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07/04/2009
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Staff photo by Travis Barrettfrom the Kennebec Journal
BUDGET CUTS ORDERED
Many happy returns in Richmond
Tax woes land on Whitefield
Rapist denied new trial
AUGUSTA MINDING A MINE
SPORT OF KINGS Falconry a blend of dedication and commitment
COLLEGE HOCKEY: Maine rallies but falls short against Boston College
COLLEGE ROUNDUP: Colby women win season opener at home tournament
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
WEDDING BURGLAR JAILED
Youths talk Turkey Day
Plenty of free Thanksgiving meals available
Turkey prices make for happier holiday
Kennebec County Superior Court
POLICE
COLLEGE HOCKEY: Maine rallies but falls short against Boston College
COLLEGE ROUNDUP: Colby women win season opener at home tournament
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
BY TRAVIS BARRETT
Outdoors Writer
Trembling hands lead me to believe that I've had too much coffee.
I thought I could walk in a straight line. I believed I was coordinated enough to hold an object steady in my palms while moving forward. Heck, I even used to think I could get from Point A to Point B with relative ease.
But standing in an open field looking for a paper plate with a number scribbled hastily across one of its corners, I'm realizing that finding your way is about a whole lot more than landmarks and a "sense" of direction. The only "sense" required here is enough common sense to allow a compass to do its job and trusting that the small hand-held device knows more than I do.
It does. Time-tested tradition trumps modern technology -- and my foggy, caffeine-infused brain -- every time.
* * *
"Basically, you can go anywhere on the face of the planet and not get yourself lost," says master Maine guide Carroll Ware of Skowhegan.
But I don't want to go just anywhere on the planet using a compass. I simply want to traverse across an open lawn at Coburn Park. To my immediate right is a paper plate with "56 degrees" written on it. It's my job to set a course for that direction and find the other plate Ware has set out for me.
And here's where I find out just how to use a compass.
The red arrow will always point north. Specifically speaking, it will point to "magnetic north," which, depending on the map you are using, is a few degrees from the "true north" you'll see on a topographical map.
For the sake of finding your way to a predetermined point -- which is where a compass on its own excels, at finding one known point from another known, fixed point -- simply allow the arrow to point to magnetic north. Rotate the face of the compass so its lines "box" the arrow, and walk in the direction of the reading you want.
In this case, it's 56 degrees -- and, from where I'm standing, it's slightly to my right.
"The compass is a magnetic instrument, so the only information it can give you is in magnetic degrees," Ware said.
Fellow Maine guide and outdoors author Tom Hanrahan says that the compass provides security in the woods.
"It's never, never wrong," Hanrahan said of the compass. "That's a consoling bit of information."
The plate, I find, is a few feet to my left after I walk roughly 100 feet. It serves to illustrate two points.
Holding the compass steady to keep the needle "boxed," you simply keep walking toward the bearing number. You can go a few feet or a few miles; it will not alter so long as there is no magnetic interference and you keep the compass relatively stable. Also, Ware said, each individual's readings vary slightly, by as much as a degree or two.
Here on lawn the difference is negligible. Over a mile or so, it could mean yards' worth of difference.
Wanting to head back from where I came the process is just as simple. Turn, add 180 degrees to my original number of 56, and I've got my back bearing. From Point A to Point B. Just like that.
"Without a map, it simply allows you to walk in a straight line," Ware said. "You have to know where you are to begin. Because it's a straight line instrument, you can't walk in circles with it. But if you have a lake, a gravel pit, a bridge -- you can use that as a starting point and go. You can plot any course of any distance."
* * *
Hanrahan relies on advice from reknowned deer hunter Larry Benoit, whose family calls Vermont home. Every time Hanrahan steps out of a vehicle on the edge of the woods, he follows the same routine.
"I'm very religious about what Larry Benoit told me," Hanrahan said. "Whenever you get out of the truck and shut the door, that sound should be the cue that you then stop and find out where north, east, south and west are and look at any landmarks that aren't going to move or change.
"You look and you orient it, so going in, you have a number and then you have your back bearing to get out. It's like having a little pow-wow session with your compass prior to entering the woods."
What amazes Hanrahan is how few people do that.
"I'm always shocked at how few people know how to use a compass correctly," Hanrahan said. "I'm always surprised that people don't understand on a gut level why you should look at it before you go in the woods."
* * *
The dawn of the GPS has delivered a hit to the traditional map and compass, but modern technology has been unable to replace the traditional orienteering tools.
"The GPS, when properly used, is a great tool," said Carroll Ware, who teaches orienteering as part of a Maine Guide School. "But a GPS without batteries is useless. Heavy canopy cover or rock ledges can make it so you can't get a signal, and then they're useless.
"A compass is useful all the time."
Hanrahan said that while a GPS unit may not be as reliable as a compass, it still serves to introduce people to the adventurous side of navigation. On-board GPS systems in cars and the rising popularity of sports like geocaching has brought orienteering into the spotlight.
"People are discovering the joys of navigation," Hanrahan said. "But people should be very careful, too. (Using a compass) is like flying an airplane. You don't go solo until you're pretty sure you know what you're doing with a compass.
"You need to do basic stuff a lot, back-bearing stuff, do that a lot. That all builds confidence."
"I've never been truly 'lost' in the woods," Ware said with a laugh, "but I have, on occasion, done what I referred to as 'taken the scenic route.' Anybody who wanders around in the woods at all gets turned around at some point or another.
"But with a compass, even if you're not sure you're going the right way, chances are the compass is right."
Travis Barrett -- 621-5648
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
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