map. And if you know which shelter you're at, then
that's your reference point for orienting the map. No compass is
necessary.
OK - how about the "fog in the Whites" situation? Again - where's
your map? And do you know how to find your position on that map? I hope
so because all the compass can give you in serious fog (or snow) is a
direction). It doesn't tell you where you are. I'll give you a clue,
guys - you don't find your position after the fog has rolled in. You
need to know your position before you lose your reference points. And a
direction without a position is worse than useless - in the right (or
was that wrong) conditions, it can kill you.
If you're a smart hiker, you know where you are because you've been
paying attention - especially if the fog is rolling in on you. Getting
turned around in the fog means - guess what - you weren't paying
attention to where you were - or possibly that you don't know how to
read a map. And if you don't know where you are - or if you can't read
the map, then the compass (again) is nothing but extra weight.
Learn to use your maps, gang. Without the maps, the compass is
nothing but a flat rock. With the maps - and just a little bit of
common sense - the compass is unnecessary for most people on the AT.
Notice - I left you an out there. There are a few (very few) people
whose sense of direction is so bad that they get lost in a shopping
mall. For those people, a compass, map, GPS unit, possibly a seeing eye
dog might be a necessity. I'm not gonna tell anyone what to carry - or
what's necessary for you to find your way on the AT. If you think you
"need" a compass, you probably do. Just keep in mind that you also
"NEED" to be able to read a map or that compass (or GPS unit) is gonna
get you in trouble. Maps and compasses go together - and most of the
time the map is all you need - even in the fog in the Whites.
Oh, yeah - there are also the stories about people getting lost because
they got off the Trail. And the truth is that a lot of thruhikers do get
off the Trail - but if they're lost, again it's because they're not
paying attention. On the AT, if you haven't seen a blaze for 100 yards,
you're probably off the Trail and you need to backtrack. At one time a
couple of us missed a turn and kept going for over a mile before we
realized we were on the wrong ridge - that'll teach us to talk :-). But
we weren't LOST - we knew where we were, we knew where the Trail was -
it just tooks some extra time and effort to get back where we needed to
be. Yes, we thought about doing a shortcut to the trail, but a quick
look at the map showed that the terrain was too steep to just hop from
one ridge to the next. It was easier to go back. That is usually the
case. If you get LOST on the Trail, the compass isn't what's gonna help
you - only your own common sense can do that.
Then there's the fact that if the blazes disappear, you might be the
victim of an unannounced relocation. It's always better to go back to
where you lost them, because there might be a really good reason for
that relocation, and even your map is no longer of much use.
Will we carry a compass on the CDT? Believe it - along with a spare and
a whole gaggle of maps. But the CDT doesn't have blazes every 30 ft.
There's one section of the CDT that doesn't have blazes for 600 miles.
But I didn't carry one on the AT, I don't carry one in PA or MD or WV
(except to practice with), and I wouldn't carry one on another AT
thruhike. I haven't "needed" a compass for over 6,000 miles - except for
"reassurance" when we were in the San Juans in Colorado last summer and
even then it was nothing but confirmation of what the maps were
telling us. The two times we got "misplaced" the compass was useless -
it was the maps and some common sense that got us where we needed to be.
I'll repeat this - LEARN TO USE YOUR MAPS - and then learn to use the
compass. But the maps come first. 99.999% of the time (even on the CDT)
the maps will solve your problem - if you know how to use them and you
don't panic about being "lost".
Gee - I haven't said much about GPS, have I? OK - it's a neat toy. And
it does have some practical use if you're mapping trails - or building
them. But - again - if you rely on GPS and don't know how to use the map
and compass, you're only kidding yourself. Sooner or later you'll run
out of battery, or drop it and break it, or .... pick your own
"disaster" ... and then you might REALLY be lost. Just for reference -
ships navigators have used computers for a lot of years, but the last I
heard they still have to qualify with map, compass and sextant in order
to get their ticket. As for the AT - again, for a thruhiker it's nothing
but extra weight. But then, it's not my problem if you want to carry one
- it's not my knees, back and feet. Once more, gang - learn to use the
maps, then learn to use a compass - if you're ever gonna do any serious
"wilderness" travel you NEED to know the basics. And GPS is NOT
something to bet your life on.
Walk softly - in the right direction,
Jim
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