Wilderness Navigation Skills- Orientating a Map with a Compass

Two ways of orientating a map with a compass. First set your compass to magnetic north (adjust for local declination), then align the edge of the compass with any north-south line on the map, or the edge of the map. Then rotate the map and compass together until the magnetic needle falls into the orienteering arrow (put Red in the Shed). The second option is to set 0 (North) at the index line and align the edge of the compass with the Magnetic North line of the Declination Diagram, then rotate the whole map and compass until the orienteering arrow falls into the orienteering arrow (put Red in the Shed).
Details on the next online live Wilderness Navigation Course here: northeastalpinestart.com/2020...

[@jdaniel0907]

Thank you for the easy, simple instruction - without rambling for 5 min!

[@bendover4496]

Excellent!! Finally someone who gets it! When you orient your map while adjusting for declination, you don’t have to worry about doing math or remembering to reverse the rhyme if you’re triangulating your position on a map!

[@raisedbyraccoons8425]

Thank you for such clarity. I will direct my students to this. Perfect for orienting of map.

[@michaelcapeless3268]

Simple and brief and clear. Thanks.

[@maxcontax]

We would wear our belts with the buckle to the side or back to prevent compass magnetic interference. I see her buckle rather close to her compass. Some of the crew used rope for a belt.. one junior famously kept getting lost and we saw him holding his compass inches from his cowboy belt buckle! We used liquid dampened compasses. Bruntons were extremely accurate but took forever to settle down. Suunto MC2 and Silva Rangers with dip meters.

[@bhgraf08]

Perfectly simple

[@NorthEastAlpineStart]

More tips coming soon be sure to subscribe!

[@simonparkes8975]

I need to ask, when orienteering, do you orient to magnetic north or true north. BTW easy and quite good video

[@NorthEastAlpineStart]

Great question! When orientating a map with a compass you should use magnetic north otherwise the map will be “off” by the amount of local declination. There are a couple methods to do this. I prefer to set my compass to 0 (no declination adjustment), align the edge of the compass with the MN line on the declination diagram, then rotate the map and compass until the magnetic needle is in the orienteering arrow. Others use the edge of the map and adjust the declination on the compass. both ways work. Does this clarify?

[@simonparkes8975]

@@NorthEastAlpineStart thank you this really helps

[@winstonalpha1286]

Is useing the orienteering lines inside my compass bezel only for shooting a bearing to travel and not for orientating my map ? Or is it all the same ?

[@NorthEastAlpineStart]

You can use the orienteering lines inside the compass bezel to measure a bearing off the map, or to orientate the map. Some books and navigation instructors teach that you should orientate the map before measuring a bearing off the map. This is a waste time and can introduce error into your bearing measurement as it relies on the magnetic needle, which should just be ignored when taking a bearing off the map (using the compass as a protractor).

[@winstonalpha1286]

@@NorthEastAlpineStart awesome, thank you very much for taking the time to reply.

[@danjarvis6980]

You set 17 deg East Dec. on compass. Your map shows 17 deg. West Dec. ??

[@ethansaunders2199]

Good videos, but it's orienting the map. Orientating isn't an actual word.

[@markfletcher4964]

I was about to leave that comment as well.