Thread: Navigation with compass and map

Originally Posted by Rusky

A week ago in the Kaimanawas I stayed at a clearing that was a 40 min bush bash to a river and on the other side was the track. Pretty simple. I stayed until 30 min of light was left put gps on and made a fast paced walk through bush to said river. I always underestimate how dark the bush gets when light is fading. I then thought of the consequences of that GPS failing and how good I would be at finding my way out via a compass in the dark. Id say I could do it, but not very quickly and not with complete confidence. Im gonna have to give the compass some more practice and put the GPS in my pack as a last resort. Leaving the GPS on in your jacket plotting your trail and navigating via a compass/map marking your course as you go would be a worth while exercise.

The trick that I use when trying to find my way back is stop every once in a while on the way out and look at the view of the track from the way back then try to look for waypoints about every 30 paces or so

Works for me