Hiking - An Introduction To Navigation Using Maps

Despite the fact that you might guess that it should be the other way around, you will find that most experienced hikers use maps in order to navigate their way along trails and across wilderness areas while novices feel that maps are unnecessary. The novice frequently assumes that there is no need to go through the hard work of learning map reading and that he will be okay as long as he keeps to well used trails. Regrettably, that is a mistaken view.

You really can get seriously lost even close to clearly marked trails and stepping just a few yards off the trail into a heavily wooded area has confused more than one novice. Without the benefit of the stars, sun or geographical features it is all too easy to get turned around and to end up straying even farther from the trail and getting yourself lost in next to no time.

Now in the example above a map by itself would not necessarily help you out of the wood in question. But, you will often run across another trail which will hook up with the one you were on and a good map would help you to find your way with ease back to your starting point.

So, where should you begin?

Begin by getting hold of an up-to-date map that covers the area you will be hiking in and begin by studying it carefully at home in a quiet and relaxed environment. You will not of course be able to match the map to the features you see, but it will certainly assist you in learning and understanding the symbols which are used on the map.

Every map has a legend (which will differ a bit from one publisher to the next) and you want to familiarize yourself with the symbols. Additionally, you will have to understand the scale of the map which will be clearly printed on it as something like 1 inch = 5 miles.

Remember however that distance is only one part of the story and that 1 inch which represents 1 mile on open ground is a quite different thing from 1 inch which represents 1 mile over an area that includes a steep winding path up the side of a 3,000 foot cliff.

To account for the latter, you have to think about altitude which is shown on the map as a series of curved lines which, if they were 'stretched out', would make a circle. The distance between two altitude lines around some natural feature such as a hill indicates the altitude. Usually you will find that there are numbers printed beside the lines in order to help you. These lines are known as contour lines and the closer the lines are to one another the steeper the ground.

Next, you should study the longitude lines and latitude lines. Longitude lines which indicate North and South run 'up and down' the map from the bottom to the top while latitude lines which indicate East and West run 'right and left'.

In the daytime you can use the sun together with natural features to orient the map so that it is lined up with the ground that you are hiking over. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West so that at the start of the day facing the sun will have you heading in an Easterly direction. By the same token, late in the day facing the sun as it sets will have you hiking in a Westerly direction.

At night you can use the stars and you can frequently see the sky reasonably well as most wilderness areas are far away from the glow of city lights. One of the greatest pleasures of hiking is to be able to walk out under the canopy of stars and familiarizing yourself with such formations as Orion and the Big Dipper as well as the North Star.

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