THIS is how to navigate in a forest - Forest Navigation done correctly

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The Map Reading Company

The Map Reading Company

6 ай бұрын

Navigating in a forest is not difficult. Here we look at the critical skill of using a map and compass for forest navigation. The ability to navigate in a forest using a map and compass is, quite simply, vital for anyone heading off for a hike or walk through large tracts of forest.
Safe and successful forest navigation does NOT involve any of the many, many tricks and gimmicks that some websites and videos promote - most of these simply don’t work - as these can lead inexperienced people in to some very dangerous situations.
When navigating in a forest you can imagine your map as a visual guide to the intricate terrain hidden below the tree-tops. It will show you where there are streams or rivers, walls, tracks and other features you can use to locate your position or follow towards your destination. Once your compass has been set, from the map, it will show you the direction to walk.
In the wilderness, especially amid dense forests, reduced visibility can pose a considerable challenge. The map and compass, when used together, will enable you to follow the route of your choice, circumventing obstacles, and ensuring you stay on track, even when landmarks may be obscured.
Some people consider a map and compass to be Old-School and whilst GPS and gadgets are undoubtedly marvellous, they come with vulnerabilities. A map and compass, however, stands as your fail-safe. They won't forsake you in the face of poor signals or a drained battery. In moments of crisis being able to navigate using a map and compass is the one thing - sometimes the only thing - which you can reply on to guide you on to your destination or take you back to a familiar, safe, point.
There is a large amount of topographic information printed on to your map, in dense forest this is your strategic advantage. Being able to see the intricacies of the terrain, elevation changes, and water sources enable you to plan routes safely, mitigating the risk of stumbling into overly challenging landscapes.
Practicing to improve your proficiency with a map and compass fosters spatial awareness. It transcends mere wayfinding; it involves comprehending your environment, estimating distances, and constructing a mental map of your surroundings.
The decision-making aspect is pivotal. Deliberately plan routes, taking into account factors such as elevation changes, water availability, and potential obstacles. Your map and compass become tools of empowerment, enabling you to make informed choices that enhance safety and efficiency.
Lastly, let's not overlook the thrill of exploration. As navigators, your pursuit extends beyond avoiding getting lost; it involves orchestrating an adventure. The map and compass serve as gateways to uncovering less-travelled areas, enriching your outdoor experience, and instilling a sense of confidence and excitement.
So, embrace these tools. They transcend their status as mere instruments; they emerge as your companions in the expansive wilderness, facilitating your navigation, exploration, and unravelling the mysteries of the great outdoors.
Happy navigating!
Links to other videos mentioned in this video:
Use contours lines to navigate
• Navigate using contour...
How to use Attack Points
• Attack points in navig...
Pacing to calculate distance travelled
• Pacing, how and when t...
Timing to calculate distance travelled
• Timing in navigation, ...
How to take a compass bearing
• THIS is how to use a c...
Fold a map in to a waterproof case
• How to fold a map

Пікірлер: 359
@DCS_World_Japan
@DCS_World_Japan 4 ай бұрын
The hiker knows where he is, because he knows where he isn't.
@TurboLoveTrain
@TurboLoveTrain 21 күн бұрын
Get off of reddlt, it is rotting your brain.
@osXFan
@osXFan 9 күн бұрын
However the hiker must know where it was.
@default179
@default179 2 күн бұрын
Not always. You can use terrain association to determine your approximate location even without knowing where you are to start ​@@osXFan
@roger5059
@roger5059 9 сағат бұрын
Missile copypasta
@tawnyard4649
@tawnyard4649 6 ай бұрын
As a Welsh bog-hopper, my navigation is all about avoiding the suck, keeping to high/dry ground and often following the rivers because I’ve got no choice. I’ve done so much wading icy “streams” that have become torrents due to heavy rainfall, that I always expect the worst. Felled sections can sometimes be even harder going, unless you’re lucky enough to find the caterpillar tracks the loggers have surfaced with branches. A forest mile on the map for me is often three miles on the ground. Keep up the great work. I’m loving your videos.
@MultiVogon
@MultiVogon 6 ай бұрын
Ooh, hello fellow bog-snorkeller 😀 If there's one thing you can guarantee in the Cambrians, it's wet ground. I regularly get lost, but in a casual 'I know roughly where I am' way. Handrails are my go-to navigation method. I'll also make use of a farmer's quad track if it's going vaguely in the right direction. If all else fails the sheep usually have found the best route over/through/around an obstacle too.
@Page5framing
@Page5framing 6 ай бұрын
I wanna go hiking with you. That sound fun
@inregionecaecorum
@inregionecaecorum 5 ай бұрын
@@MultiVogon Worst of it is being off the track and being able to see ahead precisely where you want to go, but being unable to take a straight line without having your boots literally sucked off your feet by the bog.
@IDoBeSmarter
@IDoBeSmarter Ай бұрын
As long as you avoid the Boglim
@tawnyard4649
@tawnyard4649 Ай бұрын
@@IDoBeSmarter Aaaaagh! The Boglim!
@tracyrreed
@tracyrreed 5 ай бұрын
My favorite forest navigation tip: Moss grows on the north side of the bodies of those who forgot their compass.
@FriteVerte
@FriteVerte 5 ай бұрын
Again, not always true. Moss will grow wherever there is shade, and sometimes that shade can be facing south. But it can be ONE tool used to determine your berring
@teresacorrigan3076
@teresacorrigan3076 4 ай бұрын
🤣🤣🤣🤣
@Thetarget1
@Thetarget1 4 ай бұрын
Doesn´t work.
@nobeltnium
@nobeltnium 3 ай бұрын
@@FriteVerte he meant moss will grow on death people corpse
@Ghredle
@Ghredle 2 ай бұрын
Ever tried to do that in New Zealand 😂 nope moss grows in the shade (.) Boy scount knowledge
@bobpourri9647
@bobpourri9647 5 ай бұрын
One needs to keep in mind when walking in the forest that obstructions are often encountered and really must be avoided by going around. Marshes, bogs, lakes and other wet areas are the worst, but even fairly large hills will take their toll on you if you try to go straight over. Areas of thick brush or areas that have been logged with tops laying every which-way can be tough. What often looks like a straight line A-to-B on a map is often very, very different when you are out there walking it!
@direwolf6234
@direwolf6234 5 ай бұрын
that's why it's called .. 'bushwhacking' ..
@infinitenex8165
@infinitenex8165 5 ай бұрын
Your "studio" being a clearing in a forest is much more appreciated than a boring stale studio like most other content creators. I like your style very much.
@on_the_off_beat
@on_the_off_beat Ай бұрын
Long-time forest roamer here from the pacific Northwest of the USA, a region where Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, and Lodgepole pine (plantation species of the Keidler forest) grow natively. I agree with your take on forest navigation. It's a lot about interpreting map features and topography, and rough-and-ready bearings. And one frequently doesn't know exactly where one is. Which is not the same thing as being lost, I should note. One point I occasionally make to the trail-dependent, is that most trail-walkers don't know exactly where they are either, but they have an algorithm (following the trail) for getting to a known destination. So they're not lost, unless they lose the trail. Similarly, if I preserve general orientation in the woods and know that If I keep going in a given direction, I will eventually emerge at a known or identifiable spot, I am not lost, even if I am unsure within a kilometer of where I am. I applaud you for being invested in map and compass usage rather than a GPS device, or a mobile phone screen. It's more skill-demanding, sure, but it's much more robust. And I do believe also that over time it aids in developing terrain intuition, a "mental map", so that one does not need to consult map or compass often, or even at all in familiar terrain. And I think that's a good objective to work towards. Fiddle-faddling around with the map and compass takes time and breaks the rhythm. It's often much more satisfying to intuitively follow terrain. One should strive for efficiency, ease of movement, and that means navigating enough, but not too much. Use the heavyweight tools, such as precisely and slavishly following a compass bearing, only if you really need that precision. Most of the time, in woods or obstructed terrain, it'll just slow you down and drive you nuts. Follow the bearing sloppily, letting obstacles and terrain influence your path, and check once in a while to make sure you're not deviating too much. One thing I would note explicitly is that orientation is hardest in relatively featureless terrain with relatively poor visibility. In landscapes where the topography gives off strong signals, even if forested or with otherwise limited visibility (fog, dark) one can frequently rely just rely on topography without much reference to compass. One could say, in fact that the relative importance of compass vis-a-vis topographic map varies with terrain and visibility. Your instructional example relies on streams a lot as identifiable features. Over here in the US, even the best topographic maps we have, at 1:24000 scale, not infrequently get streams wrong, something I have learned the hard way. Mostly I think there is little field verification used on those maps, it is largely photographic interpretation, so a stream under unbroken tree cover may be missed or misplaced. Quite possibly UK ordnance survey map-making is more painstaking and better-funded. But the lesson still applies, I think, that one should learn what can be expected of one's maps. In large parts of Canada (British Columbia is what I know), the remoter and more interesting parts, naturally, the largest scale available is 1:50000, which takes a bit of getting used to. One striking and interesting and near-universal phenomenon which you do not mention is what I like to call (with apologies to Kenneth Grahame) "the terror of the wild wood". Being in trailless woods, particularly in situations of obstructed visibility (head-high brush, dark) has the capacity to really freak people out. It's built in, I think: we are visual creatures, and who knows what might be lurking out there? Bears? Tigers? Woozles? It is all very well for the rational mind to point out that there are no free-roaming bears, tigers, or woozles in the UK, the older and more primitive parts of our minds are still convinced that they are out there. The proper response to this fear is to condition it out through repeated exposure; over time one is as easy as Mr Darcy might be lounging in his deer park.
@LordPerique
@LordPerique Ай бұрын
That note about land nav developing a general sense of direction whereas relying on GPS does not is absolutely spot on in my experience.
@ihadadream-itsgonenow
@ihadadream-itsgonenow 18 күн бұрын
I agree that you should follow the bearing sloppily and not walk straight through a burning bush full of thorns. That is why I don't understand why I never read or hear people talk about taking a bearing, guessing distance to target (or obtain accurately if you can) AND THEN CALCULATING THE REMOTE GPS COORDINATES of target location, which your mobile phone app should LOCK ON TO ! Now you can take ANY BEARING INITIALLY IF YOU FEEL LIKE and still arrive at desired location just by following a waypoint finder on your phone ! I have programmed multiple web apps to do this kind of point to point navigation.
@cagedraptor
@cagedraptor 5 ай бұрын
I stupidly wondered off a path in a National Forest in Kentucky without a map or compass, and worse 1st time ever there. First time I had ever truly got lost. I was lost for about 20 minutes. What kept me from horribly getting in very deep dodo was I kept calm and before I walked off the path I looked up at the Sun. After about 15 minutes of a bit of wondering about I looked back up and from the position it was when I got started and at that point, I knew which way to go and when I walked back onto the path, I was about 5' away from where I first walked off it. True story.
@lesnyk255
@lesnyk255 Ай бұрын
Something similar happened to me right next to my own woodlot. (I live in SW NH, in a pocket of rural country surrounded by small towns & villages.) I'd gotten engrossed in photographing a subject from different angles, and when I finished & stood, realized I'd gotten disoriented. I knew I was only a few hundred yards from my own land, but in which direction? The closest road in the wrong direction was about 5 miles away. Just as panic started creeping in, I remembered it was early afternoon, so the sun had to be in the southwest; and I knew I was westerly of my property. So keeping the shadows to my 10:00 should bring me home; and in a matter of minutes, it did. I've since taught myself to use map & compass, but it's always reassuring having the sun overhead as a beacon.
@cagedraptor
@cagedraptor Ай бұрын
@@lesnyk255 with the right set of skills Mother Nature is always there for you.
@michaelbruce2699
@michaelbruce2699 Ай бұрын
I wonder why I wander sometimes.
@HardwayRanch
@HardwayRanch 5 ай бұрын
I was a Forward Observer attached to the Lite Infantry at Fr. Wainwright, AK, and so land navigation is what we did all the time. I loved it - those were the times I could go do my thing and be left alone without some overbearing jackass micromanaging or second guessing everything! As you know, when you get good at it then navigation in an unknown forest is as easy as following a highway map on a road trip. Practice practice practice!
@cascadianrangers728
@cascadianrangers728 Ай бұрын
Land nav practice was always great. I had everyone convinced I was hopeless at it so I could stay out way longer lol
@KhreamedKhorne
@KhreamedKhorne Ай бұрын
Landnav courses were honestly one of my favorite things to do when I was in the Corps. I picked up on it pretty easily the first time it was introduced to me during boot camp and there was just something fun about it. When I was at 99 palms I'd go off and explore the desert by myself all the time
@dungeonmaster6292
@dungeonmaster6292 Ай бұрын
You were a liability
@HardwayRanch
@HardwayRanch Ай бұрын
@@dungeonmaster6292 💩👀🤦‍♂🤷‍♂
@darbyl3872
@darbyl3872 5 ай бұрын
Good video. You covered the most important stuff. These are what I know about orienteering: 1. Handrails. You covered it. 2. Aiming Off. Aiming for the left of a handrail, then turning right when you get there (or right, left). 3. Attack Points / Collecting Features. You covered that. 4. Point To Point Navigation. You covered. 5. Pacing, Estimated. I can hike 100 meters on flat smooth ground in 59 paces (118 steps). It could take a lot more for elevation and rough terrain, but never less. 6. Boxing. To go around a big obstacle, turn 90 degrees, go X paces, turn 90, go X, turn 90, X paces, turn 90. You are X paces from your starting point, and avoided the obstacle. 7. Safety Direction. When you leave your car / the road, take a bearing backwards toward the road. That's your safety direction. If all else fails, hopefully you have a working compass, and can bushwhack (off-trail) straight back to the road. One or two small button compasses are nice to have as backup, in case one of them breaks or gets lost.
@RobinBaker49
@RobinBaker49 Ай бұрын
Re: Boxing - You may not be able to take such a structured approach (90 degree turns) when encountering an obstacle. You can also take another compass bearing when encountering the obstacle you are forced to go around. Hopefully there will be a tree or rock or other feature on the other side of the obstacle you can focus on. Then all you need to do is go around the obstacle (by whatever means) and go to to the "bearing point" (tree, rock, etc on your bearing line) and continue as before.
@CatholicSamurai
@CatholicSamurai Ай бұрын
Classic Army Infantry Landnav principles! We called safety directions “Panic Azimuths” though. Practice honing those few basic principles, and you can easily navigate in about 95% of environments!
@LordPerique
@LordPerique Ай бұрын
A safety azimuth once saved my butt during a winter section hike of the White Mountain portion of the Appalachian trail after I lost the trail at night.
@steadmanuhlich6734
@steadmanuhlich6734 6 ай бұрын
TO THE PRODUCER: This is the first video I have watched from this channel, but it was so good, so helpful, and nicely illustrated, that I will subscribe to learn more. I learned orienteering many years ago, and was taught in the military, but the tips in this video (so nicely illustrated by on the location footage) was VERY helpful along with the map visuals shown to correlate the features on the map with the scenes on the ground. Very helpful tips, I won’t forget. Thanks for producing the video! I look forward to learning more from you. Also I like how the video ended with a note about the relative size of forests in different locations. In the USA (and Canada) there can be very large forested areas, where someone can get lost easily, and many do. I also like how you showed the density of the forest too. Those make it very difficult or impossible to use typical “sight a distant object” techniques that are so often mentioned in books and lessons given by instructors. Your video shows how dense a forest can be, with undergrowth that prohibits any distant viewing, and makes hiking through it very difficult.
@jdjones4825
@jdjones4825 5 ай бұрын
This bloke is a great teacher and this a great channel, fair play to him..
@Fred-zc8lt
@Fred-zc8lt 2 ай бұрын
Agreed, his scenarios, explainations, instructional aids, and classroom are on point.
@sir9integra9jr
@sir9integra9jr 10 күн бұрын
My dad served in the US Air Force as a translator. He didn't particularly want to and was completely uninterested, but it was the best thing he could do to make money with his French degree and knack for language learning. In basic training he was supposed to learn to navigate in the wilderness by the stars, but he didn't pay attention in the class part. During the test, he wandered around lost for a while, stumbled upon another recruit who knew what he was doing, and followed him at a distance to the meetup point. My dad was commended for his quick navigation lol. So, if you ever need to navigate the forest, just follow someone who knows how. Easy!
@BCVS777
@BCVS777 6 ай бұрын
Great principles! Over 50 years ago my father taught me to always go downhill if I didn’t know which way to go…civilization is down. If you live in the mountains you understand the value of such a simple statement.
@michaelnasser8697
@michaelnasser8697 5 ай бұрын
My dad taught me the same thing or follow a stream down.
@karstenaudette1197
@karstenaudette1197 5 ай бұрын
I live in Vancouver, BC and this is one of the things that gets a lot of people in trouble here funnily enough. We have a lot of mountains that are steepest near the bottom, meaning a lot of people start heading down to get out and end up stuck or injured by cliffs and gulleys. Our SAR teams have had so many calls for people in ski areas that have ended up injured and alone in these steep sections because they tried that. Of course, it's still a good rule of thumb, just need to take it with a grain of salt and analyze where you are.
@christopherellis2663
@christopherellis2663 5 ай бұрын
This does not apply in many cases. Civilisation is on a plateau, and the valley is a national park.
@steveshea7725
@steveshea7725 5 ай бұрын
Except when it leads you to an impassable dropoff, and, you can't go back up, and you die of starvation or hypothermia. Or the down leads you into a swamp/drainage that's further away from help. You really need to understand the terrain you are in. Sometimes dads aren't the experts we think they are
@steveshea7725
@steveshea7725 5 ай бұрын
​@@christopherellis2663 or, one direction leads you into an isolated drainage, further from help or resources, and the other leads you back to trails . Ideally you have an underhanding of the surroundings. Ideally you have a map and compass plus a gps unit. Ideally you don't get dangerously lost
@getsmart3701
@getsmart3701 6 ай бұрын
Brilliant video sir, one of your best. How many times have I "doubted" my map and compass in favor of the terrain? Only because I was wanting it so, or too tired or very calorie depleted etc on the given day. I've seen others do it as well and fro me the crazy thing is, when my mind gets confused and starts to lie to me...I KNOW that it's lying but still find it's very hard to change my view point. A tip from an expert in dealing with bad map reading :-)...when in doubt, take a minute, grab a quick cuppa if you can or have a bite of food or just sit down and close your eyes for acouple of minutes, it'll save you time in the long run. That I can promise you. Here is central Sweden we have lots of dense forest and very little ground or small rivers...no tricks work here only solid map reading skills. Thank you again for the great video mate and Happy Christmas and look forward to 2024 with The Map Reading Company.
@chrisragner3882
@chrisragner3882 4 ай бұрын
It’s been 45 years since I trudged through the woods. Inspiring wisdom. Thank you
@gholzworth
@gholzworth 5 ай бұрын
I've been back packing for decades and know my way around with map and compass; however, I learned something from this video that I hadn't thought about before. Pacing. It's tough to do where I backpack because of the mountains and rocky outcroppings that can really mess with pacing (Smoky Mountains in North Carolina). But, smaller segments should work. I'll put it to the test this summer. Oh, and the bit about your mind lying to you? Spot on advice!
@TheMapReadingCompany
@TheMapReadingCompany 5 ай бұрын
I have a video about pacing, which may help. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJ3WXqxtpsp4qs0
@SamPeabody
@SamPeabody 4 ай бұрын
I took a Hunter safety class that touched on emergency supplies people should have with them in the woods, and his tip here reminded me of that class. They said bring 2 compasses. If you get lost in the woods, there’s a good chance you’ll look at your compass and say “there’s no way that’s the right way out, I could swear it was the other way. This compass is broken.” If you have 2 it will prove to you that the compass isn’t lying.
@jimvick8397
@jimvick8397 23 күн бұрын
I was always Mr. USGS map and compass guy for whatever outdoor adventure. One of my college buddies I went on adventures with got a Garmin GPS in 2005. Over the next year, he would whip out his GPS and do instantly what took me a few minutes to sort out with my map and compass. After a year of my map and compass being all but useless backups on our adventures, I left them at home for a trip. You can probably see where this is going... We decided to do a long snowshoeing backpacking trip deep into the wilderness around the middle for of the Snoqualmie river. At the start, we had easy snowshoe tracks to follow, then it started snowing so the tracks vanished, a thick fog settled in, and about 3 miles up a very gradual valley the GPS died due to dead batteries and he didn't bring extras. In these conditions there was no real way to find the trail, but, we could follow the stream/river back. And when I say "steam", I mean the the headwaters of a river with a series of box canyons and waterfalls... Needless to says, we had to endure a very sketchy bushwhack until we found our way back. And I learned my lesson and am back to being Mr. USGS map compass guy, even if it doesn't seem necessary.
@mjinba07
@mjinba07 5 күн бұрын
Another thing is that GPS is not always 100% reliable even when batteries are working. A satellite signal can get interrupted by things like weather, reflections from various surfaces, other radio frequencies, intentional jamming, solar flares... It may be fine most of the time but if your life and safety in a remote area depend on it that's not a good risk. The only thing that really messes with a compass are weird magnetic fields, like an area highly rich in iron. Common sense begs the question - when your life is on the line are you going to rely on an ultra-complex tech that's 12,550 miles overhead or simple, time tested tech and skill?
@Inkling777
@Inkling777 6 ай бұрын
Another useful technique when you're headed for a linear object (stream, road, shoreline or whatever) is to aim for a deliberate miss. If it's a N-S road, aim so you will clearly hit it to the south of your intended target. Then when you get there you know that you'll need to turn left.
@scotanderson7689
@scotanderson7689 5 ай бұрын
I use this trick often when I worked in the woods
@darbyl3872
@darbyl3872 5 ай бұрын
I call that aiming off, which I think is the term for it.
@bmphil3400
@bmphil3400 5 ай бұрын
​@@darbyl3872yes then use the stream as the "handrail" to find the junction. The problem I have found in places like Florida is that streams and ponds that are shown on the map are often very shallow and actually dry up in the heat of the summer. I also ran into this in the jungle of Panama where a water waypoint on a GPS had dried up during the drought.
@TheMapReadingCompany
@TheMapReadingCompany 5 ай бұрын
Aiming off is not really necessary in a forest when you're heading to a stream/river as once you arrive it's very simple to locate your position. If you were heading towards a straight road, edge of forest, etc. it would be, but not a river. I have a video on “aiming off”. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJa0nY2igLefgq8si=9L7h0Xl30MrKlUyp
@bobpourri9647
@bobpourri9647 5 ай бұрын
Often used by me for years - before we had GPS.
@christ.a8764
@christ.a8764 Ай бұрын
Hi, I'm doing a lot of forest navigation in a forest, to prepare for a course I'm doing later this year. I'm feeling confident and have walked checkpoints up to 3.5km, without using any tracks or roads and arriving pretty much on point, using my GPS to confirm my position. The techniques I implement are: - Walking on a bearing/Point to point - 'Up the guts' approach. - Aiming off - approximately 100-150m off target - terrain association - Checking for increases in elevation to confirm approximate location and direction. - Backstops - Using tracks and terrain features as a backstop to know if/when I have walked too far. The only doubt I have is that I don't use pace counting. In a forest, I have found: - my pace count to be wildly inaccurate and a waste of mental energy - Trying to following my compass bearing while counting my paces. - using the above techniques to be more effective in keeping me on track. My old orienteering club also didn't encourage pace counting due to its inaccuracy. Do you recommend I still practice it?
@noah4822
@noah4822 Ай бұрын
I see it as a tool that can help, but if its tripping you up maybe focus on it once all the other stuff becomes second nature. everyone is different, if you are getting results without it, and find it a waste of time/effort then don't worry about it
@SkogsMangan
@SkogsMangan Ай бұрын
When orienteering you usually have a detailed map, so you can check your position every 50m or so with details on the map (rocks, reentrants, clearings etc). Pacing always give you a rough estimate, maybe 20% off depending on the terrain, and noly really useful when you have no details on the map to work with.
@joadt
@joadt 6 ай бұрын
Great video. Thanks for braving the conditions to make it. I had to navigate a team through dense forestry commission land a good few years ago when we were doing an archaeological survey of land to be felled for a windfarm. It got very dark under the canopy there too. We had to walk transects to make sure we covered all the ground. Had to use the take a bearing onto a tree and walk to it method to do it accurately but it takes a huge amount of concentration to do that for 6-7 hours a day (was that the tree? No, this is the tree. Ha). We managed it though. Staying together in the dense areas was also a challenge. Definitely picked up a few extra techniques from your video that I could have used. Oh, one extra complication. We kept finding empty plastic bottles tied to trees that had a pencil, a note and a picture of a heavily tattooed guy with his top off (face obscured). The note said that he came up to this woodland to practice naked yoga and to leave your name if you were insterested in joining him! That added a tiny bit of fear to the whole proceedings! There are some strange people out there.
@hobbes305
@hobbes305 5 ай бұрын
Thank you! A brilliant and very clear presentation of the realities and the practicalities of deep forest navigation. I spend a good amount of time in the backcountry of the Adirondack and the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York and I am constantly dismayed by the number of hikers that I encounter who do not carry a compass or a map, instead relying entirely upon a smart phone or a GPS as their lone means of finding their way home.
@ke9tv
@ke9tv 5 ай бұрын
I wonder if we've met Out There? The Cat's and 'Daks are my stomping ground, too! And you won't find me there without a compass and a paper map - in addition to my altimeter and my GPS. I use GPS only to check my work -- often an hour or more will go by with the smartphone sitting in my pocket. I was struck by how sort-of-open the forest in the video was - not like the balsam-and-spruce that we swim in. There's nothing like deriving an half-arsed fix by altitude and aspect because you don't have a clear view ten yards in any direction!
@boeeder
@boeeder 25 күн бұрын
Sincere positivity, thats what the world needs
@pieternoordzij
@pieternoordzij 6 ай бұрын
I've just started with compass and map navigation and find your videos very helpful and they're fun to watch too. I also love your "waffling". Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
@hyperboreanforeskin
@hyperboreanforeskin Ай бұрын
I learned to use a compass strictly from youtube videos. I went out to the middle of the Adirondacks, marked a point on the map that interested me and practiced. my trick was downloading a map of the area on my phone before hand, and double checking my work against my GPS. after a few times it became relatively easy. the most important thing is getting out and doing!!!
@g.w.moorman3887
@g.w.moorman3887 6 ай бұрын
Living in central Pennsylvania, USA, we have lots of forest, streams, and greatly varying topography... and few open vistas... unless you are on a ridge top! Your video is great for the navigating I am learning to do. One complaint I have about the maps I have available in Pennsylvania is that most of them do NOT have radio towers, water towers, and other highly visible manmade features marked!! So I use Google Earth to find them and add them to my maps BEFORE I go out and use those maps.
@g.w.moorman3887
@g.w.moorman3887 5 ай бұрын
That's great to know. Thanks. As a fisherman, it will help me a lot.@@markembeck7099
@ke9tv
@ke9tv 5 ай бұрын
The problem is that a ton of maps are derived from the USGS topos, and USGS was deeply defunded during the George HW Bush administration and never recovered, so the topos are horribly out of date. You might want to check out OpenStreetMap-derived sources like CalTopo to see if they're any more current. (I've done a lot of mapping for OpenStreetMap - if you get out a lot, you might want to consider joining the project.)
@MalachiWhite-tw7hl
@MalachiWhite-tw7hl Ай бұрын
What county and area, if you'd care to say?
@martinvargas7219
@martinvargas7219 5 ай бұрын
Hats off to you Sir, very well done and exactly the way I’ve been doing it for the past thirty years here in Northern New Mexico. I still love my paper maps and compass over electronics and a valuable trait too have. Keep training those willing to learn 👍🏻
@iggie1439
@iggie1439 14 күн бұрын
I love the enthusiasm of your teaching. By the way that little grey spot on top of your head means your always on the right spot and we have a target to head for.
@BradGryphonn
@BradGryphonn 6 ай бұрын
I was fortunate enough to live in a very remote rainforest on the coast of Australia in the early 80s. I learned how to orient myself under a full canopy and know basically where I was when a kilometre into a dense canopied forest. But I was lucky. I learned that stuff from childhood. I can read a map and navigate with a compass in unfamiliar areas as you're describing.
@scottanos9981
@scottanos9981 Ай бұрын
Some people also naturally have a better sense of orientation than others. Their brains take better subconscious note of where they've been compared to where they are
@Sandra-dt4ec
@Sandra-dt4ec 3 ай бұрын
Brilliant video and instruction. Learning how to use the direction of water flow in streams to reduct one’s location is quite helpful. Someday I hope to visit the UK. I imagine some bloke asking me how I know so much about the English country side and navigation, and I will turn to him, look him in the eye and state “Wayne’s House of Waffle”!
@jonfisher9214
@jonfisher9214 2 ай бұрын
I've recently started exploring a very dense Pine woodland. After getting lost several times I've realised the best way to navigate is contour lines. There's nothing to take a bearing off as you can't see anything but the trees around you but easy to know if you're walking up or down! Thanks for the instructive video!
@Sunscreen1973
@Sunscreen1973 25 күн бұрын
Best bit about navigating cross country is stopping for a brew 👌 Nice and restorative and gives space for planning, reviewing.
@jaym8027
@jaym8027 5 ай бұрын
Excellent video! Thank you for making the effort to show real conditions. Your advice on believing the map is spot on.
@JM-jd7yp
@JM-jd7yp 5 ай бұрын
Great video. Thank you for doing the hard yards to make this a real and informative video. I particularly liked the discussion pieces when going from or to certain objectives. I think it is really important to understand the strategy before moving off and then conforming that you have arrived at the point you intended to. The water courses of small streams can be affected by so many variables, logging, natural dam, heavy rainfall etc. This piece of the video was especially important and useful. Thank you.
@beauregardb6108
@beauregardb6108 Ай бұрын
I've watched several of your videos now. All good info in short order. I appreciate it, and don't worry too much about waffling.
@MrGraemeb2022
@MrGraemeb2022 5 ай бұрын
Another top quality lesson. Thank you for your time , effort, technical ability - and wet feet.
@TonyTheYouTuba
@TonyTheYouTuba 5 ай бұрын
Thank you, love your style and use of proper examples rather than best case scenarios. Also the audio was fine for me, the work you did to clean it up paid off. Even that later section where it was noticeably different was still completely comprehensible. 👍
@jonathanholmes3630
@jonathanholmes3630 5 ай бұрын
Good to be reminded of what I had forgotten! Easy to follow with excellent graphics. Thanks again
@davebloggs
@davebloggs 5 ай бұрын
Where I live there are thousands of miles of forest in just about any direction you choose, so learning to read the land and navigate are very important. I did not realize the amazing quality of OS maps until I came here where the topo maps are no where near the same quality. my whole concept of scale had to change in these mountains. navigating in the brecons is much different than here in the rockies., great video nicely presented . as I always tell people that head out with me . I dont always know where I am but im never lost.
@aksamoyed907
@aksamoyed907 2 ай бұрын
Nice video. Immediately made me recall my land navigation training in the army. Thanks!
@nathanpurcell2767
@nathanpurcell2767 5 ай бұрын
Thanks for the instruction!
@tomcreekdevil5967
@tomcreekdevil5967 6 ай бұрын
Missing audio aside, I had to give this episode a thumbs up. The good information I was able to glean makes it worthwhile. On a side note, the terrain and flora make it almost like my home the PNW of the U.S. Wet, thickly forested conifers interspersed with deciduous trees and shrubs. Great video.
@TheMapReadingCompany
@TheMapReadingCompany 6 ай бұрын
Hi Tom, same answer as I gave to Tom. I don’t think the Rode Wireless GO II microphones are really designed for the British winter weather which is basically rain 😀 I did spend a long time trying to clean the audio, but I’m not an expert with DaVinci Resolve so maybe someone else could have done it better. To start with there was no sound on L1. What’s on the video is an L3 and L4 mix. Not brilliant, but hopefully folk will understand that working outside is not always ideal for filming.
@Frostbiker
@Frostbiker 5 ай бұрын
Fascinating subject and excellent presentation. I was giddy to hear that my intuition was spot on, at least this time. It brings back memories of being "lost" in the forest as a child.
@RodCornholio
@RodCornholio 5 ай бұрын
Brilliant. Lots of logic (applied common sense) in these nav tips.
@frankstopa6270
@frankstopa6270 Ай бұрын
Excellent lesson in terrain association! Your lesson is spot on!
@erhan6095
@erhan6095 Ай бұрын
There's a lots of lessons those who listen. Thank you.
@kevgermany
@kevgermany 5 ай бұрын
Thanks. Wish I had seen this years ago when I was doing a lot of hiking inthe south African bush. Some techniques I worked out the hard way. Others passed me by. Must start hiking again, but the UK weather really puts me off.
@---Hardy---
@---Hardy--- 5 ай бұрын
I really appreciate these kind of videos. Very helpful. Thank you and greetings from germany.
@TheHappyhorus
@TheHappyhorus Ай бұрын
This make good sense to me, thanks mate this is very useful..
@Old52Guy
@Old52Guy 3 ай бұрын
Great looking studio. I have always thought even a rainy day outside is better than a day warm and dry at work. Thanks for this. I tend to get a bit turned around a bit in heavy forest.
@roberthofer1629
@roberthofer1629 Ай бұрын
great video! Thanks!
@TheHeritageHomes
@TheHeritageHomes 5 ай бұрын
Thank you so much for your most helpful video. I am learning navigation and have read a couple books. I know it takes a lot of experience to, so I need to practice a lot more.
@huntsail3727
@huntsail3727 5 ай бұрын
Enjoyed this, thanks!
@flyoverkid55
@flyoverkid55 5 ай бұрын
A well crafted presentation. Land navigation isn't about " tricks ", it's about learning to read maps and use a compass. As stated, practice in friendly environments, you will make mistakes until your skills improve. As with a majority of things in life, preparation and recognizing your limitations is key.
@Nick1210100
@Nick1210100 6 ай бұрын
Thank you ever so much, another brilliantly executed description of navigating through a difficult environment. I'm really good at getting lost, which is unfortunate, because I walk a fair bit in the Cambrian Mountains, wherever there's forestey bits (my dogs love forestey bits:)).
@mccoyburgess844
@mccoyburgess844 3 ай бұрын
I greatly appreciate your teaching. Your delivery methods hold my interest and your content is spot on, at least it is for me. I have observed more than a few other teachers,and I fine I have learned more from you than any other. Thank you!
@gud2go50
@gud2go50 4 ай бұрын
Very helpful! Thanks😊
@DF4Trap
@DF4Trap 6 ай бұрын
Excellent, thank you for sharing.
@shanehanson1268
@shanehanson1268 6 ай бұрын
Excellent video very instructive. Thank you!
@GreenhornPhototaker
@GreenhornPhototaker Ай бұрын
So happy i came across this, really well done my friend, thanks for doing this in the field. You were clear and entertaining, good stuff!
@eveningstar1
@eveningstar1 Ай бұрын
Thank you!!
@jasondavis6438
@jasondavis6438 22 күн бұрын
Really educational … thank you
@vieuxacadian9455
@vieuxacadian9455 3 ай бұрын
Real world , terrific . Where I live we have wooded swamps and some terrain is floatant de marais . Love Your videos Sir .
@e.t.6989
@e.t.6989 5 ай бұрын
Thank you for the tips
@medicus5565
@medicus5565 6 ай бұрын
Thanks for keeping it real! Your instructions and demonstrations are invaluable for real-life navigation. A question: Don't natural features, like streams, change over time? How recent is your map and shouldn't that be an important consideration to avoid incremental changes of landmarks during this type of navigation?
@jg2072
@jg2072 5 ай бұрын
While waterways change over time it happens very, very slowly in most cases. Geologic time scales most of the time. Human activity may also change geologic features but usually aren't a problem in this kind of situation. In fact, when I had to check with the State Archeologist about archeological sites, he always wanted a topographic map because surface features like woods and even human activity change but the large scale lay of the land does not.
@medicus5565
@medicus5565 5 ай бұрын
@@jg2072 Makes sense...thanks for your reply.
@michellemichaels3258
@michellemichaels3258 4 ай бұрын
Basic common sense map and compass navigation. Well done 👍
@nathanhollingsworth413
@nathanhollingsworth413 5 ай бұрын
Very good video .. covers the basics well , in a very understandable way .. from a US Army wrecker driver who learned land navigation from artillery school .
@rogercarroll1663
@rogercarroll1663 5 ай бұрын
Great work. Thank you,.
@steveshea7725
@steveshea7725 5 ай бұрын
Some of this is great stuff. If i ever need to use it, thank you in advance.
@rljpdx
@rljpdx 19 күн бұрын
Super informative video. Thanks for the education. Useful. Might watch it again to internalize it all.
@wpherigo1
@wpherigo1 6 ай бұрын
Your videos are always brilliant. Very helpful to your viewers. Keep up the great work.
@robertturner2516
@robertturner2516 5 ай бұрын
Great video.... as you hinted, forrest navigation in the day is a good first step in what could be construed as great night navigation practice.
@neilwoodrow1311
@neilwoodrow1311 5 ай бұрын
Love your content thankyou
@fizzlefresh14
@fizzlefresh14 4 ай бұрын
Extremely fun to watch and learn, will definitely be checking out your other videos. Thanks for taking the time to include the map on screen with the photoshop edits
@newpractice
@newpractice 2 күн бұрын
Count the waves. Good to see you enjoying yourself brother.
@stpetie7686
@stpetie7686 6 ай бұрын
Good morning, merry Christmas and Thanks for the video. It's appreciated. There's a patch of forest near me that resembles your Kielder Forest. minus the elevation changes. I'll occasionally pick a couple of points and try to navigate from one to the other and it's a real pain in the butt. Even now when there are no leaves on the trees I can only see for 50 or 60 yards. It's an awesome practice area, though. I'm not really looking forward to trying it next spring or summer though. Between the foliage, tics and mosquitos I may just give it a pass. Thanks again. I always enjoy and learn something from your videos'. Hope 2024 is good to you and yours.
@martinacassidy9436
@martinacassidy9436 6 ай бұрын
Glad to see a video of what I live in
@paulshell1729
@paulshell1729 5 ай бұрын
Well done, solid content thanks!
@jkrjhn8
@jkrjhn8 11 күн бұрын
Fantastic video!
@jakerupert3603
@jakerupert3603 5 ай бұрын
Thanks sir, I just learned to use a compass this week. Your video is timely, I am going to use this info to bushwhack 80 miles across the forest in eastern Maine. I’ll let you know how it goes. 😂
@nikob5899
@nikob5899 5 ай бұрын
😂I can't wait to hear!!!🎉
@keeblem1
@keeblem1 5 ай бұрын
Another great video. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into making these videos. 🌎
@memetixTV
@memetixTV 2 ай бұрын
Great video, thanks for uploading.
@TalismancerM
@TalismancerM 2 ай бұрын
As a city dweller you inspired me install the Compass app on my phone...small steps...
@kelleyforbes8625
@kelleyforbes8625 5 ай бұрын
When you arrived at the hilltop I really was expecting your friend to be there with coffee and sandos! :)
@PaulGodfrey
@PaulGodfrey 5 ай бұрын
Very useful info. If it's a planted conifer forest there should be gaps left for harvesting equipment every few trees. And those gaps run in straight lines.
@rayhallett
@rayhallett 3 ай бұрын
Okay, okay, Mr. Map Reading, I came from a different school--time with traditional natives here in Canada. I have never used a compass, but once, and only to confirm the direction I believed to be true by looking at the tree roots, the branches (both for the weight on which side and also to see where they point). Do those "old ways" work? My proudest moment was finding the friends I was searching for at an encampment in an off-and-on snowstorm about 15 miles into "trackless" bush, ...at night!! Those observations do work. But, I tip my hat to you as you have shown a much easier way to navigate than mine (I call it "mine" as I have made it my way of looking at the woods). What you showed, quite simply, was a wonderfully easy way for anyone to find their way around the bush. I even learned something from your video that I will try next time out. I liked and I subscribed, keep it up!!
@lewisnelken1966
@lewisnelken1966 5 ай бұрын
9:10 made me have a good laugh hahahahaha excellent video! very impressed, in the first minute when you said the audio was bad due to the mic being waterlogged, I knew that instant I was going to get good advice. Feeling very informed! Thank you!
@tonyfourpaws4511
@tonyfourpaws4511 15 күн бұрын
this is great for people who use maps. growing up in and around the PNW and living in the woods most of my life from Kentucky, all the way south to Florida. I never get lost. I never use a compass. even at night. there are great points in this video and I suggest the average hiker listen. 4:15
@MyBadPosture
@MyBadPosture Ай бұрын
thanks for the information really enjoyed how it was taught
@rvierra7235
@rvierra7235 5 ай бұрын
Cool video! Thank you for taking the time to make this video.
@teresacorrigan3076
@teresacorrigan3076 4 ай бұрын
Oh my goodness. I would be lost. So interesting🇨🇦
@tHaH4x0r
@tHaH4x0r 5 ай бұрын
7:50 Is it an advisable technique to, on purpose, aim besides the location you want to go? So for example instead of the ~60 degrees, you aim for ~70 degrees, so that you are fairly certain you end up on the south side of your intended location, and just follow the river northwards? I love the visualization of the map and compass versus the real world features. Its awesome. The examples are great, truly a hidden gem on youtube.
@internetrules8522
@internetrules8522 3 ай бұрын
10:00 my plan before watching the rest of the video: go east until you reach the creek, then go up south, which is up hill, so that you can get to the other side of the creek. the creek will eventually head east, then southeast, then northeast. when it heads northeast you're almost there, but i don't know exactly how to navigate from there.
@KennLes-rr4ey
@KennLes-rr4ey 4 ай бұрын
Excellent video. All best practices. Remember, waypoint are critical. I do not know if you cover them in a different discussion. In your scenario, I planned a 100 deg heading, expecting a waypoint at 1st stream. If not encountered in expected time, deduce an actual heading in excess of 100. Terrain, individual characteristics or confirmation bias brought me caused deviation to right. In any case, continue 100 deg bearing. Encountered waypoint excellent reference point if retrace required due to distraction from route (mishap, animal encounter, excessive weather event).
@rickymcdonnell3033
@rickymcdonnell3033 6 ай бұрын
Great service you provide, merry crimbo.
@birds_eye_view
@birds_eye_view 13 күн бұрын
Good advices 👍 And interesting how similar that technique is to navigate in flight with small airplane close to the ground (when not using GPS or Radio). From moving to a random point in sight in the desired direction and from there to the next and the next, to your brain wanting to trick you by telling you are where you are not. So always reconfirm the characteristics of the place where you are and where you actually think you are. If there is a village where the map shows none, you are very likely not where you think you are. 😁
@user-yo1pk4ky4k
@user-yo1pk4ky4k 5 ай бұрын
Amen. Always believe your compass. When navigating in the massive forest of the Pacific Northwest in the United States I have the compass on a shoestring around my neck. A compass it the last thing you want to lose.
@MR420xx
@MR420xx Ай бұрын
Thanks now I can hike anywhere and not worry about being lost
@Pedritox0953
@Pedritox0953 2 ай бұрын
Great video!
@alexblue6991
@alexblue6991 5 ай бұрын
My wife and I went out for our usual woodlands walk we went every weekend we were so confident we knew the way we didn't bother taking a mobile phone or cumpass only this time we had a snow storm all the the paths got covered in snow and everything looked so different it took us ages before we found our way back to the car Alec from Scotland
@dirkscheidemann3127
@dirkscheidemann3127 5 ай бұрын
This is so entertaining and educational at the same time. I really like the channel. Dankeschön from Germany !
@TheMapReadingCompany
@TheMapReadingCompany 5 ай бұрын
Thanks for watching!
@keithkorthals6183
@keithkorthals6183 Ай бұрын
I also like those kind of places!
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