Learning to Use Map & Compass

[AlabamaDan]

Hi everyone!  This is my first post here on AlaTrails, but I've been looking around a few days and it's a cool place.  I'm trying to learn to use a map & compass together.  I'm a cub scout leader and need to learn enough to pass on to my boys.  I'm also getting more and more into hiking and camping and need to learn orienteering myself.  I know there are 1000s of websites on how to do it, but I'm the kind of person who learns from watching and interacting with another human.  Anyone around Birmingham up for teaching an eager orienteering newbie?

[Lostsheep]

I'm sure there are dozens.

Since you're a scout leader, head on over to Liberty Park and pick up an Orienteering Merit Badge Book. Then you'll know what you need to do and it'll cover the requirements necessary. That'll give you something to start with.

Do you have access to topo maps at all? What kind of compasses do you use (flat standards, or engineering sighting compasses)?

I'll be glad to point you in a direction and help you out along the way...

[AlabamaDan]

For the Bears (8 years old) in my den now their aren't any requirements for their badge, but it's a skill that I'd like them to get started on.  Their are several things I'm taking seriously this year to get them started knife safety, knots and begining outdoor skills.  I felt the map/compass reading fell into begining outdoor skills.  Their is a belt loop and pin I thought we could earn. 

Those requirements are:

Belt Loop
Show how to orient a map. Find three landmarks on the map
Explain how a compass works.
Draw a map of your neighborhood. Label the streets and plot the route you take to get to a place that you often visit.

Academics Pin
Earn the belt loop and complete five of the following requirements:
Define cartography.
Make a poster showing 10 map symbols and their meaning.
Read a book or story about a famous explorer or navigator. Tell your den or family what you learned.
Make a simple compass with a magnet and pin.
Explain the difference between latitude and longitude and show them on a map or globe.
Draw a compass rose for a map. Label north, south, east, and west.
Study a blank map of the United States of America. Label your state, and the states that share its boundary lines.
In the field, show how to take a compass bearing and how to follow it.
Show how to measure distances, using a scale on a map legend.
Measure your pace. Then layout a simple compass course for your den to try.
Using a road map, determine how many miles it is between two major cities or familiar destinations.
Explain what the different map colors can mean on a map.

As for me personally, I'd like to really get good at orienteering so could go someplace off the beaten path and not worry about getting lost...  It's something I've always wanted to do but haven't.  I'm always in awe of someone who could find his location on a map if in the wilderness.  I've always been ok at directions and maps - but I don't have any skills

Good idea on the merit badge book, I'll go get it.  Then again I learn better from another person.

[Cuffs]

Do you need to learn map/compass or orienteering?  2 different things.  (but similar at the same time...)


Contact Vulcan Orienteering they have been great at providing instructuction to groups in the past...


http://vulcanorienteering.org/

[SmokeDiver]

Haha, long forgotten memories surfaced when you mentioned belt loops. I forgot all about those, I wish I still had my old ones.

Youtube is a treasure trove of outdoor technical skills. Here's just one of many vids on orienteering.

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[ednotmilkman]

Most basic thing I've remembered about map & compass orienteering is -

Keep Fred in the Red !

Fred being the needle of course.  Red being the red outline pointing to zero degrees bearing.

[WolfVanZandt]

The University of Scouting will often offer training like that. Contact you're District Coordinator and see if he can hook you up with some training.

[Lostsheep]

Looks like he's getting some great advice!

[AlabamaDan]

Great stuff guys!  Thanks!!!!   

[AlabamaDan]

Just got back from buying a really cool topo map of Sipsey - I'm sure everyone but me had one.  They didn't have a good topo of Oak Mtn.  Anyone got one?  Maybe something digital they could email?

[mich4076]

Oak Mtn state park will tell you one at the gate for 50 cents.

[Lostsheep]

This was posted over in the Sipsey board, but it'll sure help and get you started!

http://www8.garmin.com/ma...hPaperLandMaps_Manual.pdf

See what you think.