THIS is how to navigate in a forest - Forest Navigation done correctly
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ธ.ค. 2023
- 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
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.
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.
I wanna go hiking with you. That sound fun
@@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.
As long as you avoid the Boglim
@@IDoBeSmarter Aaaaagh! The Boglim!
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.
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.
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.
@@lesnyk255 with the right set of skills Mother Nature is always there for you.
I wonder why I wander sometimes.
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!
that's why it's called .. 'bushwhacking' ..
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!
Land nav practice was always great. I had everyone convinced I was hopeless at it so I could stay out way longer lol
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
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.
This bloke is a great teacher and this a great channel, fair play to him..
Agreed, his scenarios, explainations, instructional aids, and classroom are on point.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
It’s been 45 years since I trudged through the woods. Inspiring wisdom. Thank you
My favorite forest navigation tip: Moss grows on the north side of the bodies of those who forgot their compass.
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
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Doesn´t work.
@@FriteVerte he meant moss will grow on death people corpse
Ever tried to do that in New Zealand 😂 nope moss grows in the shade (.) Boy scount knowledge
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.
I use this trick often when I worked in the woods
I call that aiming off, which I think is the term for it.
@@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.
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”.
th-cam.com/video/2eQlZlKRlLM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=9L7h0Xl30MrKlUyp
Often used by me for years - before we had GPS.
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!
I have a video about pacing, which may help.
th-cam.com/video/Fls-y7qeEtk/w-d-xo.html
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.
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.
My dad taught me the same thing or follow a stream down.
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.
This does not apply in many cases. Civilisation is on a plateau, and the valley is a national park.
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
@@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
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.
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.
Excellent video! Thank you for making the effort to show real conditions. Your advice on believing the map is spot on.
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 👍🏻
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.
Good to be reminded of what I had forgotten! Easy to follow with excellent graphics. Thanks again
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. 👍
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!
Thanks now I can hike anywhere and not worry about being lost
Another top quality lesson. Thank you for your time , effort, technical ability - and wet feet.
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
That's great to know. Thanks. As a fisherman, it will help me a lot.@@markembeck7099
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.)
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.
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!
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!!!
Nice video. Immediately made me recall my land navigation training in the army. Thanks!
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”!
Excellent lesson in terrain association! Your lesson is spot on!
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!
Brilliant. Lots of logic (applied common sense) in these nav tips.
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.
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.
Your videos are always brilliant. Very helpful to your viewers. Keep up the great work.
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.
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!
I really appreciate these kind of videos. Very helpful. Thank you and greetings from germany.
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.
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.
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.
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 .
Excellent video very instructive. Thank you!
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
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.
Thanks for the instruction!
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:)).
Another great video. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into making these videos. 🌎
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.
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
Real world , terrific . Where I live we have wooded swamps and some terrain is floatant de marais . Love Your videos Sir .
Basic common sense map and compass navigation. Well done 👍
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.
Some of this is great stuff. If i ever need to use it, thank you in advance.
Excellent, thank you for sharing.
Cool video! Thank you for taking the time to make this video.
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.
As a city dweller you inspired me install the Compass app on my phone...small steps...
Glad to see a video of what I live in
Great work. Thank you,.
Enjoyed this, thanks!
Thank you for the tips
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.
Great video, thanks for uploading.
Well done, solid content thanks!
Very helpful! Thanks😊
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
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.
Love your content thankyou
This is so entertaining and educational at the same time. I really like the channel. Dankeschön from Germany !
Thanks for watching!
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!!
Oh my goodness. I would be lost. So interesting🇨🇦
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.
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).
Liked, subd, shared. Thank you. Excellent tutorial
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!
Great service you provide, merry crimbo.
Thank you!!
When you arrived at the hilltop I really was expecting your friend to be there with coffee and sandos! :)
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?
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.
@@jg2072 Makes sense...thanks for your reply.
Great video
Good ol dead reckoning.
A few tricks I know: pick an object as far in front of you as you can and walk straight towards it. Otherwise it's nigh impossible to know if you are going straight or not.
Get a compass with tritium self luminous marking, you May think that you have no need of one because you don't plan to ever be navigating at night but some forrests get so dark that it can be 2:00 in the afternoon and impossible to read your compass
If you are following our compass heading and encounter some sort of obstacle that blocks you from following it you can do what's called a 90° offset which is essentially taking a right turn going a little ways making another right turn going a little bit further and so on and so forth until you have made a box around the obstacle and we're back on your original heading
I also like those kind of places!
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. 😂
😂I can't wait to hear!!!🎉
Spot on.
I would go as far as to say there are no real tips and tricks to navigation as it is an acquired skill that requires lots and lots of practice.
The tips and tricks only come into play when you are totally lost with no map nor compass.
Very well explained video, interesting point about pacing not working in such environments too. A lot of survival books have you believe its all you need to do in such places
Great videos learning a lot. Please explain the re-entrance bit re the first stream and how you know that would be the wrong one, sorry to be dim.
Excellent video, I did my MLC assessment years ago and the night nav started in a forest. It was a nightmare as the forestry commission let foot paths overgrow and make new ones where it suits them and also cut down small and large areas of woodland. Out of all the assessment for navigation I recon in the trees is the hardest ..I now always carry a GPS not for the maps but for the ability of getting an accurate GR...
Thanks Laurie (means a lot coming from one ML to another). Have you got OS locate for the GR’s? I always recommend that to my participants as it's a free app. It’s only down to 100m but for most uses that close enough.
Hi. Another ML here. I do most of my work with DofE students learning navigation so found your video an especially helpful reminder of those basic skills. I have subscribed and will use as part of my CPD. Thank you.
Btw: I have heard OS Locate is no longer available to download (no substantiated as I already have it) but found out that Whst Three Words has an option to give grid reference too.
My brain lies to me all the time and I have no sense of direction, so this film was totally fascinating. All I can say is thank goodness for what3words and I’d never try “off footpathing”. However I do have a fine collection of OS maps. Excellent stuff thanks.
Great video!
One thing that threw me was when I was struggling to locate the river I'd marked out on the map. Turned out the "river" was the one centimetre deep puddle I was standing in. Likewise, "footpaths" on maps are not always nicely formed paths but sometimes just inaccessible areas that aren't worth following. Lesson learned.
enjoyed your video!
Nice Xmas tree themed vid . 🤔 I can see these productions aren’t just thrown together. lol.
Finally a video that is practical and realistic! I hunt is a very dense area. Your teachings are 100% accurate.
I noticed that you never used the terms "true right, true left" when dealing with streams and rivers. As I know, you will know, that this can be confusing when giving instructions to SAR or a friend who is going to meet you at the stream or river. True right and true left are taken by looking down stream. (the water flowing away from you). Not all streams are narrow and in dense bush it can be hard to see anyone on the other side. you may have pointed this out in some of your other videos. Enjoyed your video and your 'down to earth' clear instructions. ATB Cheers from the mountains of NZ ☺☺
Did you upload it again with improved sound! That’s great! 👍
Yes I did.
@@TheMapReadingCompany
👍
Thanks for a solid presentation. Nice to see a large forest left in England. Just curious: where were the coffee and sandwiches?
This past Summer, I struggled to find a stake in a corn field w/ map, compass, and pace counts, lol. I couldn't see more than half a meter to a meter in front of me. I knew I was close to the stake, but it took a little while to find it after I was theoretically where it should've been, lol. Adding to the issue is they are placed with cellphone GPS (usually months before when the corn hasn't sprouted) and notoriously are within as much as a 3-m radius of the intended location. (My crew doesn't have access to the account with the GPS pins "for security," and we are given paper maps. I don't mind, though, since it's quite fun.)
Very good video, well made. The only thing you forgot was a GPS :)
This was very interesting
Good video.