Aye, Edmund Scientific has a "professional compass" (which is the one I use) for $24.95. I also carry a tape measure (well, I'll replace the one I had
), a trig table (yes, I use trigonometry), a scientific calculator, some tent pegs, a laser pointer (to point out where I want the person helping me to place a peg, etc.) and I keep all that in a tool vest. I also bought a hiking pole that doubles as a camera monopod (the compass with screw on to it) from Amazon.
It process is actually pretty simple. If you know the distance from the base of the falls and the angle of sight to the top of the falls (from the clinometer), you multiply the distance by the tangent of the angle and you have the height (fadd in the height above the ground of the clinometer - that you be your eye height). To get the distance (no, not the tape measure
), you can sight the base of the falls, take a strike off at ninety degrees from that sighting at a known distance and read the angle back to the falls. Again, the length of the strike (measured by the tape measure), times the tangent of the angle gives the distance from the base of the falls.
The package insert that comes with the compass tells you how to take the angular measurements.
If you really want to spend some money, you can by a rangefinder to tell you the distance from the falls directly.
By modifying the procedure you can get other information. For instance, if you come up with your distance from the base of the falls and from the top of the falls, you can easily figure out the slope of the falls. You can also sight, in the same way, from the top of the falls down to the splash pool (but don't get too close to the edge - standing on the egde of eternity while concentration on getting compass bearings doesn't sound like a good mix to me.)
