With GPS built into just about everything, most folks don’t put much effort into land nav anymore. I’m not saying you have to get uber-geek about it, but you should be able to read a map and figure out simple things like azimuths, bearings, etc, etc. Someday you might need to leave someone a message (ideally it would be encoded) saying something like “12 U 300015.6 539714.70″ or the more cumbersome “48 41 43.07377 N 113 43 3.95584 W”. (Who is gonna be first to leave a comment telling me whats at that location?) Without at least a background in basic land nav (and perhaps a small map overlay), you’d have a hell of a time finding that on a map. More importantly, when you hide something somewhere out in the boonies…a cache, a body, a bunker…you wanna be able to tell people how to get there and nothing conveys precise locations like grid coordinates.
Be Expert with Map and Compass – This is the classic book on the subject and, really, it’s very good. It is also probably a bit overkill and intimidating for many people. No mistake, it’s an awesome book and one that should be right there in your library. I like the thoroughness of it, but it can be kind of daunting…it’s the War and Peace of land nav. However, you should have it because you can always learn just what you need at the moment and then come back later and learn more.
Map Reading and Land Navigation: FM 3-25.26 – I don’t come across many military maps but it’s still good information to have. Much of the information is fairly dated, which means if you’re just planning on navigating with a simple magnetic compass and maybe a protractor, then this is a great book to have. I don’t know if there’s a more modern version that covers GPS systems, but still, this book is a good one to have as well.
Compass & Map Navigator
Although these aren’t books, they sorta segue in there. There are plastic overlays for use with regular topo maps and UTM coordinates. This is the one I use: Improved Military UTM/MGRS Reader & Protractor “Super GTA”
I don’t know if I’m the first but your coordinates are for Logan’s Pass Visitor Center and the road says it’s closed in the winter. I admit that I just plugged the numbers into Google Maps and it popped up for me.
You are right, there are many people who can’t even read a road map let alone attempt any sort of cross country navigation.
I’ve done enough work with maps that I’m functional but I don’t claim any great skill. I’ve just paid attention over the years in various courses including traveling solo.
Steelheart
You’re more ‘first’ than you know….that wasn’t supposed to post until tomorrow morning! And, yes, youre right.
Looks like the continental divide in Montana.
The more people get GPS units, the more people I run into out in the middle of no where that don’t have a clue where they are.
My favorites are the folks that think the township lines on my maps are roads. O’ and the guys who’s GPS for some reason was registering access gates into the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge as roads. Despite being parked directly in front of one of these gates and there not being a road there they would not believe me that there was no road there.
Turn off the machine. Turn on your brain. Look out your window.
I have never used GPS so I am better the old way. But there are so many “navigation” books out there it is nice to know which ones work for people.
The No. 1&2 post did what I was going to do. The only difference is I would of have called up A state, then county map. I would have started looking in the U.S.A. Would of used google to confrim. Any one thats ever thought of burying sopplies. Should bury something, get A gps location, then go back and try and find it.
I have several Kifaru products. Their advertising does not overly glorify thier products quailty. Of course, they work as advertised. With that said, Im the type of guy that has A real K-bar, but carries A cheap knock off cause I’m worried I’ll lose the good one. Kifaru products are very pricey. Anyone on A bugget should look else where.
Good Christ,
I was just there two weeks ago. Got some AWESOME animal pics on the trip. Got run off the Observation Platform just below by some pretty feisty Rams. Had to jump the frigging fence at the last minute after staring two down, which proceeded to piss them off and one charged . lol
Also got for laid for bravery (really!) Ahhh, I do loves me some Montana.
Thumbs Up!!!
I have a GPS and Topo USA with a USB Earthmate GPS antenna a good system for navigating in a truck. When on foot I mainly use Top USA for printing topo maps to carry with a compass. You can scale them to cover the area you are going to be wandering in.
My wife even with a truck instead of a pointer on the 3D active computer map cannot tell me when to turn even in the woods. I am fairly sure she could point at the closes shopping center with in a couple of seconds accuracy but she cannot tell me when to turn before we pass it. LOL
I learned to use a compass when I was young on the Great Lakes with no land marks to check your progress just a heading and a chart that said over the horizon was X,Y or Z. Always got their even in the dark. The more I use the GPS/Topo USA the more I will depend on a compass and topo map. I have been in areas using a GPS that the county or whom ever laid out the map used the wrong datum or used an old one from the 1700 or 1800′s that was off a bit and the route would be so far off you would have never found the 2 track on the GPS route.
I learned not to trust electronics on the water and I guess it has carried over to land navigation. We had the Loran system and it had issues. Only accurate if tracing a course that you had verified before hand with the receiver you were using different receiver different course headings. +/- 50 yards in a 100 ft channel can be hard on the bottom of a boat. LOL
Yep a Topo map and a compass you can get there and back with out batteries.
Regards,
Roadie