Learn to Use a Map and Compass

Nobody should venture into the wild without at least the basic skills to interpret a topographical map

and use a compass. You don’t play hockey without learning how to skate; you don’t go sailing without learning how to sail; and you don’t fire a rifle without learning how to shoot. So don’t venture into the wilderness without learning how to navigate. There are numerous local college courses available on the subject. Take one!

Always carry a map, whether you’re on your own or with a guide. If you’re with a guide but have neglected to bring a map, ask to see your guide’s as often as possible. Familiarize yourself with it, as well as with the route you are traveling. Your guide should not be annoyed by this, but rather pleasantly surprised that someone else on the trip is willing to become knowledgeable in case the worst should happen. After all, what would you do if your guide became incapacitated? 

In preparing yourself by reviewing a route map, you may notice, for example, that a road runs parallel to the river or trail you’re traveling on. This is good to know should you run into trouble: A half day’s walk due east will put me onto a road and into the path of possible rescue. You may also see landmarks such as bridges, buildings, or even small towns. You would never have known that if you hadn’t looked at the map before it got lost or washed down the river.

The Map 

A topographical map improves your chances of survival many times over, but only if you know how to use it and always protect it from damage. Before setting off, check the date of your map. Depending on its age, you may find that some features have changed, which could drastically throw off your perception of where you are. 

Make sure that you can interpret the map’s symbols and identify major terrain features. 

To correctly use any map, you first need to orient it. In simplest terms, a map is oriented when it is placed flat on a horizontal surface, and its north and south markings correspond with north and south on your compass (or at least with your understanding of where north, south, east, and west lie). 

If you’re not sure where north is, you can still orient the map using terrain association. To do this, you must know your approximate location on the map. Seek out the major terrain features in your vicinity (such as hilltops, valleys, and ridges), and identify them on the map. This is more difficult in “close” places such as the jungle and the forest, so you may need to wait until you reach something more easily identified. Some topographic maps also mark different types of vegetation, which may help you to determine your location. 

Knowing your map-based route is noted as a major priority in “Trip Planning and Preparation,” the first chapter of this book. If you are on a charter trip, sit down with your guide on the first day to familiarize yourself with the map. 

The Compass 

The compass course I took during in the army always ended with an orienteering race. It became tradition that those of us who also took survival courses were under big-time peer pressure to win. 

No matter where you stand on Earth, you can hold a compass in your hand and it will point toward the North Pole. What an unbelievably neat and amazing thing! Imagine that you are in the middle of the ocean, and you are looking all around you in every direction and all you can see is water, and it is overcast so you cannot see the sun... How in the world would you know which way to go unless you had a compass to tell you which way is "up"? Long before GPS satellites and other high-tech navigational aids, the compass gave humans an easy and inexpensive way to orient themselves.

In a world where the technosavvy are all too used to having electronic gadgets flash and beep at them, the simple compass sometimes seems almost boring. After all, it just sits there, pointing north. Yet, simple though it may be, the compass is the one instrument above all others that will help you find your way out of the wilderness. Basic compass understanding is vital to your survival. 

If you can comfortably and effectively use a compass, you can stand in the middle of nowhere, pick a destination off in the distance and be confident that no matter how many obstacles lie in your path, you will get there. 

A compass is an essential tool in wilderness survival. Along with a good quality topographical map of the area you're navigating, knowing how to use a compass will ensure that you're never lost. 

Do your research

PLANNING AND PREPARING FOR YOUR ADVENTURE BEGINS with research, a fairly easy undertaking in today’s information-rich digital age. Between the Internet and the countless books available in public libraries, the foundation is there for anyone to begin to build a location-specific store of knowledge for just about any region on earth. 

Printed publications offer other benefits too, aside from the significant information they can yield. First, you can carry small guidebooks and pamphlets with you and—assuming they haven’t washed down the river with your canoe—refer to them along the way. Second, reading about your destination ahead of time gets you excited about the trip and empowers you with information that might save your life. 

One thing to keep in mind when reading books or online materials, though, is that while they may describe, for example, the types of plants that can be sources of water in a specific area, you cannot be 100 percent sure that you’ll be able to identify a plant unless someone has personally taught you how. In this book, for instance, I note that you can find water in the chevron of the leaves of most banana trees. That’s all well and good, but you may need someone to show you a banana tree, and teach you how to distinguish it from similar-looking plants. 

Ideally, anyone going on a backcountry wilderness trip should take the time to train in that region with a local expert, one who can offer such vital advice as which plants are edible and which ones will kill you. Take the time to find an expert, and try to dedicate at least one day with him or her on the land. The training and teaching may even be available in your own area.  

Although local experts obviously know the best ways to build shelter, make fire, gather food, and locate water. I often find that it’s not the big lessons they teach that ultimately help me the most but the little nuggets of wisdom they throw out in passing. For example, in the Amazon rainforest Stay away from plants with umbrella-shaped flowers. It can be deadly to eat a plant you are unsure of, so it’s better to try and find food elsewhere than to risk eating a toxic plant.  That information can't nowhere to be found in any of the books on the region, but it could have saved my life. Catching small weaver birds by hand by walking up to their nests at night and simply plucking them out of their holes. This is the kind of tip that you can’t find anywhere else, but that may prove invaluable if you’re stranded and starving.

 Most people have only one or two weeks off work and can’t dedicate time for training or education while on vacation. But if you can, it will make you more self-reliant, enhancing your trip in ways you never thought possible, even if you never get caught in a survival situation.