Survival situations can happen when you least expect it, or in places where such a thing doesn’t make sense. Even your regular run or evening walk can turn dangerous, and a simple survival kit can make all the difference.

These items are lightweight, easily-carried and could save your life if you're injured while running. From left: handwarmers, cell phone, flashlight, knife, Boy Scout flint stick, whistle, and firestarter.

by Leon Pantenburg

Maybe you’ve gotten into the habit  of taking a run in the same urban area every evening. Then, one evening, the endorphins kick in, and you decide to double the usual mileage. As darkness approaches, you realize you have to get back to the car before it gets really dark. You slip, twist your ankle and can’t move.

Or you might decide to go for a walk and just take off without thinking to tell someone where you went. You’re strolling along, relaxing and enjoying the iPod, and letting the stress from the office dissipate. Then, as it starts to get dark, you realize you’ve taken a wrong turn and are lost. And pretty soon, it will be pitch dark, and you can’t see the path.

Maybe you have your routine down, and are so set in the pattern that you don’t consider the potential danger. After all, you don’t  go that far from your home, and this isn’t some wilderness area…

A similar situation happened to Bend, Oregon resident Karen Johnson. (Click on highlighted word to read Johnson’s complete story.)  She nearly died of hypothermia after slipping on the ice and  breaking her leg. The area she was running in was a popular, well-used trail. But when Johnson was injured, there was no one around. Only prior preparations, her survival equipment, and being very, very lucky saved her.

Here’s a few tips on what survival equipment to take, and the links to find them,  on a run or an evening walk. These items are lightweight, take up little space and can easily be fitted into a fanny pack or jacket pocket.

• Leave a note or verbal message about where you’re going and when you’ll be back: Even if you’re only expecting to be gone for a little while, nobody will know where to look for you. They might think you went to a movie, the library or some place where you had to shut off your cell phone.
• STOP: Stop, Think, Observe, Plan. This survival mindset exercise applies to every survival situation. Know how to use it.
• Cell phone: You can call for help if you need to. Even if you can’t get coverage, leave your phone on. The pings to your phone from the nearest cell tower can be traced.
• Small flashlight: If you end up out after dark, the flashlight can help you get safety out of the dark places. Not to mention, the psychological boost it can provide if you have to stay in one place and wait for help.
• Whistle:A whistle carries further than your voice, and won’t give out. You
  

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  can signal for help more effectively, and sometimes a whistle works to scare off potential bad guys.

• Flint stick or lighter and firestarter: If you’re injured, you may be able to build a fire for warmth, signaling and as a morale boost. It will help you stay in one place so you can be rescued. Strike It, Matchless Firestarter
• Small knife: I carry a Swiss Army knife Classic everywhere. The blade can be used to strike sparks of a flint stick, whittle kindling,  or cut string. The tweezers, scissors, toothpick and file also have multiple uses. Victorinox Swiss Army Classic Pocket Knife
• Lanyard: Combine everything together on a lanyard so you can wear it around your neck or tie it to your clothing. If the gear is tied to you, it won’t be lost.
• Handwarmers: Even if the weather is warm, a runner will cool rapidly if he can’t move. The handwarmers can be placed on the chest or torso to keep the vital areas warm. HeatMax Hot Hands 2 Handwarmer (40 pairs)
• Water: Hydration is always a good idea. If the water gets too heavy, you can always drink it, or pour it out. Platypus Sport Bottle

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Let navigation expert Blake Miller answer any of your questions about staying found! (Blake Miller photo)

Check out this week’s update, which features a great jerky recipe and survival expert Peter Kummerfeldt’s gear for the backcountry  by clicking here.

View the special land navigation issue with Map, Compass and GPS expert Blake Miller – just click here.

Blake Miller has made a career out of staying found and knowing where he is at all times. His formal navigation training began when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1973. He served as an officer aboard several Navy ships over his

Blake Miller

twenty-year career; many of those tours included the duty of Navigator. Blake began working with satellite navigation systems at sea in 1976, culminating with the then-new satellite positioning systems aboard the Battleship WISCONSIN in early 1990.

In 1998 Blake started Outdoor Quest, a business dedicated to backcountry navigation and wilderness survival. Blake has taught classes to wild land firefighters, state agency staffs, Search and Rescue team members, hunters, hikers, skiers, fishermen and equestrians. He regularly teaches classes through the Community Education programs at Central Oregon (Bend) and Chemeketa (Salem, OR) Community Colleges.

As a volunteer, Blake teaches navigation and survival classes to students in the local school districts, and conservation groups. He is a member of a Search and Rescue team.

If you have any questions about land navigation or wilderness survival, you can contact Blake through SurvivalCommonSense.com@gmail.com, or you can go to his website.

Contact Information:

Website: www.outdoorquest.biz

Blog: outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Phone: 541-280-0573

Email: outdrquest@aol.com

To hear the Blake Miller interview about choosing a magnetic compass and GPS on SurvivalCommonSense.com Radio, click here.

For more navigation information, click here

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

There is no substitute for a good compass, and the ability to use it. Since getting lost is generally the causal factor in most wilderness emergencies, it just makes sense to stay found to stay out of trouble!

A map and compass are vital Land navigation tools, but you must first know how to read the map!

In this article, navigation expert Blake Miller tells you how to check out and make sure your magnetic compass is safe and ready to go.

by Blake Miller

Recently, I was watching a rifle expert on one of the many outdoor cable shows.   This gent is a noted ballistics expert, writer and occasional backcountry guide.  During a segment of the interview he was demonstrating what was in his day pack.  It kept my interest, had the ten essentials, and all was going just fine until he brought out his compass.

It looked like a wonderful antique, might have come across the Great Plains and Rockies with Lewis and Clark –but in terms of reliability- it was questionable. The sad part is, he spent absolutely no time discussing key factors of having a reliable compass.  He touched his compass and quickly put it down.

And touching a compass is about all that most people do too.  Hunters preparing to go afield will spend hours with their rifle at the range evaluating their zero, adjusting optics, and measuring the initial velocity of that hot new round.  Navigation takes time to get dialed in, too.

Navigation is not “rocket science” but it takes practice.  It is a perishable skill.  The analogy that I use in my wilderness navigation classes is that you can hop on a bike after not riding one for ten years and head on down the road.  But trying to triangulate after ten months can be a chore.

For starters, you need a decent compass.  Leave the $5.00 compass on the shelf at the store.  (For more information on buying a compass check out my article on selecting a compass.)

This compass is adjusted for declination

Here are a few recommendations for a compass tune up:

• Store your compass in a safe spot.  Keep the compass off the dash of the rig, away from flashlights and the GPS.  Let’s not take a chance that an electrically induced magnetic field will degrade your compass.
• Compare your compass with another to verify that the red needle is pointing to magnetic north.   Take it a step further and find a road in town that is aligned north/south.   Most likely it will be aligned in degrees true; as in true north.  Again, verify that the compass is pointing correctly.  Do this for every compass you own.
• Is the compass leaking? Is there an air bubble floating in the compass housing?  I “deep six” (toss) those units.
• Brush up on your compass navigation skills.   June Fleming’s book “Staying Found” is a excellent read.   Visit www.landnavigation.org.  Practice shooting a bearing, triangulating your position and orienting your map and compass to your surroundings.
• Review the components of a Topographic map.  Start with the USGS’ site here.
• Insure you have the compass adjusted to the correct declination. Practice with your children.  Give them a good education with a map and compass before you give them a GPS.

Don’t depend on your friends being the navigation experts.  Make it a goal to exceed their skills.  You might find that your initial impression was mistaken. Instead of a “sense of direction” develop the skill of navigation.

Practice with a compass is essential to safe wilderness travel.  To quote Fleming, “The key to knowing where you are, is constant awareness.”

Blake Miller has made a career out of staying found and knowing where he is at all times. His formal navigation training began when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1973. He served as an officer aboard several Navy ships over his

Blake Miller

twenty-year career; many of those tours included the duty of Navigator. Blake began working with satellite navigation systems at sea in 1976, culminating with the then-new satellite positioning systems aboard the Battleship WISCONSIN in early 1990.

In 1998 Blake started Outdoor Quest, a business dedicated to backcountry navigation and wilderness survival. Blake has taught classes to wild land firefighters, state agency staffs, Search and Rescue team members, hunters, hikers, skiers, fishermen and equestrians. He regularly teaches classes through the Community Education programs at Central Oregon (Bend) and Chemeketa (Salem, OR) Community Colleges.

As a volunteer, Blake teaches navigation and survival classes to students in the local school districts, and conservation groups. He is a member of a Search and Rescue team.

If you have any questions about land navigation or wilderness survival, you can contact Blake through SurvivalCommonSense.com@gmail.com, or you can go to his website.

Contact Information:

Website: www.outdoorquest.biz

Blog: outdoorquest@blogspot.com

Phone: 541-280-0573

Email: outdrquest@aol.com

To hear the Jan 7, 2010 Blake Miller interview about choosing a magnetic compass and GPS on SurvivalCommonSense.com Radio, click here.

For more navigation- related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, click on the highlighted words:

• How to buy that first GPS.
• Help the searchers find you in the wilderness.
• Is the Bushnell Backtrack the right choice for you?
• Improve your GPS skills now.
• Find your directions by the moss on trees?
• Simple survival tips for using a map and compass.
• Three maps you should carry in the wilderness.

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One of the pervasive folk legends about finding directions  in the wilderness or woods, is that moss grows on a certain side of a tree or rock. Just find your way by observing where the moss is,  according to this theory, and you won’t get lost.

According to my compass, the moss was on the west side of this stump.

by Leon Pantenburg

According to this traditional old “wisdom” the moss is thickest on the north side of a tree in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, the moss is thickest on the south side.

Subsequently, this survival tip will help you to find your way in a forest. Here’s one opinion about that: finding directions with moss

But the newspaper guy in me had to ask: What direction does the moss point? Is there a difference in the location of the forest and the way the moss points? What are the variations? Why? Where did this legend come from? (Check out this video!)

The basis for this directional moss idea may have come from general information about moss. Moss produces spores instead of seeds, and it needs a damp  environment to reproduce.  Moss spores don’t survive in dry areas.

The sun shines from the south in the northern hemisphere, so a tree’s north side is generally more shaded and damp.  It stands to reason that there would be more moss on the damp  – the north – side

The moss myth never got far with me. In the dense, deciduous forests of Mississippi where I used to hunt and ramble, I could never find any pattern for the moss. In any dense, thick forest – where the sun doesn’t penetrate as far – it seems like you’ll see mosses on all sides of the trees. In some of standing water swamp areas where I used to wader-hunt for ducks, the moss was everywhere. It sometimes varied because of the fluctuating water levels!

Moss grows everywhere in this temperate rain forest in Oregon.

As for rocks, well, mosses will grow on almost anything if conditions are favorable.  I suppose you might find more

The moss on these trees at Camp Makulla was also on the west side!

moss on the north side of rocks in an open area, but in a shaded forest, chances are good that the rocks will be completely covered.

There are apparently so many variables about where and when moss grows in a forest  that a firm rule can’t be established.

In July, 2010, I was at Camp Makualla Boy Scout camp in the Cascades with some of the scouts from Troop 18 in Bend. There was a lull in the action, so I took my compass and camera and went walking. The idea was to check out this directional moss theory. (And, I love to ramble through the woods, and never need much of an excuse! )

I couldn’t find a consistent pattern anywhere. In one area, the moss grew on the west side of the trees, because there had been some timbering going on that let in more sunlight. A short distance away, the trees and underbrush were so dense that moss was everywhere.

The lichen on this dead juniper tree in the desert grew on the top!

One of my requirements for a wilderness survival tip is consistency. The skill or technique must work every time, because there is no room for error when it comes to survival.

To me, the bottom line on the moss directional theory is this: Moss grows everywhere in the wilderness. There is not enough consistency, that I could find, to lend creditability to this “survival tip.”

Don’t depend on finding your way, based on directions gotten from the moss on trees. This idea is NOT something to promote or rely on.

Subsequently, I dub direction finding by observing  moss growth a myth. And I proclaim that myth busted!

Recommended Reading:
Surviving a Wilderness Emergency
Build the Perfect Survival Kit

GPS Made Easy (GPS Made Easy: Using Global Positioning Systems in the Outdoors)

Staying Found: The Complete Map and Compass Handbook

For more related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, click on the highlighted words:

• Dress with the right fabrics.
• Have a plan to make a tarp shelter.
• Carry lightweight, compact firestarter.
• Find the most effective fire ignition system.
• How to make charcloth, a material that can catch a spark from any source.
• Use charcloth as an effective method of catching a spark to make a fire.
• It can kill you: Hypothermia
• Hardtack: A great emergency food
• About Leon Pantenburg

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Before technology entered the backcountry world of the outdoors, the primary and proven tools of navigation were a map and compass. Compass navigation remains an important component of the “Ten Essentials” for wilderness travel. Knowledge of how to use map and compass takes education and practice. Further, such knowledge will enhance GPS navigation as many concepts are interchangeable.

by Blake Miller

This article will discuss one of the basic uses of a compass, how to adjust the compass to walk a specific direction to get to a destination; to get from point A to point B.

Let’s start with a review of the key features and parts of a compass; see Figure 1 below. This figure is an example of a standard baseplate compass found in most outdoor stores. I recommend the backcountry navigator use a declination adjustable compass such as the Brunton 8010G or the Silva Ranger 515CL.

Figure 1:Compass parts.

Figure 1

• The red magnetic needle rotates freely and points to magnetic north. Remember that metal objects such as belt buckles, watchbands, rifle barrels and car bodies will deflect the needle. Battery powered electronics will cause the needle to deflect too.
• The “direction of travel arrow” points in the direction of intended travel. Always point the direction of travel arrow away from you; perpendicular to your body.
• The “compass housing” rotates on the baseplate. The degree dial (0° to 360°) of the compass is found on the housing. With the baseplate, the “compass housing” can be used as a protractor while plotting on a map or adjusting to a specific direction.
• The “orienting arrow” is a red arrow inscribed in the compass housing cylinder. As the cylinder rotates so does the red arrow. The “orienting arrow” is not the red magnetic needle.

For more detailed information refer to the compass’ owner’s manual.

Let’s define some important terminology.

• Bearing: The direction to an object is the bearing. Bearing information is expressed in degrees such as 090° or 320.°
• Heading: The direction one is facing. If the hiker is facing north then the heading would be 000°. If one is going to travel to an object that has a bearing of 120° then the heading could be 120.°

Now that some of the key concepts of a compass have been discussed, the next series of steps will involve applying this information to a map:

• Using a map to first determine a start point and a destination.
• Laying out a track (the hiker’s path through the woods) on the map with a straight edge. Laying out a track gives the hiker the direction need to get to the destination.
• Determine the bearing from the start point to the destination.
• Adjusting the compass to travel a specific bearing to reach the destination.

For this exercise, the western shore of Sunset Lake will be the start point and the destination will be the eastern shore of Colt Lake; see the map in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Figure 2

A straight edge or ruler is used to lay out a track from the start to the destination. (The general direction of travel is indicated by the red arrow.) The track is the desired path through the woods. Do you need to layout a track line? The answer is “No.” One could just “wing it” and estimate the bearing to Colt Lake. That said, in back country navigation, accuracy is important.

In Figure 3, the compass is placed on the map with the clear baseplate aligned along the black line (adjacent to and parallel to the black line.) The compass is placed so that the direction of travel arrow is pointing toward Colt Lake; pointing from start to finish.

Figure 3

Figure 3

In Figure 3, the compass housing (with the bearing information) is rotated so that north (the “N”) of the compass housing is aligned to map north; map north is straight up to the top of the map. In this example the map’s grid lines are used to align the compass housing; red compass lines (in the compass housing) become parallel to map black grid lines. Once adjusted, the compass direction provided is 018°.

At this point the traveler has learned that the direction from Sunset Lake to Colt Lake is 018°.

Note too that bearing information is expressed as three digits, 018° instead of 18°.

In my formal navigation classes, I recommend to my students to double check one’s work. For example, move the compass out of the way and look at the black line drawn on the map. Does the line look as if it is laid out to the north east, does the bearing of 018° make sense?

Now it is time to move from the western shore of Sunset lake to the destination.

As shown in Figure 4, hold the compass at waist level. The base plate and direction of travel arrow should be perpendicular to the body.

Figure 4

Figure 4

With the compass adjusted to 018°, turn left or right and watch the red magnetic needle move. Continue turning until the red magnetic needle aligns directly on top of the red orienting arrow of the compass housing. With the two red components aligned the compass is now pointed in the direction of travel (018°.)

With the compass aligned and held as discussed above, the hiker should

• Use the direction of travel arrow essentially as a sighting tool; pointing in the desired bearing of 018°.
• Look down range (on the bearing of 018°) and sight on a distant object such as a single tree or land feature several hundred yards away.
• Using the feature as a landmark, walk straight to the object without using the compass. On arrival sight on another object, repeating the process until arrival at the destination. This process is akin to leapfrogging through the woods along the line of bearing to reach your destination. It also keeps you moving in a generally straight direction as you move forward.
• Note that in featureless terrain, a hiking partner can move downrange several hundred yards. To keep the partner on track, his position left or right of the line of bearing can be adjusted by hand signals or voice commands.

References that I frequently use are:

www.landnavigation.org

Staying Found, The Complete Map & Compass Handbook by June Fleming

Blake Miller has made a career out of staying found and knowing where he is at all times. His formal navigation training began when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1973. He served as an officer aboard several Navy ships over his

Blake Miller

twenty-year career; many of those tours included the duty of Navigator. Blake began working with satellite navigation systems at sea in 1976, culminating with the then-new satellite positioning systems aboard the Battleship WISCONSIN in early 1990.

In 1998 Blake started Outdoor Quest, a business dedicated to backcountry navigation and wilderness survival. Blake has taught classes to wild land firefighters, state agency staffs, Search and Rescue team members, hunters, hikers, skiers, fishermen and equestrians. He regularly teaches classes through the Community Education programs at Central Oregon (Bend) and Chemeketa (Salem, OR) Community Colleges.

As a volunteer, Blake teaches navigation and survival classes to students in the local school districts, and conservation groups. He is a member of a Search and Rescue team.

If you have any questions about land navigation or wilderness survival, you can contact Blake through SurvivalCommonSense.com@gmail.com, or you can go to his website.

Contact Information:

Website: www.outdoorquest.biz

Blog: outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Phone: 541-280-0573

Email: outdrquest@aol.com

To hear the Blake Miller interview about choosing a magnetic compass and GPS on SurvivalCommonSense.com Radio, click here.

For more navigation information, click here

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GPS receivers provide an amazing amount of information. They come loaded with many navigation features, maps, tide data and much more, but nothing is more important than position data and the direction to a waypoint.

Set your GPS to match your compass.

By Blake Miller

Much of land navigation is based on the relationship to the
North Pole; also known as “true north. The measure of degrees
of direction in relation to true north is called “degrees true.”

Maps are laid out in degrees true. Land features (buttes, mountains, streams) on a topographic map are in
reference to degrees true. By that I mean the bearing from one mountain peak to another will be referenced in degrees true.

The issue is that the magnetic compass’s direction information is in degrees magnetic. The angular measurement between degrees true and degrees magnetic is called declination. The hiker will need to compensate for declination.

In the Navy I learned to keep my navigation simple.

In the Navy during a bridge watch, I evaluated the ship’s position on a navigation chart.  The principle navigation compass (a gyro repeater) reported in degrees true; the backup compass reported in degrees magnetic.    Key to this navigation was the both the principle navigation compass and chart used degrees true.

The hiker can select either degrees true or degrees magnetic.  It is a matter of personal preference; a choice.

Today, what works for me is to use a magnetic compass (e.g., the Brunton 8010G or Silva Ranger style) that can be adjusted to report in degrees true (some compasses come with declination increments scribed on the housing but this is not the same thing.)

My US Geologic Survey and National Forest map are all laid out in relation to degrees true.

Brunton’s models can be adjusted by simply turning two components (the outer ring and the clear cylinder that houses the magnetic needle) while the Silva models come with a small flat screw driver to make adjustments.  Check the owner’s manual for detail on how to adjust the compass.

Importantly, the adjustable compass eliminates the requirement to calculate for declination. Do remember that the magnetic needle always points to magnetic north and the adjusting accounts for the angular measurement of declination.

To keep my navigation simple I want my GPS to provide the same directional information as my compass and map; degrees true.  Because a new GPS receiver will be pre-set to report in degrees magnetic at the factory, the unit will need to be re-set to report in degrees true.

To change this default setting on my Garmin GPSmap 60CS I’ll go to the main menu and select “set up.”

From the “setup” menu I’ll select “heading.”  The “heading” feature will allow me to adjust my compass settings in the GPS.  Note: some models will have you select “compass” to make adjustments.

The image to the right is the “heading” menu.  Now select “display” and the following drop down menu will appear.  Note: The GPS receiver is already set to degrees true and a low battery alert is present.

With the drop down window open, select degrees.  I have never found the option “cardinal letters” to be of much use in the backcountry.

After selecting degrees, go down and select the drop down menu option”north preference.”  Select true.

That’s it.  The GPS receiver should now be set to provide direction information (e.g., bearing and heading) in degrees true.

For those receivers with an electronic compass remember to “calibrate” the compass after changing or removing batteries.

Blake Miller has made a career out of staying found and knowing where he is at all times. His formal navigation training began when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1973. He served as an officer aboard several Navy ships over his

Blake Miller

twenty-year career; many of those tours included the duty of Navigator. Blake began working with satellite navigation systems at sea in 1976, culminating with the then-new satellite positioning systems aboard the Battleship WISCONSIN in early 1990.

In 1998 Blake started Outdoor Quest, a business dedicated to backcountry navigation and wilderness survival. Blake has taught classes to wild land firefighters, state agency staffs, Search and Rescue team members, hunters, hikers, skiers, fishermen and equestrians. He regularly teaches classes through the Community Education programs at Central Oregon (Bend) and Chemeketa (Salem, OR) Community Colleges.

As a volunteer, Blake teaches navigation and survival classes to students in the local school districts, and conservation groups. He is a member of a Search and Rescue team.

If you have any questions about land navigation or wilderness survival, you can contact Blake through SurvivalCommonSense.com@gmail.com, or you can go to his website.

Contact Information:

Website: www.outdoorquest.biz

Blog: outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Phone: 541-280-0573

Email: outdrquest@aol.com

To hear the Blake Miller interview about choosing a magnetic compass and GPS on SurvivalCommonSense.com Radio, click here.

For more navigation information, click here

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

Early in the morning, the hunter hiked north from camp to Mahogany Butte.  With an hour of light left it was time to return.  He had his day pack with map and compass and he knew how to use them.  But he didn’t have a GPS.  The wooded terrain around him didn’t lend itself to triangulation with a compass.

So what was he to do?  If he was paying attention to his navigation before leaving camp at dawn he was all set. All he needed to do was to return to the base line.

by Blake Miller

Returning to a baseline is a pretty straight forward concept.  The idea is that you leave camp from a known location and strike out in a specific direction such as North, or 000°.  When it is time to return aim to the left or right of camp (like 165°T), hit the logging road camp is on and turn right.  That is the concept but there is a bit more to it.

The triad of wilderness travel is the GPS, map and compass. Don't take a GPS without a map and compass, and make sure you have the right map along.

My recommendation is to first purchase a reliable compass that can be adjusted for declination.  A solid compass made by Suunto, Brunton (the 8010G) and Silva  are great choices.  Learn how to adjust the compass for the declination or your location.  (Note: declination is the difference between true north and magnetic north.  Declination for your area can be found at www.magnetic-declination.com. )   Note that some of the inexpensive compasses will indicate that it has declination marking/grid on the packaging.  You want a compass that can be mechanically adjusted.

If the sales clerk’s eyes glaze over, you are in the wrong store.

The essence of backcountry navigation is to keep it simple.  If you are new to compass navigation, having a compass that can be adjusted keeps things simple.  Though the red magnetic needle still points to magnetic north, the rotating dial (that has been adjusted) now provides information in degrees true.

A compass that is aligned to degrees true now works well with the traditional topographic map that is oriented to degrees true as well.

The next tool is your map.  USGS topographic maps and National Geographic maps of the major national parks are great examples of what works well in the backcountry.  Leave the Gazetteer or AAA roadmap at home.  I’ll carry a copy of the Forest Service or BLM map of the area too.

On the map, locate what will be the base line.  A baseline can be a road, river or trail. Key to the selection is that you want a baseline of sufficient length.  It must also be obvious when you approach the baseline; it needs to be distinct.  For example, in the case of the hunter mentioned above, he would have potentially tragic consequences if he over shot his base line and just kept on walking.

So let’s take a look at a map and develop a baseline.

The red arrows on the map (to the left) point to a road. This road travels in a general direction of Northwest - Southeast. Further, the road travels for many miles in either direction

Think of the baseline as a geographic boundary.  The baseline is designed to keep you within a specific area.

Map is zoomed in for greater detail.

Also notice that the planned destination has been added.  The destination is to the Northeast of camp.  Roughly the destination bears 070°T (degrees true) from Camp.

The intent now is to travel from Camp to Destination.

Remember that the compass must be adjusted for declination.  In this location the declination is 16° east (below.)

This Suunto compass is adjusted for 16 degrees east declination.

At this point, adjust the compass such that the adjustable outer dial is rotated to 070°T (T for degrees true) and is aligned with the direction of travel arrow or index line.  After the dial is adjusted turn your body so that the magnetic needle rotates on top of the red baseplate needle (engraved into the plastic of the baseplate (below.)

Now proceed toward the destination.  You have the option of looking down range in the direction of “Destination” or monitoring the compass the entire length of the hike; that is a bit tedious.

Proceed to the destination.

Note that in a hike such as this you are going to the general location of the area you want to be in.  If you decide to go to a specific, defined location you must triangulate to fix your position, use pace count or use a GPS.

Observe how the topographic contour lines (brown lines) in the center of the image are far apart which means that the land is somewhat flat.  The lines in the bottom left of the image begin to merge indicating a hill.

It is the return hike to camp that will take advantage of the baseline.

Rather than trying to go directly back to camp offset the direction of travel to the south. Roughly one will travel in a direction of 230°T.

The key point is that the hiker will knowingly head south of camp to intersect the baseline.

Of course, the option of going north of camp on a direction of 280°T could be considered too.

Upon arriving at the baseline turn right and follow the road back to camp.

That’s it!

Remember the cautions mentioned earlier:

The baseline must be of sufficient length.

The baseline must be obvious when you reach it.

If you are in an area of multiple trails or logging road think carefully if your choice is going to work for you.

Blake Miller has made a career out of staying found and knowing where he is at all times. His formal navigation training began when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1973. He served as an officer aboard several Navy ships over his

Blake Miller

twenty-year career; many of those tours included the duty of Navigator. Blake began working with satellite navigation systems at sea in 1976, culminating with the then-new satellite positioning systems aboard the Battleship WISCONSIN in early 1990.

In 1998 Blake started Outdoor Quest, a business dedicated to backcountry navigation and wilderness survival. Blake has taught classes to wild land firefighters, state agency staffs, Search and Rescue team members, hunters, hikers, skiers, fishermen and equestrians. He regularly teaches classes through the Community Education programs at Central Oregon (Bend) and Chemeketa (Salem, OR) Community Colleges.

As a volunteer, Blake teaches navigation and survival classes to students in the local school districts, and conservation groups. He is a member of a Search and Rescue team.

If you have any questions about land navigation or wilderness survival, you can contact Blake through SurvivalCommonSense.com@gmail.com, or you can go to his website.

Contact Information:

Website: www.outdoorquest.biz

Blog: outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Phone: 541-280-0573

Email: outdrquest@aol.com

To hear the Jan 7, 2010 Blake Miller interview about choosing a magnetic compass and GPS on SurvivalCommonSense.com Radio, click here.

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

Past articles have defined the word survival and have discussed the importance of being prepared as opposed to trying to manufacture what you need from materials at hand. (For more info, see “Preparing to Survive” at the bottom of this page.)

Now, we need to look at some of the situations that people find themselves in where their knowledge of how to survive, combined with a basic survival kit and good clothing, can bring about a positive ending to their experience – or the lack of knowledge, equipment and clothing could result in tragedy.

By Peter Kummerfeldt

The question then is: “What am I preparing for?”  As I see it, there are five broad categories. These capture most situations where a person may have to “survive” until rescued, or until the weather conditions improve and the individual can rescue him or herself.

When nothing looks familiar, and every direction seems to be the same, STOP, sit down on the log for 30 minutes and decide what to do next!

The categories are: Becoming lost, being caught out after dark, becoming stranded, becoming ill or injured and unable to proceed and bad weather that makes travel dangerous. This article will look at the first situation of those situations, “Becoming Lost”, and the remaining scenarios will be discussed in upcoming parts of this series.

BECOMING LOST.

If it hasn’t happened yet it will sooner or later. Probably more than once!   Becoming lost is, in itself, not a critical situation. After all, as a friend says, “If you like it where you are, you ain’t lost!”

There are people who appear to be truly gifted in their ability to keep themselves oriented. But no one has a “built-in homing device” that enables them to find their way out when the countryside is obscured by dense timber, bad weather or darkness.  Whether we do it consciously or unconsciously, when we travel, we keep ourselves oriented by what we can see. When we can’t see, we must use a compass, a map or Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.

Finding yourself lost can be a terrifying experience.  How you react when you discover that you are lost will often determine the eventual outcome.   When suddenly nothing looks familiar…  When the sun is setting in the east and the river appears to be flowing uphill…  

You are lost!  Admit it!

When you are no longer able to determine which path will lead back to the truck the urge to keep moving faster and faster can overcome you.  It’s easy to convince yourself “It’s just over the next hill” or the next one and you keep running!  This urge to keep moving must be controlled.

Continuing to move makes a bad situation even worse – it increases the risk of injury; you dehydrate yourself; you waste the your limited amount of energy and you often move further and further away from the last place where you were still “found!”

Sit down!  Get off of your feet!   Have a drink – of water! Drinking water has a very calming effect and helps you overcome the panic you feel.  Don’t let the fact that the stream you are looking at may contain giardia or other harmful organisms that discourage you from drinking the water. 

Drink the water!  Prevent dehydration.  The doctors can treat giardia, but they can’t treat dead!

Start using your brain (it’s the best piece of survival equipment you possess) to puzzle out what has happened and, more importantly, what  to do next.  Find a log to sit down on and stay there for at least 30 minutes.  This will give you time to work through the feelings of panic you will experience and overcome the urge to keep moving.  Thirty minutes will give you the time to objectively evaluate your situation, determine what needs to be done and then put your plan into action.

S – Stop moving around.

T – Think about what needs to be done.

O – Observe your surroundings.

P – Plan a course of action and implement it.

Don’t let the promises made to others override the need to protect yourself.   Often these promises, as in: “Honey, I’ll be home for dinner at seven” or “Boss, I’ll be in to work in the morning” cause survivors to continue trying to find their way out. They should be thinking about a fire and shelter and staying put for the night.  Break that promise and protect yourself!

As with most things “It is a lot easier to prevent horrific things from happening than it is to correct the problem after it has occurred!”  This is certainly true in the case of “Staying Found.”  Those who recreate in the outdoors should become proficient in the use of a map and a compass.  A GPS receiver is also a very useful navigation aid.

This compass is adjusted for declination

While it is not possible to learn to use a map, compass and GPS receiver in the next few lines, the following tips might help you become a more proficient navigator:

• Buy an orienteering compass that  can be adjusted for local declination.
• With an engraving pencil or other sharp point engrave the color of the north pointing end of the compass needle on the back of the compass base plate.  I.e. R = N (red equals north.) In a panic it’s easy to forget which end points north.
• Avoid using your compass around metallic objects which will deflect the needle and give you a false reading.
• Carry two compasses – if they both indicate the same direction to camp then proceed in the direction indicated.  When you are in trouble, it’s easy to believe one compass is defective.
• Learn how to walk a straight line heading using your compass.  It may not be the most efficient method to get from one point to another, but it is the most reliable.
• Always mark your starting point on your map before you depart.
• Identify “boundaries” on your map that surround the area you will be traveling in. Boundaries include roads, railway lines, long lake shores, power lines and rivers. If possible locate boundaries to the north, south, west and east of your starting point.  Mark these boundaries with a yellow or green highlighter pen.  In the event you become lost, determine which boundary is closest to you (this may be an educated guess) and follow a compass heading to that boundary.
• Having located yourself, make your way to your original starting point.  It can be a long walk back but at least you will know where you are!  In some situations less than four boundaries may be available and if this is the case, determine which direction you would have to travel to get back to the boundary you started from.  (I.E. If you walked north away from a road, follow a southerly heading to return to that road.
• When using a GPS receiver ALWAYS mark your departure point.  Unless the device knows where “home” is, it won’t be able to take you there later.

OK, so you’re lost and the day is coming to an end. You are faced with an unplanned night out.

However, because you had considered the possibility of such an event occurring, it’s not totally unexpected.  You have your survival kit, an extra sweater and a rain suit to keep you warm.   The initial urge to keep moving has been overcome and now it’s time to settle in for the night.

Look for the most protected area you can find, an area out of the wind – it’s easier to cope with ambient air temperature than it is wind chill.  Look for a level area under the protection offered by the limbs of a large tree.  Move uphill out of

Look for a sheltered spot out of the wind, such as this small cave.

cold air sinks.   Look around for any naturally occurring shelter – caves, overhangs etc.

Add layers of clothing before you get cold.  Locate any available firewood and build a fire.  You will find that a fire is a valuable companion in addition to all the other benefits it provides the survivor.  Once a fire is burning and you are sheltered you are “home.”

With the camp chores done, your thoughts will turn again to those you are separated from – your buddies in camp or perhaps family members at home who are expecting you for dinner.  Here again the need to be reunited with them will emerge.  RESIST THE TEMPTATION!  Traveling at night in unfamiliar country is dangerous!

It is possible that as the sky darkens you will be able to see the lights of distant homes or towns and again be tempted to make your way toward them.   Survivors tend to underestimate distance and overestimate their ability to travel to a distant destination! 

Sit tight. Survive.

Be alive when the sun comes up in the morning!  Crawl into your plastic bag shelter or under a lean-to made from a blue-crinkly tarp and get some sleep.  Depending on the temperature, you will probably wake up frequently during the night as your body cools. Exercise.  Eat some food. Have a drink and then go back to sleep again.  In cold conditions, it may be necessary to be more active during the night to keep yourself warm.

Don’t get spooked by the night sounds.  Our minds tend to make mountains-out-of-molehills – the cricket chirping under a nearby leaf can become a hungry mountain lion!

Take heart, the sun will come up the next morning; the weather will improve, you will “find” yourself once again and make your way back to worried, but now relieved, family and friends.

Peter Kummerfeldt has walked the talk in the wilderness survival field for decades. Peter grew up in

Peter Kummerfeldt has taught wilderness and emergency survival for more than 40 years.

Kenya, East Africa and came to America in 1965 and joined the U.S. Air Force. He is a graduate of the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and has served as an instructor at the Basic Survival School, Spokane, Washington; the Arctic Survival School, Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Jungle Survival School, Republic of the Philippines.

For twelve years, Peter was the Survival Training Director at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. He retired from the Air Force in 1995 after 30 years of service.

In 1992, concerned with the number of accidents that were occurring in the outdoors annually and the number of tourists traveling overseas who were involved in unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening incidents Peter created OutdoorSafe.com

He is the author of Surviving a Wilderness Emergency and has addressed over 20,000 people as the featured speaker at numerous seminars, conferences and national conventions.

Check out Peter’s blog at: OutdoorSafe.blogspot.com

For more Peter Kummerfeldt and OutdoorSafe survival tips, click on:

• Preparing to survive
• The importance of water to survival.
• Avoid becoming an altitude casualty.
• Wilderness emergency management
• Making water safe to drink.
• Don’t become a lightning casualty.
• Questionable water: to Drink or Not?
• Self Rescue: when staying put is not an Option
• Survival Kit List for beginners
• Preventing dehydration during emergencies
• Winter Survival Equipment Test: Blizzard vests and emergency blankets

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

It was one of those famous “three little word” hunts – “I am just” going to leave camp for a short hunt. You know – grab the rifle, license and tags, ammo, GPS and head out for a short hunt. The hunter’s pack stayed behind.

Because he was just going down that game trail a bit the hunter didn’t need all his survival gear…

by Blake Miller

The story ending is predictable: the hunter lost track of time and distance as he followed the fresh mule deer tracks, and, besides he had his GPS. At twilight he recognized it was time to go back, and the GPS showed him the way…until the batteries died. Fresh batteries were in his pack back at camp.

Always take extra batteries, and a map and compass for your GPS.

In 13 years of teaching GPS classes I have had very, very few reports of a GPS breaking or failing electronically but I do hear about battery power draining at the worst time.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Batteries will generally last for a reported 20 hours of continuous use; more on that shortly. If you just turn it on, mark a waypoint and turn the receiver off the batteries will last you most of the hunting season. I like the Duracell and COSTCO alkaline batteries.
• If your GPS can use Lithium batteries that is great. They are more expensive but they last longer and work better in cold temperatures; check your owner’s manual.
• I keep my GPS powered up all day when in the backcountry. I like to download my track and waypoint data at the end of a hunt to my Terrain Navigator software. (This gives me the best historical record of my outing.) I dump the batteries back at camp each evening. Usually my batteries become drained after a full day and it just simpler to change them out as I get my gear ready for the next day’s hunt. I don’t want to worry about dead batteries during the next day’s hunt.
• Keep a spare set of AA batteries in your pack. I recommend storing the batteries in the paper box that the Duracell’s come in or in the plastic wrapper that the COSTCO batteries come in.
• I keep fresh batteries in my GPS all the time. I am reading more frequently that this is no longer needed. That said, because of my SAR responsibilities and the frequency of my trips, fresh batteries are always loaded. It’s my personal preference that “works for me.”
• If you have an older Garmin such as the Garmin 12, keep batteries in it always. The four AA batteries keep the internal lithium battery charged. The internal lithium provides power to retain you saved waypoints and tracks.
• I don’t have a baseline for rechargeable batteries. My suggestion would be to keep extra’s on hand and really “wring them out” over a full day to see how well they work. Do this before your trip afield. Remember, it has to work for you.
• Features such as the backlight, audible tones and electronic compasses drain a set of batteries. On many models the electronic compass can be turned off by pressing and holding down the page button. Manage your power needs.

A fully charged GPS is a wonderful tool that complements your backcountry experience. Remember, even though you have the latest and best receiver, you always take that map and compass on every trip.

Blake Miller has made a career out of staying found and knowing where he is at all times. His formal navigation training began when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1973. He served as an officer aboard several Navy ships over his

Blake Miller

twenty-year career; many of those tours included the duty of Navigator. Blake began working with satellite navigation systems at sea in 1976, culminating with the then-new satellite positioning systems aboard the Battleship WISCONSIN in early 1990.

In 1998 Blake started Outdoor Quest, a business dedicated to backcountry navigation and wilderness survival. Blake has taught classes to wild land firefighters, state agency staffs, Search and Rescue team members, hunters, hikers, skiers, fishermen and equestrians. He regularly teaches classes through the Community Education programs at Central Oregon (Bend) and Chemeketa (Salem, OR) Community Colleges.

As a volunteer, Blake teaches navigation and survival classes to students in the local school districts, and conservation groups. He is a member of a Search and Rescue team.

If you have any questions about land navigation or wilderness survival, you can contact Blake through SurvivalCommonSense.com@gmail.com, or you can go to his website.

Contact Information:

Website: www.outdoorquest.biz

Blog: outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Phone: 541-280-0573

Email: outdrquest@aol.com

To hear the Jan 7, 2010 Blake Miller interview about choosing a magnetic compass and GPS on SurvivalCommonSense.com Radio, click here.

Recommended Reading:

Surviving a Wilderness Emergency
Build the Perfect Survival Kit
GPS Made Easy (GPS Made Easy: Using Global Positioning Systems in the Outdoors)
Staying Found: The Complete Map and Compass Handbook

For more navigation- related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, click on the highlighted words:

• How to choose a magnetic compass.
• How to buy that first GPS.
• Help the searchers find you in the wilderness.
• Is the Bushnell Backtrack the right choice for you?
• Improve your GPS skills now.
• Find your directions by the moss on trees?
• Simple survival tips for using a map and compass.
• Three maps you should carry in the wilderness.

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

I heard this story from a member of the Deschutes County Search and Rescue team: The lost hiker kept moving throughout the night, even though he was off the trail, and bushwhacking through heavy brush. When he finally emerged on a road the next morning, he was exhausted, scratched from the bushes he’d pushed through and bruised from falling down. He was lucky not to be injured worse!

When asked why he didn’t just stay put, build a campfire and wait for daylight he replied: “I heard animals all around me!”

A map, compass and GPS are valuable land navigation tools, but only if you first know how to use them!

If you think you’re lost the best advice is to stop, stay put and  wait until the sun comes up. But what if it is dangerous to stay? Suppose there is a forest fire and you have to keep ahead of it? Or what if rising water is creating a dangerous situation and there is no choice but to move or be trapped?

Again, if you’re lost, the best advice is to stay put! But if you absolutely must move, land navigation expert Blake Miller explains the skills to practice before attempting to navigate wilderness areas in the dark.

By Blake Miller

The day started clear and bright as the hikers left the trailhead near Newport, Oregon.  The temperatures were to be moderate most of the day with slight cooling in the evening.  They pressed on, determined to reach the nearby mountain summit before twilight.

After reaching the summit at dusk, the group started to make their way back to the trailhead as fog began to roll in.  Within an hour the darkness was becoming a problem and the safety of continued travel became questionable.

So what are some basic considerations for night time travel and navigation in the backcountry?

First, let us consider that we are not in a “lost hiker” scenario.  If  lost, the best thing to do is to just stay where you are. This makes the searchers’ job much easier.

Further, recommendations are based on the concerns and issues of hiking when it is really dark, not during the period of a full moon with some ambient light.

One of the key factors in this situation is to have an understanding of the physiology of the eye. Our eyes are designed to provide optimal performance during periods of light.  The components of the eye (the retina, rods and cones) are arranged specific to their function.  The cones are the discriminators of fine detail and color.  Cones are the most effective in light, and are located near the center of the eye interior.

In complete darkness, a cone’s effectiveness is significantly reduced.  Rods are located on the periphery of our interior eye, are not fine detail discriminators and have a higher sensitivity to low light levels.  Rods are important to our night time vision.

In periods of extreme darkness your ability to see with clarity straight ahead is significantly diminished.  Rods play importantly in your night vision, allowing you to observe objects but with reduced detail.  According an article by the American Optometric Association (see end of this article for more information):

To best detect small targets with the rods…the individual must look approximately 15-20 degrees to one side, above, or below…”

That impact is significant when you understand that to maximize your night vision you should turn your head from side to side consistently instead of keeping your focus straight ahead.

At night, the term used to describe our ability to see is “night vision.”  Bright lighting is to be completely avoided.   Flashes of bright white light will ruin night vision.  Recovery takes about 30-45 minutes.  Low level white light and low intensity red light is better.

Care should be taken with the use of a GPS.  The normal white backlight function of the GPS receiver will damage night vision.  More frequent use of a compass while running a line of bearing with a low intensity red light flashlight may be prudent.

Here are a few recommendations:

Guard your eyes as you move through brushy ground. If you don’t have a GPS and are navigating with just a map and compass it is very important that you start from a known position.  Navigating without getting position fixes from a GPS or by visual sighting is called dead reckoning.  Such navigation requires you to plot your compass heading and distance traveled.  Distance is accounted by pacing (counting your steps) as you move.  (A good source of reference is www.landnavigation.org.)

Night time navigation is not something to be taken lightly. From reviewing my books, US Army field manuals and conversations with experienced backcountry travelers, it should be carefully considered and practiced before an actual outing.

You need to have confidence in your equipment (map, compass and GPS) and trust the information provided to you.  Such confidence is built up months and weeks in advance of your trip.  Practice your navigation at a local park with map and compass.  For practice, GPS users should consider geocaching.

If you find yourself in a night time situation where you have any doubt, stop and prepare to spend the night right where you are.

For further reading about the physiology of the eye, click here to read the night vision report  from the American Optometric Association.

Blake Miller has made a career out of staying found and knowing where he is at all times. His formal navigation training began when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1973. He served as an officer aboard several Navy ships over his

Blake Miller

twenty-year career; many of those tours included the duty of Navigator. Blake began working with satellite navigation systems at sea in 1976, culminating with the then-new satellite positioning systems aboard the Battleship WISCONSIN in early 1990.

In 1998 Blake started Outdoor Quest, a business dedicated to backcountry navigation and wilderness survival. Blake has taught classes to wild land firefighters, state agency staffs, Search and Rescue team members, hunters, hikers, skiers, fishermen and equestrians. He regularly teaches classes through the Community Education programs at Central Oregon (Bend) and Chemeketa (Salem, OR) Community Colleges.

As a volunteer, Blake teaches navigation and survival classes to students in the local school districts, and conservation groups. He is a member of a Search and Rescue team.

If you have any questions about land navigation or wilderness survival, you can contact Blake through SurvivalCommonSense.com@gmail.com, or you can go to his website.

Contact Information:

Website: www.outdoorquest.biz

Blog: outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Phone: 541-280-0573

Email: outdrquest@aol.com

To hear the Jan 7, 2010 Blake Miller interview about choosing a magnetic compass and GPS on SurvivalCommonSense.com Radio, click here.

For more navigation- related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, click on the highlighted words:

• How to choose a magnetic compass.
• How to buy that first GPS.
• Help the searchers find you in the wilderness.
• Is the Bushnell Backtrack the right choice for you?
• Improve your GPS skills now.
• Find your directions by the moss on trees?
• Simple survival tips for using a map and compass.
• Three maps you should carry in the wilderness.

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com