Intro to Orienteering

This clip is from the video vault in my Keep the Blaze Alive Coaching Squad (aka “The Squad”). The Squad has three levels of membership, and we meet weekly online with a 2-hour livestream where I answer questions and tell stories, and the Tier 1 members get two monthly two-hour Zoom calls where we talk face-to-face. I also host two 3-day events per year for my Tier 1 members. Learn more about The Squad at / coachingsquad
#PatMac #PatMcNamara

[@michaelbierlein5642]

I would definitely like to get into more detail with your presentations. When I went through basic training it was a basic familiarization. I’d like to have a better working knowledge and one of these days I plan to take a class.

[@wannabecarguy]

I joined a group and we were taught how to do land nav. Should you volunteer for search and rescue they will need people who know how to use a map.

[@RB-vr7mq]

Taught to get lost in a straight line...

[@frccustomguns7859]

You can literally buy books about this shit. Boy Scouts used to teach this.

[@cptxlobster]

Amazing class, even in the brief time you delivered it. Land nav was my favorite part of the infantry- walkin' through the woods! It is difficult to master. I would love to see you take some time while on your camping adventures to show real examples of route planning, use of compass, use of protractor, and what most everybody forgets: checking the map scale first!!! Thanks Pat, you're awesome!!

[@chadweir1246]

Definitely more of these Pat, such a great skill to learn and always good to gain knowledge on how to cross arduous terrain, map reading and plotting courses for maximum efficiency. Ace brother

[@moscowcowboy_13]

Great info Pat, and as usual everything is on point! One of the most useful things I learned in the Boy Scouts growing up was how to do my paces for 100 ft, how to read a contour map, using visual landmarks, reading a compass, accounting for declination etc. How to find direction when it's a cloudy day, using moss on trees. Most people have no clue about any of this.

[@jefflemaster2850]

I learned in the Boy Scouts as well- unfortunately I have forgotten some things.

[@thomasmarceldale384]

Pat, you're my hero! Any scope for events you're doing where I can come from the UK to attend?

[@luguefamily1498]

The way you put it into layman's terms makes it very easy to understand in a very short time. Please make a series/ follow up vids. Thank you

[@james9902]

I love your content and would love to see more on this topic. Thank you Sir.

[@MBriggs-vu2ko]

I’m at home in the woods and on the water. Get me near a city and my palms get sweaty. Love the content Mac!

[@pamountains2]

Great information Mac

[@SwitchbackGuitars]

Pat Mac is the professor we all need but don’t deserve.

[@tbip2001]

Would love to see a practical video of you doing this. I realise that's probably going to take too much time but it would be great to see you navigate from A to B using these basics. Maybe have someone else set the destination on the map.

[@azhivago2296]

Great idea!

[@rostamr4096]

it is 4 am where i am, and I love watching this....

[@J0HN3]

Thanks for the video!

[@PatchesKB]

This is super interesting.

[@brettmcculloch5342]

Thanks for the info Pat. I’ve always been interested in land navigation and orienteering so i found this insightful. I’d be interested in seeing more detailed videos on the subject. Keep up the great work!

[@zhilaxfow7888]

We like this.

[@bic1498]

Some great info here on differences in orienteering and land nav. I learned orienteering with the topo map/compass and bag over head. Setting up the map with declination lines drawn all the way up/down on 1 or 2" intervals was a big help. I grew up in SE Maine and as a Boy Scout, we focused on wilderness survival. Can't tell you how many times we got asked to help find lost (unguided MA urbanites) hunters. More often than not, they had a crude, hand-drawn map of where they were going, that's it. No topo, no compass. They'd take a shot, wound an animal and go tracking without a map or compass. 🙄 On your land nav route/tactic, I would have started by going up the hill 1st when you're fresh, then traversed the side. Make a brief stop in the saddle to re-shoot and find next waypoint. I like your use of terrain at the end to hit the hill summit. Low on 3 sides leaves you only 1 way to go to get to destination. Wholeheartedly agree, though. Map & compass work is a dying skillset with too many folks relying on GPS. The batteries in my Silva never go dead 😉

[@dj7362]

Loved it! Great info. Please elaborate....also use of compass. General beginners navigation.

[@11Wholegrain]

Bro! Do more! This is awesome. I feel like you could do a whole class on this and in multiple layers. Thanks, Pat!

[@mertmcguire]

Good fast explanations. If you do more in depth I'll be watching. Thanks.

[@ClodiusP]

Living on the moors when I was a kid I used to do orienteering for fun...that was 40 years ago...fuck...what happened to my life?

[@joshuamelby]

Ha! No shit.Have a great day anyhow.

[@danielmarshall4587]

Map reading, I was told all about this whilst in the Scout. I didn't pay ANY ATTENTION.... young?dumb & and full of the wrong sort of enthusiasm. Great video thank you.

[@expeditionlife9627]

Pls make some more videos like this! Great job! 💪🏽💪🏽🔥

[@traviesolee72]

I always sucked at Land Nav. I could read the map, plot the course... but getting to the point, I was ass.

[@CoolestDude38NC]

I like this video. Im fifty four, Im an old Eagle Scout and at one time decades ago I was really good at orienteering and land navigation. Used to do a lot of land nav in the Uwharrie mountains of NC. Additionally, I have a Bachelor's degree in Geography from 1994. Took classes in cartography and a lot of physical geography, climatology. Not tooting my own horn but at one time I could have smoked most Army infantry guys and infantry Marines on the subjects of land nav and orienteering. Watching your video makes me want to get back into that stuff.

[@rushedandlost]

Interesting. Good information. Haven't used these methods since the 90s when I and 3 or 4 friends back packed in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Colorado. Six-day trips. Great presentation. Thanks .

[@louispittman7367]

"All who wander are not lost." Yeah they're probably just stupid.

[@patrickmcgee6309]

I was 11B Light Infantry in the 25th 91-94. What is the best source or a source for military type maps? Or what would you recommend for maps??

[@suntzu5836]

Top Shelf Knowledge! Time to get out and EXPLORE😎

[@Yoshimurha]

Thanks for the time and the video+editing! Clear pricise and to the point. Great balance. Appreciate the upload, helped me understand some fundamental basics that my 8th grade teacher in the 1990's never managed to explain in an understandable way, haha.✔👌🤘

[@jerichok1913]

Thank you for your knowledge, and I wouldn't mind more on the topic. Thank you.

[@sciencerocks9613]

Thanks for the video. I did orienteering on a regular basis in gym class as a kid growing up in Sweden back in the late 70's and early 80's. There was also a regular weekend orienteering competition open for all to join in the little town that I grew up in. It was a great way to enjoy nature. So watching your video brought back many good old memories 😊 Thanks

[@jed9615]

Great video brother, keep walking with our KING!

[@irondiver292]

Excellence. Give us the full spin up P Mac and crew. Get some, in the right direction.

[@mordecai7820]

Terrain association and looser orienteering is a thoroughly neglected topic-- thank you for dropping the knowledge, more is always appreciated.

[@lacticacidtrip]

Awesome brush stroke of knowledge right there! Thank you

[@ph5915]

Excellent info! A few years back another KZbinr, 'Corporals Corner' had a couple videos on land nav and using a compass in the woods and the counting beads, it was very informative, stuff I never knew (I'm a city boy). He was a US Marine so he knew the charts and all too. It's not very difficult once you know what to do, but I'm sure there are many of us in the modern-day have no clue. LOL. Always enjoy your videos, Pat!

[@tendraftsdeep]

@Glizzy6d Exactly. I stopped following Corporal recently because of his whining and complaining about KZbin analytics and not making enough money

[@asmith7876]

@@tendraftsdeep Maybe give him another shot, he's backed off the whining! LOL

[@jakeb8856]

Thank you. I’ve had an itch to dig into these topics to improve my outdoor skills. This was a great primer. Much appreciated!

[@prospero6337]

🌟PatMac...glad you are such a good dude. You just get at it. love sharing your vids.🎩

[@pisom4314]

thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us!!! i would like to see more content on this subject!!

[@bobvan2576]

Thanks for another handy video. I check out (pretty well) all your content, but an educational series about orienteering would definitely be must see tv. Thanks again! Best, Bob

[@superkool7]

Pat do you teach detailed courses on this type of stuff? It would awesome to have an essentials class of some kind. Basic orienteering/navigation, knots, etc? Love what you do so thanks for everything! Also, more MacDaddys please!

[@randypennington4968]

Awesome clear instructions !From a true HERO !

[@GruntHumor]

There is a reason fresh LT's get lost with a compass. Because land nav is HARD. 😂 I did the whole rock/pace count stuff. But with nods on, once your depth perception is gone. It SUCKS. Especially with the pvs 14 and 7b nods.

[@Senseigainz]

Brilliant! How about talking in detail About the compass, how to use it and how to find your current position using landmarks etc?

[@chris22owens22]

Yas. More land nav content please. Helps with my deer hunting

[@OntarioBearHunter]

Wish they'd include a simple explanation like this in the mandatory hunting course up here. Spend 6 hours on regulations difference between gauge and calibre ,wearing blaze orange etc..but nothing on survival. Guy local to my hunt camp got lost on a hundred acre parcel of bush with roads on all 4 sides. They sent out a SAR helicopter and herc to look for him. Was found by a guy on foot 100 yards from the command post setup.

[@viator21]

A quality TOPO map will save your life! I’ve been backpacking in the Rockies and run into people who don’t have one or a compass and have no idea where the f they are.

[@The_Mechanic_Dad]

Did you say creek bottom? Is there a cliffwall? I'm definitely throwing a 1 ounce jig.

[@jameshussey8875]

Definitely would like more information on this topic 👍🏼

[@dannyhardesty3692]

I learned some of this in Boy Scouts long ago. Pat Mac would be an awesome Scoutmaster!

[@williamvigil2951]

Army proof I like it. It's been so long since I've done any land nav this is a good refresher. Keep up the the good work.

[@jmartina3572]

This was awesome! Hard to believe you packed all that info in 9 min and 49 seconds.

[@GruntHumor]

Pat quit giving out "likes". You're giving them out like how Marines give POGs Nams. You get a nam. You get a nam. You get a nam. Give it out as if we are all in the Marine Infantry. 😂 We need officer standards, not enlisted. "If it ain't an 8, it don't rate" -officer "If it's a 2, it'll do..." -enlisted That's why enlisted guys always have busted girls while officers have dime pieces 😅😅

[@ringingiron]

Great Stuff, another one of those important skills that we are losing to technology and modern “devolution”.

[@nick_ca]

This could not be better timed; picked up FM 21-26 just last week.

[@tmmccormick86]

Outstanding block of instruction; not enough can EVER be said about orienteering with a map and compass. batteries run out, the sun get spots, crap happens- people need to know how to PACE Plan their navigation needs.

[@mascasa7502]

I always enjoyed orienteering and land nav but what Mac said about geo-referencing the spur puts things in a new perspective. Good nuggets of info.

[@donfilkins298]

that was interesting!.....can you use an altimeter ( I think that's what it is called). to follow altitude grig lines?

[@gavinmangum9438]

Would definitely want to see a more in depth video! This was a very easy to understand beginning though

[@DigitalNeb]

Ya know, I'm pretty inexperienced withy a map and compass, but I've been orienteering in the woods since I was a kid, and there are very few places I can get truly lost now. If fact, the last time I even remotely turned around, I was near the Appalachian trail in the Smokey Mountains. I had decided to take a short cut... lol. Well, after several hours, I orienteered my stupid way out of there. Knowing how to move in a straight line while navigating the bush is one those skills you just over estimate.

[@supernova8642]

Orienteering is awesome look for clubs in your area. We do the same route planning to train for national events. You nailed the terms And key details🤘🏼.

[@t8music]

Good stuff

[@BxKRs]

Brings me back. Would definitely like to see more videos on the topic.

[@Michael-yt3wz]

Yes, I have been re-learning this information lately and would be grateful to see much more information on this. I am able to now plot gps coords on my topo-map, but am still not using just the map by itself. I want to get there with the GPS as a backup.

[@muriloninja]

Pretty cool stuff, I remember when there were Royal Rangers, Boyscouts that taught a lot of fundamentals of fieldcraft but I am sure society has fucked that all up by now

[@kennyellis5535]

Your the man Pat ! I have never been in the military. And I salute everyone that has. But I believe our military was at its best when you was in listed.. Your knowledge of the system is very impressive

[@HiPpiEBoi]

Awesome. Thanks for the explanation.

[@jasonreisenberger1285]

Fuck yeah!!! I was a mortar maggot for 10 years active. Being able to know what those contour lines represent in gradient and elevation are key when you're planning movement and plotting rounds. If you don't take into account the elevation difference between your firing position and the target it can be real bad for your guys.

[@Blackcloud_Garage]

Great stuff. Even when everyone else hated Land Nav and tried to get out of it I always thought it was interesting and I miss it from my days in the Army. I'd like to take a class to relearn it. Please keep it up in the future👍👍

[@cej3940]

Please do more of this! My family and I have a plot of land and was thinking about trying to learn orienteering as I figured it would be helpful

[@brianleigh3673]

Feet, inches, yards on a map would blow my mind 😂😂

[@nicholasobrien8499]

Love it boss! Im finishing up my freshman year of rotc in college trying to he an officer, and any more info on this or even TC3/first aid is appreciated! Thanks for the help!

[@fitzgeni16]

Use this skill all the time riding and especially when making and blazing new trail in the PNW.

[@mikehoncho806]

Rad video brotha, good Barney style breakdown.

[@ed008ue]

Pat, good to have a refresher course on Land Nav !!!

[@ShooterB1]

This is awesome, lots of stuff to learn and I didnt know anything about this. Cool

[@kasey7673]

Really appreciate this content! Wish I could shadow you for a month and just soak up all the info you can dish out

[@joehavin1]

This was fucking awesome

[@stevefournier6375]

Great instruction, Pat, thanks for posting class.

[@wagr9824]

Pat, great video, would definitely like to see more orienteering videos. As you highlighted, orienteering is a perishable skill and I it is one skill that I believe is not easily mastered.

[@marcushom6789]

Great presentation. I would like to see more. I compete in an event called Sniper Adventure Challenge, and this is the most compressed version of what people need to know.

[@mcgu2888]

Dang man did you hand draw all those contours?! Nice!

[@Lobo204RHF]

Always found maps beautiful can learn so much from them.

[@savage_the_wild]

Right on man, didn't know you were based out of NC. I'm up in the Brushys/Appalachian area.

[@c431inf]

Love the classroom videos

[@barrysmith916]

Thanks Mac, real skills for real world survival. Land Nav is an art all itself .

[@Foreverandever431]

Very much liked this. Please do more thank you

[@jstep100]

You do a great job of teaching sir! thanks much!

[@SeaJayBelfast]

Not joking here, I never realised there was a standardised way maps are folded. I've always kept re-folding it any old way till it rips. 10 years of learning orienteering with Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and Pat's taught me more in about 10 seconds.

[@steveowen5143]

Informative to hear him differentiate between land nav and orienteering.

[@patrickoberem9109]

Getting after it - making a difference. Good job Pat.

[@Gothicwoodcraft]

Very cool, looking forward to more of these vids. I def need a refresher on all of this.

[@claytondc508]

😀 Good job on a BIG subject, my friend. 👊

[@user-Chris89]

Ty for the Information. I would really lilke to learn more about it

[@skepticalhippo6376]

Anyone know of a any classes that they would recommend that teach land nav on the east coast?

[@TheronJames]

Thanks for making this so accessible!

[@curtispetersen8460]

Good stuff! Been a while since I've done land nav.

[@seanc5827]

I’d like to hear a lot more on this subject, thanks Pat!

[@JasonVladimir]

Pace count will change drastically at night as well.