Roleigh
2012-05-03 03:23:07 UTC
For those who subscribe, a good teaser lead.
Sent to you by Roleigh via Google Reader: (M) On-Trail Route Finding:
When the Trail is Hard to Follow via Backpacking Light Magazine on
5/1/12
"I've never been lost, but I was once a mite bewildered for a few
days." - Daniel Boone by David Chenault | 2012-05-01
Getting lost is not a black and white affair. I can't recall ever being
fully lost, in the sense of having little idea where I was, but there
have been plenty of times where I could only pinpoint my location to
within a kilometer of a given point, and even more occasions when I
knew exactly where I was, exactly where I wanted to go, but couldn't
get between the two due to unforeseen cliffs, swollen rivers, and so
forth. On one occasion years ago, two partners and I stood at midnight,
the soft contours of the San Rafael Swell illuminated by all the
earth's stars and a new moon, watching the passing, silent headlights
of semi trucks on I-70 five miles to the north. We could see a fuzzy
dirt road almost within spitting distance leading back to camp, but
spent three hours finding a way down the 100 meter cliff to it. Did
that count as being lost? On another occasion Chris Plesko and I hiked
off our map (on purpose) and rather than picking up the human trail out
of sight across a huge meadow, followed the bison-made highway deep
into the head of an unknown valley. It took until noon the next day, a
camp still off the map, some GPS extrapolation, and a bushwhack down a
big hill covered in blowdown to find a human trail again. Many might
consider that lost.
Neither of these misadventures were planned, and neither led to
anything worse than sore feet and a good story, but both could have had
far greater consequences. Descending a Windgate sandstone cliff system
is dangerous enough in daylight, and when you know there's a route.
Doing it in the dark, after a 60-kilometer day, and with one
functioning headlamp for three is begging for a fall and broken bones.
And had Chris or I slipped on the countless rain-snotted logs, rescuers
would have been looking in the wrong place for days. Getting lost, in
all its gradations, is thus something to be avoided. Or at the very
least, entered into willingly and with proper preparations.
There are endless ways to make route finding on faint trails, both
human and animal, easier and more predictable, and thus safer. What
follows are a few of them. I'll discuss each idea in introductory form,
before examining them in the context of both human and animal created
trails. There will be occasions in the wilderness when you'll be forced
to route find based on no established path of any kind, but those times
are more rare than you might think. Most of the time in the wilderness,
someone has gone there before, and finding and following the
established trail is the most efficient way to go. A bonus section
dealing with winter-travel on snow-covered trails is included as well.
Disclaimer: these are some ideas for route finding on human and animal
trails. There are many more. I also take no responsibility herein for
instructing on map and compass use. If you canâÂÂt adjust for declination
or lack an intimate understanding of contour intervals, stop now. Learn
that stuff and come back later.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- Introduction
- Bring Enough Map
- Know your Trail Builder
- Look Up, Look Down
- Look for Sawn Logs
- Check Yourself
- Use the Force
- Bonus: Finding the Trail Under Snow
# WORDS: 5860
# PHOTOS: 26
Read this article at BackpackingLight.comView All: Techniques & Best
Practices > Techniques
Things you can do from here:
- Subscribe to Backpacking Light Magazine using Google Reader
- Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your
favorite sites
Sent to you by Roleigh via Google Reader: (M) On-Trail Route Finding:
When the Trail is Hard to Follow via Backpacking Light Magazine on
5/1/12
"I've never been lost, but I was once a mite bewildered for a few
days." - Daniel Boone by David Chenault | 2012-05-01
Getting lost is not a black and white affair. I can't recall ever being
fully lost, in the sense of having little idea where I was, but there
have been plenty of times where I could only pinpoint my location to
within a kilometer of a given point, and even more occasions when I
knew exactly where I was, exactly where I wanted to go, but couldn't
get between the two due to unforeseen cliffs, swollen rivers, and so
forth. On one occasion years ago, two partners and I stood at midnight,
the soft contours of the San Rafael Swell illuminated by all the
earth's stars and a new moon, watching the passing, silent headlights
of semi trucks on I-70 five miles to the north. We could see a fuzzy
dirt road almost within spitting distance leading back to camp, but
spent three hours finding a way down the 100 meter cliff to it. Did
that count as being lost? On another occasion Chris Plesko and I hiked
off our map (on purpose) and rather than picking up the human trail out
of sight across a huge meadow, followed the bison-made highway deep
into the head of an unknown valley. It took until noon the next day, a
camp still off the map, some GPS extrapolation, and a bushwhack down a
big hill covered in blowdown to find a human trail again. Many might
consider that lost.
Neither of these misadventures were planned, and neither led to
anything worse than sore feet and a good story, but both could have had
far greater consequences. Descending a Windgate sandstone cliff system
is dangerous enough in daylight, and when you know there's a route.
Doing it in the dark, after a 60-kilometer day, and with one
functioning headlamp for three is begging for a fall and broken bones.
And had Chris or I slipped on the countless rain-snotted logs, rescuers
would have been looking in the wrong place for days. Getting lost, in
all its gradations, is thus something to be avoided. Or at the very
least, entered into willingly and with proper preparations.
There are endless ways to make route finding on faint trails, both
human and animal, easier and more predictable, and thus safer. What
follows are a few of them. I'll discuss each idea in introductory form,
before examining them in the context of both human and animal created
trails. There will be occasions in the wilderness when you'll be forced
to route find based on no established path of any kind, but those times
are more rare than you might think. Most of the time in the wilderness,
someone has gone there before, and finding and following the
established trail is the most efficient way to go. A bonus section
dealing with winter-travel on snow-covered trails is included as well.
Disclaimer: these are some ideas for route finding on human and animal
trails. There are many more. I also take no responsibility herein for
instructing on map and compass use. If you canâÂÂt adjust for declination
or lack an intimate understanding of contour intervals, stop now. Learn
that stuff and come back later.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- Introduction
- Bring Enough Map
- Know your Trail Builder
- Look Up, Look Down
- Look for Sawn Logs
- Check Yourself
- Use the Force
- Bonus: Finding the Trail Under Snow
# WORDS: 5860
# PHOTOS: 26
Read this article at BackpackingLight.comView All: Techniques & Best
Practices > Techniques
Things you can do from here:
- Subscribe to Backpacking Light Magazine using Google Reader
- Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your
favorite sites