So this past Saturday was finally the REI class I signed up for awhile back for Backcountry Navigation with a Map and Compass. I happily had another diva with me as well which was awesome, it's just as much fun tromping around in the woods without snow with
@lisamamot as it is skiing with her!
I thought the class was really really great, especially for someone like me with almost no experience reading a contour map or using a compass for anything more than determining which direction I'm heading. I got a LOT out of it, which you never know heading into a group thing like this, so I was really pleased. We learned how to read a map and what lots of different things on it mean about the specific terrain you are going to encounter. Went over the parts of a compass and how to adjust for declination etc. We also learned how to take a bearing which is basically setting your compass from where you currently are to where you want to end up. After a good deal of that sort of "classroom style learning the basics" in the parking lot of the trails, we went in and started putting what we'd learned into practice.
First we stuck to the trails and landmarks identified on our contour map and took short bearings to make sure we were heading in the right direction, but always on the trails. Then we had lunch, and afterward got into the nitty gritty of taking a bearing and bushwhacking to our destination. So we completely went off the trails and into the woods with nothing marked and lots of just dense wooded land. I was a bit nervous to start because I have no sense of direction and once you leave the trails everything just looks the same in dense trees, but it turned out that this was REALLY COOL!!! (except for the going off trail into the actual woods equals tons of ticks issue that I will definitely be better preparing for in the future because omg they are nasty little buggers!! That's another story/issue though, and I'm perfectly fine without having any make it to my skin at least.) So we did two separate activities where we bushwhacked and I still can't believe how amazed I am that it actually worked. lol That I could now be anywhere in the woods and as long as I know where I am on my map, I can get where I want to go whether that's on trail or if I had to bushwhack for any number of reasons, necessities or desires. I'm really excited about this because my goal was to learn more so I'd feel more independent in the woods, even if I'm with a group, and I definitely feel that this was accomplished.
The follow up I really want, and that REI doesn't offer yet (though the instructor said they are talking about it and hopefully it will come by the end of the summer) is to add in triangulation to this whole puzzle. Basically I can find where I'm going as long as I know where I am on a map, or could at least guess pretty closely based on a landmark I'm near that I can find on the map etc., but if I were completely lost this doesn't allow me to determine my current position to then find my way from there. That's where triangulation comes in which is a more advanced technique, and one we unfortunately didn't have time to get to in this class as the rest of the scope just fit into our 6 hours together. So I'm hoping part 2 comes along, but I'll also be scouting out if there is somewhere else that offers that or even if I might be able to better understand how to do it myself using the internet and YouTube. I've read about it previously, but it made absolutely no sense to me, perhaps with a little bit of context now it might be easier to understand. We'll See!
Overall I'd highly recommend this type of class to anyone who spends time in the woods and might want to feel a little more competent when they are out there, with or without others. Lisa and I were thinking how great these skills would also be for backcountry skiing in the northeast. I'd think it's even more valuable for winter hiking in general than summer if you're into that because the snow covers a lot of markings in the winter, and you can also bushwhack to get around winter road closings to get to trails quicker versus going around miles out of your way etc. This was a women's only class and I really liked the dynamic for many of the same reasons as I like this forum, you don't get the testosterone. I mean I'm sure a co-ed class would've been fine as well, but really when getting into leading a group in the woods and navigating I could just imagine that depending on the participants you might get the overzealous guy here and there that needs to take over. When we went around and discussed our goals and why we were taking the class the theme was mostly around gaining independence in the outdoors and not just following others (ahem men) around when hiking etc., so it seemed appropriate that it was all females to me and that many of us have had the mindset of just following others around during these types of activities in our pasts. I'm totally guilty of doing that with men and women, oh they know where we're going so I can just be lazy and follow.. but what if someone got hurt and I had to go for help, or what if I want to go out alone, or what if I head out with a person or group who don't really know what they're doing and I can't help us find our way if needed..?
One thing I found funny, at one point in the woods we came across a guy running on the trail and he stopped to ask if we needed any help, of course we were all looking around and looking at our maps and compasses and probably looked lost due to what we were doing, but I couldn't help but to wonder if he'd have done the same if there were men with us. Guess it doesn't really matter, except we were on the trail at that point and if you saw how mellow and heavily marked this place is I don't think you'd ever feel that a group of 8 people wouldn't be able to find their way somehow or another around on the trails lol. O'well.