Kjetil Kjernsmo's illustrated guide on

How to use a compass

Using the compass alone

This is a very easy lesson, and I would say, not sufficient for those who would like
to travel safely in unfamiliar terrain.

The first thing you need to learn, are the directions. North,
South, East and West. Look at the figure and learn how they
are. North is the most important.

There are several kinds of compasses, one kind to attach to the map, one kind to attach
to your thumb. The thumb-compass is used mostly by orienteers who just want to run
fast, and this is the kind of compass I normally use.
But not in this tutorial. I would recommend the third kind of compass. Let's take a look
at it:

You see this red and black arrow? We call it the compass needle. Well, on some
compasses it might be red and white for instance, but the point is, the red part of it is
always pointing towards the earth's magnetic north pole. Got that? That's basically
what you need to know. It's as simple as that.

But if you don't want to go north, but a different direction? Hang on and I'll tell you.
You've got this turnable thing on your compass. We call it the Compass housing. On the
edge of the compass housing, you will probably have a scale. From 0 to 360 or from 0
to 400. Those are the degrees or the azimuth (or you may also call it the bearing in some
contexts). And you should have the letters N, S, W and E for North, South, West and
East. If you want to go in a direction between two of these, you would combine them. If
you would like to go in a direction just between North and West, you simply say: "I
would like to go Northwest ".

Let's use that as an example:

You want to go northwest.
What you do, is that you find
out where on the compass
housing northwest is. Then you
turn the compass housing so
that northwest on the housing
comes exactly there where the
large direction of travel-arrow
meets the housing.

Hold the compass in your hand. And you'll have to hold it quite flat, so that the compass
needle can turn. Then turn yourself, your hand, the entire compass, just make sure the
compass housing doesn't turn, and turn it until the compass needle is aligned with the
lines inside the compass housing.
Now, time to be careful!. It is extremely important that the red, north part of
the compass needle points at north in the compass housing. If south points at
north, you would walk off in the exact opposite direction of what you want!
And it's a very common mistake among beginners. So always take a second look to
make sure you did it right!
A second problem might be local magnetic attractions. If you are carrying
something of iron or something like that, it might disturb the arrow. Even a
staple in your map might be a problem. Make sure there is nothing of the sort
around. There is a possibility for magnetic attractions in the soil as well, "magnetic
deviation", but they are rarely seen. Might occur if you're in a mining district.

When you are sure you've got it right, walk off in the direction the direction of travel-
arrow is pointing. To avoid getting off the course, make sure to look at the compass
quite frequently, say every hundred meters at least.
But you shouldn't stare down on the compass. Once you have the direction, aim on
some point in the distance, and go there. But this gets more important when you use a
map.

There is something you should look for to avoid going in the opposite direction: The
Sun. At noon, the sun is roughly in South (or in the north on the southern hemisphere),
so if you are heading north and have the sun in your face, it should ring a bell.
When do you need this technique?
If you are out there without a map, and you don't know where you are, but you know
that there is a road, trail, stream, river or something long and big you can't miss if you
go in the right direction. And you know in what direction you must go to get there, at
least approximately what direction.
Then all you need to do, is to turn the compass housing, so that the direction you want
to go in, is where the direction of travel-arrow meets the housing. And follow the above
steps.
But why isn't this sufficient? It is not very accurate. You are going in the right direction,
and you won't go around in circles, but you're very lucky if you hit a small spot this
way. And that's why I'm not talking about declination here. And because that is
something connected with the use of maps. But if you have a mental image of the map
and know what it is, do think about it. But I think you won't be able to be so accurate so
the declination won't make a difference.

If you are taking a long hike in unfamiliar terrain, you should always carry a good map
that covers the terrain. Especially if you are leaving the trail. It is in this interaction
between the map and a compass, that the compass becomes really valuable. And that is
dealt with in lesson 2.
Kjetil Kjernsmo's illustrated guide on

How to use a compass

Using the compass in interaction with a map

This is the important lesson, and you should learn it well.

It's when you use both compass and map the compass is really good, and you will be able to
navigate safely and accurately in terrain you've never been before without following trails. But
it'll take some training and experience, though.

I am not covering map reading here, guess you would have to consult other sources for
that, but the lesson will be useful if you have a sense of what a map says.

First, a quick summary of what you will learn in this lesson:

1. Align the edge of the compass with the starting and finishing point.
2. Rotate the compass housing until the orienting arrow and lines point N on the map.
3. Rotate the map and compass together until the red end of the compass needle points
north.
4. Follow the direction of travel arrow on the compass, keeping the needle aligned with
the orienting arrow on the housing.

Here is our compass again:

The principles are much the same as in lesson 1 but this time, you are using the map to
tell you which way is correct instead of your intuition.

Take a map. In our first example, we look at a map made for orienteering, and it is very
detailed. Well, not really. We look at a fictitious map I drew myself, but never mind. To
 the point. You want to
go from the trail-
crossing at A, to the
rock at B. Of course, to
use this method
successfully, you'll have
to know you really are
at A.
What you do, is that
you put your compass
on the map so that the
edge of the compass is
at A. The edge you
must be using, is the
edge that is parallel to
the direction of travel
arrow. And then, put B
somewhere along the
same edge, like it is on
the drawing. Of course,
you could use the
direction arrow itself, or
one of the parallel lines,
but usually, it's more convenient to use the edge. At this point, some instructors say that
you should use a pencil and draw a line along your course. I would recommend against
it. First, it takes a lot of time, but offers no enhancement in accuracy of the method.
Second, if you have wet weather, it may destroy your map, or if it is windy, you may
loose it. You should keep your map (preferably in a sealed) transparent plastic bag, and
if it is windy, tied up, so it can't blow away. But most important is that any drawings
may hide important details on the map.
Time to be careful again! The edge of the compass, or rather the direction
arrow, must point from A to B! And again, if you do t his wrong, you'll walk
off in the exact opposite direction of what you want. So take a second look.
Beginners often make this mistake as well.
 Keep the compass
steady on the map.
What you are going
to do next is that
you are going to
align the orienting
lines and the
orienting arrow
with the meridian
lines of the map.
The lines on the
map going north,
that is. While you
have the edge of the
compass carefully
aligned from A to
B, turn the compass
housing so that the
orienting lines in
the compass
housing are aligned
with the meridian
lines on the map.
During this process, you don't mind what happens to the compass needle.
There are a number of serious mistakes that can be made here. Let's take the
problem with going in the opposite direction first. Be absolutely certain that
you know where north is on the map, and be sure that the orienting arrow is
pointing towards the north on the map. Normally, north will be up on the map. The
possible mistake is to let the orienting arrow point towards the south on the map.
And then, keep an eye on the the edge of the compass. If the edge isn't going along the
line from A to B when you have finished turning the compass housing, you will have an
error in your direction, and it can take you off your course.

When you are sure you have the compass housing right, you may take the compass
away from the map. And now, you can in fact read the azimuth off the housing, from
where the housing meets the direction arrow.
Be sure that the housing doesn't turn, before you reach your target B!
The final step is similiar to what
you did in lesson 1. Hold the
compass in your hand. And now
you'll have to hold it quite flat,
so that the compass needle can
turn. Then turn yourself, your
hand, the entire compass, just
make sure the compass housing
doesn't turn, and turn it until the
compass needle is aligned with
the lines inside the compass housing.
The mistake is again to let the compass needle point towards the south. The
red part of the compass needle must point at north in the compass housing, or you'll go
in the opposite direction.

It's time to walk off. But to do that with optimal accuracy, you'll have to do that in a
special way as well.
Hold the compass in your hand, with the needle well aligned with the orienting arrow.
Then aim, as careful as you can, in the direction the direction
of travel-arrow is pointing. Fix your eye on some special
feature in the terrain as far as you can see in the direction.
Then go there. Be sure as you go that the compass housing
doesn't turn.
If you're in a dense forest, you might need to aim several
times. Hopefully, you will reach your target B when you do
this.

At this time, you may want to go out and do some training, so you could check out
some suggested exercises.

Unfortunately, sometimes, for some quite often, it is even more complicated. There is
something called magnetic declination. And then, for hiking, you wouldn't use
orienteering maps. And this is the issue for lesson 3.
Kjetil Kjernsmo's illustrated guide on

How to use a compass

Magnetic Declination

Unfortunately, sometimes, for some quite often, it is even more complicated. There is
something called magnetic declination. You see, the compass is pointing towards the
magnetic northpole, and the map is pointing toward s the geographic northpole, and that
is not the same place. To make things even more complicated,
there is on most hiking-maps something (that is very useful)
called the UTM-grid. This grid doesn't have a real north pole, but
in most cases, the lines are not too far away from the other
norths. Since this grid covers the map, it is convenient to use as
meridians.

On most orienteering maps (newer than the early 70's), this is

corrected, so you won't have to worry about it. But on
topographic maps, this is a problem.
First, you'll have to know how large the declination is, in
degrees. This depends on where on the earth you are. So you will
have to find out before you leave home. Or somewhere on the map, it says something
about it. One thing you have to remember in some areas, the declination changes
significantly, so you'll need to know what it is this year.

If you are using a map with a "UTM-grid", you want to know how this grid differs from
the magnetic pole.

When you are taking out a course, you will do that more or less as described in lesson
2,
but this time, you must also look out so that you don't align the orienting lines
with the grid lines pointing west or east, or south for that matter. When you
have taken out a course like you've learned, you must add or subract an angle,
and that angle is the angle you found before you left home, the angle between the grid
lines or meridians and the magnetic north.

The declination is given as e.g. "15 degrees east". When you look at
the figure, you can pretend that plus is to the right, or east, and minus
is to the left and west. Like a curved row of numbers. So when
something is more than zero you'll subtract to get it back to zero.
And if it is less, you'll add. So in this case you'll subtract 15 degrees
to the azimuth, by turning the compass housing, according to the
numbers on the housing. Now, finally, the direction of travel-arrow
points in the direction you want to go. Again, be careful to aim at
some distant object and off you go.

You may not need to find the declination before you leave home, actually. There is a
fast and pretty good method to find the declination whereever you are. This method has
also the advantage that corrects for local conditions that may be present (I am thankful
towards Jim Cross who pointed this out to me). This is what you do:

1. Determine by map inspection the grid azimuth from your location to a know,
visible, distant point. The further away, the more accurate it gets. This means
you have to know where you are, and be pretty sure about one other feature in
the terrain.
2. Sight on that distant point with the compass and note the magnetic azimuth. You
do that by turning the compass housing so that it is aligned with the needle. You
may now read the number from the housing where it meets the base of the
direction of travel-arrow.
3. Compare the two azimuths. The difference is the declination.
4. Update as necessary. You shouldn't need to do this very often, unless you travel
in a terrain with lots of mineral deposits.

There are a few riddles and rhymes to help you remember whether you should add or
subtract. I don't know them. If you live in an area where you don't go far for it to change
between east and west, it is so small you wouldn't need to worry about it anyway. So it's
best to just remember whether you should add or subtract. Nevertheless, I have
collected some of the rhymes people use.

Uncertainty

You can't always expect to hit exactly what you are looking for. In fact, you must
expect to get a little off course.

How much you get off course depends very often on the things around you. How dense
the forest is, fog, visibility is a keyword. And of course, it depends on how accurate you
are. You do make things better by being careful when you take out a course, and it is
important to aim as far ahead as you can see.

In normal forest conditions we say that as a rule of

thumb, the uncertainty is one tenth of the distance
traveled. So if it is like in the figure, you go 200
meters on course, it is possible that you end up a
little off course, 20 meters or so. If you're looking
for something smaller than 20 meters across, there is a chance you'll miss. If you want
to hit that rock in our example you'll need to keep the eyes open!

In the open mountain areas, things are of course a lot easier when you can see far ahead
of you.

This was the last of the lessons you should know. But more lessons are upcoming. Now
it is time to log out and get into the backyard, and then backcountry. Try it out! That is
after all, the only way to learn this properly. Good Luck!

I said navigating in the mountains is easier. Well that is until the fog comes. Fog can
make orienteering in the mountains and in the forest extremely difficult, and therefore,
it can also be dangerous to the unexperienced. The principles of orienteering are still the
same, but there are a few hints in the next lesson that will help you get trained.
Kjetil Kjernsmo's illustrated guide on

How to use a compass

Suggested Exercises

OK, so I read the pages, and I am going to teach kids this, what do I do? This page has a few
suggested exercises, and this page is intended for coaches and educators who have themselves
some experience. Anybody can be taught using this page, of course, but it is principally aimed
at teaching kids.

First, there are some very important considerations to make. The feeling of
being lost is something that may be very stressful to a child, and if stressed too
much, a child may never learn to love the backcountry. Some children are perfectly
capable of coping with the feeling of being lost, for others coping with this feeling may
take a very long time, but once achieved I believe it is a considerable survival skill that
may help save somebody's life some day.

As a coach, you need to be aware of this situation, and be very cautious until you know
the children you are coaching. It is of great importance that the exercises in the forest
are planned with this in mind.

Now to the exercises: For the absolute beginners, it is important that they master the
techniques described in lesson 1 and 2. This can be done partially with practise without
going anywhere, but that gets boring pretty fast, you could let the kids do it a few times.
In this first exercise the aim is solely to choose the right control from several you can
see. This way, you get practise, but need not fear getting lost. It requires some work
done, however. Check out this figure:

To the right is a map of your backyard. In the middle is a symbol , which is a symbol used
in orienteering to denote start and finish when they are at the same place (Othervise, start is a
triangle, and finish two concentric circles). There are controls all around you, and all of them

can be seen from this center. A control, as used in orienteering, looks like , and they are
placed in all the circles. The map here is of course an imaginary map, and you would have to
draw a map of your own back yard. The scale isn't very important, but it has to be correct with
regards to the compass. Also on the figure above is a detail from the upper left corner of the
map as it would look in the real (imaginary...) world. You should draw all buildings, large rocks,
bushes and trees and other features you see, like you see from the detail.

The kids are going to choose the right control using the map you drew, and the
compass. The first time you do this, you should take your time, and help each one of the
kids with taking the compass course. When they have taken the course, they decide
which control is the right one, run or walk up to it, and come back. Then they do the
same with the next control. The sequence each kid does this, is however, unique.

The second time, it is time to do some more fun. Here is one example. Make it a
treasure hunt! This is the plan: At each control, put a bag of some treasure on the
control, one for each kid and unique to the control. Take for example, starting in the
upper left corner by the north arrow, a bag of bananas by the bushes, a bag of oranges
by the corner of the house, a bag of apples by the tree and so on. Each one of the kids is
going to fetch the treasures, in a unique sequence, as fast as they can, they are supposed
to be running back and forth to the strating point between each control. The controls are
numbered, and each kid gets the sequence he or she is going to run to the controls in,
and which treasure is at which control, so if he or she finds the wrong type of treasure,
he or she knows it is the wrong control. You are standing there checking everybody got
the right sequence. Which means you get a hard time... This is going to be chaotic,
everybody running in different directions, and chaos is fun!

For small kids, it is important that everybody is a winner, and although somebody is
going to be fastest, nobody is a loser when they get all these treasures.

There are of course, many possible variations of this method, relays, take as many
treasures as you can in a specified time, and so on. Lots of fun! You should continue
with variations of this method, maybe taking them out in the forest, until everybody
feels confident they can use the compass safely and accurately, This may take some
time. In a proper orienteering course, compass usage is of course only a small part of it.
Consequently, you may use the two first exercises (this one and the next), for the
compass part of the course for a full year, but with variations of course.

Let's move to the bush. Compass usage is most important when you haven't got any
other features to guide you, such as paths, streams etc. So to get proper training, the kids
have to go where they don't follow paths and such. This makes things more difficult, of
course, and it is easier to get lost. Which means we are talking about the feared "feeling
of being lost". Therefore, it is essential, assuming the kids have not yet got all the
confidence they need to be out there completely on their own, to plan the exercises with
a "security net", so that they cannot get really lost. This is achieved by ensuring there
are features like roads, large paths, streams etc. that they can't miss, if (when) they miss
the control.
 It may be a good idea to put the start at a point that
is visible from quite a distance, like a tower, for
instance (the 'T' in the start symbol means tower).
This time, the place you use should be covered by
a real map, preferably with a large scale. Two
controls are indicated as examples. Neither of the
controls are visible from the start, which means the
kids would need to use more techniques to get
there. Before you start, you would need to instruct
the kids what to do if the miss the control. If they
think they cannot go right back to the start, they
should just proceed until they find the road, and
take one of the large paths back.

While only two controls are indicated here, there are supposed to be controls all the way
around, like in the previous example. And also like in the previous example, they are
supposed to run back and forth. The distance from the start should be around 100
meters, and must not be more than 200 meters.

The first times you are out this way, it may be a good idea to follow the kids around. In
this case, you may not need to go back and forth, but go a course with 100-200 meters
between the controls. Let the kids do the orienteering. Then you can again arrange
treasure hunts, relays and such as the kids run back and forth. As the kids build up
confidence, some will surely do this faster than others, they may take two controls for
each time they run out, so they won't have to run the same path back and forth.

Hopefully, during this process, the kids will build up confidence in themselves, and
know what to do when they miss. Eventually, they will be able to cope with the feeling
of being lost, and then they may proceed to greater challenges.

This is the greater challenge. This is a

real orientering map, "Eggemoen",
published by Ringerrike
Orienteringslag©, used here with
permission. It illustrates how one uses
a black pen to make parts of the map
unreadible, which forces the runner to
use the compass. In general, this
method is regarded too difficult for
beginners, but I have made some
simplifying additions to the method,
so I believe it is now appropriate for
second-year beginners. It is, however,
important that the kids have learned to
cope with the feeling of being lost, it
is nothing they fear anymore, because
anybody who uses this method will
get lost once in a while.
As you can see, I have made a course on the map, and there are different levels of
difficulty associated with each of the controls. The first control is the easiest. One
crosses several roads and paths on the way to the control, and there are paths leading
into the control from each side. The crossing of roads has mainly two purposes: The
child can see how far he or she has got, and secondly, it helps to build confidence. It
doesn't play a very important role in finding the control, because the compass is
supposed to play the main role in that. It can be used to correct the bearing if it is
obviously wrong though. The control has also a "security net" - the road just after the
control. If the control is missed, it provides a way to get back in, a detail that cannot
easily be mistaken. The red arrow indicates such a detail.

The second control is a little more difficult. There are, contrary to the first control, few
crossings. A few details are allowed to be visible though, so that the child can check his
or her bearing and make sure he or she hasn't gone very wrong. The control has still a
security net, the red arrow indicates a good place to get into it again.

The third control has only the security net left, even the road that is crossed is blacked
out. This is pretty difficult, and suited to teens that are getting experienced are about to
move up to more difficult courses.

So is the fourth control. The kids who can run courses with this kind of controls are
confident in the forest, has already been doing a lot of missing, and has analytical
experience enough to find back without aid.

The fifth control is a control that may be good for experienced orienteers for this kind of
training.

For all levels, the distance between controls shouldn't be more than 200 meters, a good
deal less for the kids. This map has been enlarged for instructional purpose. Also, the
blackout here is somewhat transparent, this is also for instructional purpose. In a real
exercise, it should be completely black where it is grey here.
Kjetil Kjernsmo's illustrated guide on

How to use a compass

How to navigate in foggy conditions

Fog makes things difficult, and in some situations dangerous. When you hike, you will probably
some day experience these difficulties, and you'd better be prepared.

The fog can come creeping very fast. I have myself experienced from clear view to
dense fog in 10 seconds. How fast this goes, depends on where you are.

In normal summer conditions without snow, it is often not much of a problem. Unless
you are supposed to find a hut or something. The ground provides normally so much
contrast, you could do the aiming I have written about in lesson 2. Just be very careful
and accurate. Perhaps you also might use some of the advice given later.

Winter conditions can make things a lot worse, when there is snow on the ground. The
fog is white (or grey), the snow is also white. You may get a condition we call a "white-
out". It's too late to read the terrain, and then the map isn't of much use. You can't see
anything anyway. You have no choice but to put blind faith in your compass. I hope you
knew where you were, because you need to take out a good compass course, like
described in the other lessons. If you are skiing, you should tie your compass
to your arm or something, so you can look at it for every step you take. A
rubberband is good. Check for more or less every step you take that the
compass needle is aligned with the orienting lines. But if it is cold, make sure it doesn't
affect circulation of blood in your arm, because that will make you freeze. If you are
going on an expedition where you expect conditions like this, you should perhaps
consider a arrangement to attach to your chest.

Let's consider a method to enhance the accuracy in conditions when you can't aim at
anything. If you are three persons in a row, like on the
figure, and the last one carries a compass (of course, it is
better that all three carry a compass, but the last one has
command), he or she will see if you get off course
because one of those in front of him or her will not be
covered by the person in front. On the figure, the situation
to the left is ok. The person on top is heading forward and
but he sees only the person in front of him or her. In the
situation to the right, it's time to stop. The last person can
see the backs of both of them in front, and they are about
to leave their course.

The further apart you go, the more accurate this method is, but it is also very important
to have good contact. Sometimes the conditions get so bad there is no way to maintain
contact, and then, the method may fail.
There is also another method for two people, where the lead person goes out on a
compass azimuth, as far as the visibility will allow. The person behind stands still and
watches the lead person, telling them if they are in the correct line or not. Once they
have moved correctly into line they then stand still and the back person joins them.
They then have their turn to move out ahead on the azimuth, and the whole cycle
repeats. The problem with this method is when the visibility is very bad, the lead person
can't go more that a few meters, and it would be dangerous to loose each other.

Finally, I'd like to comment on something that is seen in many standard texts on
mountaineering navigation: You are commonly taught to use methods that use terrain
features that are easily recognizable but far away. In my opinion, such methods are of
little use, unless you require surveyor's accuracy in knowing where you are (hikers
rarely do). As long as the weather is good, navigation is fairly easy and you'll naturally
use these features as part of a more general approach. However, when the visibility is
poor, you can't see these far-away-features and this makes the methods involving them
rather useless. Therefore, focus your training in navigation on using features in your
vicinity.

Can it possibly get any worse than a situation in dense fog? What if you haven't got a
compass? I have a few advices you could learn.
Kjetil Kjernsmo's illustrated guide on

How to use a compass

Finding the directions without a compass

You are lost. I mean really lost. Standing in the middle of nowhere, and you have no idea
where to go. If you are really in trouble, remember two things first of all: stay calm, think
rationally, and you can survive a long time without food. What you need is to drink.

Further thoughts about extreme survival skills is beyond the scope of this page, seek
advice elsewhere beyond this introduction. This page deals with the situation of finding
your way, without the aid of a compass. What you have, is the sun, the stars, and the
nature around you.

This page is mainly about the northern hemisphere of the earth, actually north of 23.5 °,
because I have never been to the southern hemisphere myself (would like to go there of
course!). The methods described do of course apply to the southern hemisphere as well,
but in some places there may be a need to swap north and south to get it right. I hope
you are able to figure it out.

For a start, it may be a good idea to climb a hill, and get a good look around. Try to see
traces of human activity. If you see nothing, you should try to figure out in what
direction would be the best to travel. If you haven't got a map, try to draw one if you can
of the terrain in front of you, and try to mark off where north is, using the methods
below. If you have got a map, try to determine where you are. Remember, you don't
want to climb more hills than you have to. Also you should carefully consider not to
climb if you are very tired. In that case you should consider staying where you are.
Consult other sources for information on how to make it easy for rescuers.

Let us start with the most accurate method. This method requires that you have a pretty
clear sky, though, and takes a lot of time. One of the advantages is that you don't need
any equipment. You would need a straight pole about 1 meter (or a yard) long, two
small sticks or rocks, another stick (or rock) that needs to be a little sharp, and
something that can act as a string.
 In the morning, at least
before noon, the trick
starts. Stick the long
pole in the ground,
upright. The ground
around the pole needs
to be horizontal. Now,
you can place one of
the little sticks in the
ground exactly where
the shadow of the pole
ends, like on the
figure. Then tie the
string to the base of the
pole, and tie the little,
sharp stick, to the other end, so that when the string is stretched it reaches exactly the
little stick standing there in the soil. Then, scratch half a circle in the soil with your
sharp little stick, and wait... Wait. Wait until the evening. During the day, the shadow
will get shorter and shorter, until noon, when it gets longer again. At noon, when the
shadow is at its shortest, you may want to mark the point. The shadow is now pointing
north (if you are north of 23.5 ° north). It is however not very easy to see exactly when
this is, but it is useful anyway. Finally, the shadow reaches your circle again, and when
it does, place your other little stick at the spot where the shadow ends. If you haven't got
a string, you could use a pole that has the right length, or try to come up with some
other improvised solution. Just make sure what you draw is a circle.
Now, the line from the
first stick to the
second is west-east,
like on the figure.
Actually, you may
want to mark points
regurlarly, because
any two points that
have exactly the same
distance from the base
of the pole will give
the West-East line. If
it is partly cloudy, this
may be a good idea.

There is a short, fast

version of this one as well. This is only approximate, though, and the further away from
the equator you get, the more inaccurate is it. You don't need the sharp stick and the
string. Just wait 20 minutes between placing each of the sticks, and the line between the
two sticks will be approximately west-east, like on the figure. Often, you wouldn't need
anything more accurate.
At night, you can navigate after the stars. You should, however, be careful with
walking, it is easy to stumble and fall and get injured, and also easy to lose sight of the
stars as you go, and you might start going around in circles. Often it will also be more
 physically and mentally
demanding. In the
northern hemisphere,
there is a star that is
almost exactly in the
north at all times, the
Polaris. It is pretty easy
to find, if you know the
"Big Dipper".
(Everybody knows the
Big Dipper (or the
Plough)?) Take the two
stars at the end of the
"Big Dipper", and make
an imaginary line
"upwards", and extend it
five times the distance
between the two stars.
There you have it -
Polaris. That way is
always north. The figure
is courtesy of Kathy
Miles. Used with permission.

In the southern hemisphere, you would have to find the Southern Cross. Because I
haven't been south of the equator, I can't help you find it, make someone tell you where
it is right now, if you don't know it already. That way is south.

If you have an analog wrist watch, you can

use the time to find north. Hold your watch up
in front of you, and let the short hand, red on
the figure, that indicates hours point at the
sun. While holding it like this, cut the angle
between the red arrow and 12 o'clock in two,
(noonwards if the time is before 6am or after
6pm), that way is south. (The reason you need
to cut it in two, is because the clock takes two
rotations while the sun takes one around the
earth, it is of course the other way around, but
never mind.)

Many people wear digital watches these days

(I do myself, if I wear one at all). If you do,
draw an analog watch face on a piece of
paper, and then mark the hour hand on using
the digital watch. The rest of the method is identical.

This method can be used even when it is pretty foggy. Although you may not be able to
see the sun, it may still cast a shadow. If you take up a straw or a tiny stick, and you
may see a shadow. You just have to remember that the shadow points the opposite way
from the sun, but the rest of it is quite similar as above.

Want to make your own compass? Sure. You

need a needle and a glass of water. A needle
can in fact float on the water, or that is, on the
surface tension forces if put carefully on the
surface. Just put it carefully down on the
surface of the water. This demands a lot of
patience though. There are three tricks that
makes it go easier. One: Put the needle on a
piece of paper. If the paper floats too, there is
no problem, and if the paper sinks, it'll probably
leave the needle. If you put some grease on the
needle that isn't water-based, it'll go easier, or if
you put it carefully down with a fork or something. Once it has got there, it stays there
pretty good.

If the needle is magnetic, it will act as a normal compass and be very accurate. A
problem is though, that you don't know north from south. All you know is that it lays
north-south. You would have to use one of the other techniques to find out, or make a
good guess.

The greatest problem with this is: Not many needles are made of magnetic materials
these days.... You can't just use any needle. You may just have to look around to see
what you can find, if you want to make a yourself a compass.

What if there is no shadow? Then, there are a few methods based on natural signs. I will
deal with the ones I have checked myself.
It is very much about trees. First of all, there will be fewer branches to the north. This is usually
easiest to see if you look up along the trunk of the tree. The north face of the tree would be
more humid than the south face, which is something most species of lichen (or moss) likes,
and consequently, there will be more of it on the north face. On the image above, you can also
see that ants likes to build their nests on the south side of the tree.

It is also worthwhile to look at how snow melts. In the spring in the mountains, snow
will melt faster on the south face of rocks, or in south faced slopes. Also, vegetation and
undergrowth will typically be thicker on the South facing slopes, and also fruits ripen
earlier on the South facing slopes.

These methods are not very reliable, I am afraid. Winds may alter the average
conditions significantly, and cause deviations. If you use natural signs, you should use
as many signs as you can before you draw a conclusion.
Riddles and Rhymes to help you
remember declination
This page contains Riddles and Rhymes to help you remember whether to add or subtract the
declination, I have collected from people who use them.

Some of the rhymes only work with west declination and some only with east
declination. So make sure you understand them before using them!

I have personally not used any of them, but I'm sure they're great! If you have one,
please send me a mail at [email protected].

From: George T Janson, [email protected]

in the west, Truth is greater than Magnetism

meaning that west of the agonic line (where the declination is zero), true (map-based)
bearings are larger than magnetic (compass-based) bearings.

From: Rick Jeffery, [email protected]

From map to field

The proper yield
is
East is least and
West is best

From: Robert Kirk, [email protected]

CEEC (pronounced 'seek')

which means:
Correct Easterly Errors Clockwise

From: Sam Williamson, [email protected]

CADET
which means:
Compass ADd East True

You then can work from compass to true. True to compass. Reverse for West declinations.

From: Agent Orange, [email protected]

"Grid to mag add,

Mag to grid, get rid"

and
"Manchester Grammar School" = "Magnetic to Grid Subtract"

From: Paul Stead, [email protected]

MUGS
which means:
mag unto grid - subtract

GUMA
which means:
grid unto mag - add

From: Cratie Sandlin

"East is least, West is best."

From: Donna C Carr, [email protected]

Acronym LARS: Left-Add, Right-Subtract

I.e.: Converting magnetic azimuth to grid azimuths. Put finger on the magnetic north
line on the declination diagram - which way do you have to move finger to get to grid
azimuth? If Left then Add G-M angle to the magnetic azimuth to get proper grid
azimuth.

From: Don Atkinson [email protected]

"Declination East, Compass Least"

From: Mark Damish [email protected] who writes: "I saw this in a book, and found it the
phonetics easy to remember"

empty sea, add water.

eMpTy Cea, add Water

MTC, add W

Map To Compass, add West.

Which means, when translating from map to compass, add the number of degrees of
west declination. Subtract east declination. When going from compass to map, just
reverse, adding east declination, and subtracting west.

From: Greg Cary [email protected] got something for fans of Batman: So in

some parts of the world, the name of the actor Adam West will do:

Add'm West

From: Simon & Debi Venner [email protected]

"Never Eat Soggy Wieners"

From: anonymous

"Never Eat Shredded Wheat."

Dave Gendron [email protected] points out that in westeren U.S. where magnetic
declination is to the east, True North is Always the Larger Number, and in the eastern U.S. with
west declination, True North is Always the Smaller Number.