INTRODUCTION

Orienteering is the skill or the process of finding your way in the field with a map and compass. Why bother with a map and compass? Map reading is an essential part of every person's basis knowledge, whether it is for traveling, finding something, or keeping track of current events in your own area and around the world. Compass reading skills help you to become an independent and self-reliant traveler. Finally, the use of maps and compass together allow you to find your way confidently anywhere in the world.

If you think about it, you will realize that we all make use of maps and compass directions in our everyday lives. When you plan a trip, you get out maps and try to figure out the shortest way or the best way to get to your destination. For example, you use maps to figure out what subway line or bus route to take when you want to get somewhere in the city. If someone asks you for directions on the subway, you automatically attempt to show them a subway map to help them. When you have learned how to get to one place from another, your brain stores the map. That way, the next time you go, you can simply follow the directions in your head.

A map is a reduced representation of a particular area. Maps are drawn to scale, accurately and precisely so that all objects of the area are depicted. The legend on the map shows important landmarks and roads. Landmarks can be used to reference yourself with your surroundings. Excellent landmarks to know at Black Rock Forest are the White Oak Tree, the Stone House, the Fire Tower and the S.T.E.P. Pond. Maps also have scales with accurately spaced marks representing miles or kilometers to measure distance.

A compass is an instrument used to determine direction. The steel needle is magnetized so that one end of its pointer always indicates the magnetic north pole. Compasses help to keep you traveling in the correct direction of your destination.

There are four cardinal directions: North, South, East and West. The four intermediate directions are Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest. A compass is a circle divided into four sections or quarters, indicating the cardinal directions. It is divided into degrees called Azimuths. There are 360 degrees in a circle. These degrees are divided evenly between the four compass directions, called quadrants. North to East is 0 degrees to 90 degrees, East to South is 90 degrees to 180 degrees, South to West is 180 degrees to 270 degrees, and West and North is 270 degrees to 360 degrees.

Understanding the uses of compasses and maps and knowledge of landmarks are important skills that allow you to become familiar with your surroundings and orient yourself within them.

OBJECTIVE: To appreciate the value of maps and compasses as aids in navigating one’s journey through unfamiliar territory.

• Learn to read ordinary maps and understand their symbols
• Learn to read and use a compass
• Learn to use appropriate compass vocabulary when referring to directions and locations
• Understand what makes a compass work
• Learn to orient a map using only the compass as a guide
• Learn the Cardinal directions and their compass positions
• Locate points in Black Rock Forest using the map and compass as guides
• Work cooperatively with partners

• comfortable hiking boots
• compass
• lunch
• clipboard
• comfortable clothing
• BRF map
• backpack
• pen/pencil
• lots of drinking water
• hat/cap
• notebook
• sun screen
• mapping activity pages
• a watch
• insect repellent

A. PACING is a way of measuring (marking) short distances traveled on foot

1. Remember pacing is accomplished by acknowledging each step taken. Here is how it works: walk naturally, taking steps within your natural stride, not too long and not too short. The first foot on the ground gets an AND, second foot on the ground gets a NUMBER.
2. Begin the count … first foot-AND, second foot-ONE, next foot -AND, next foot -TWO, next foot -AND, next foot –THREE until you have reached your destination.
   The simple activity that changes the act of walking into pacing is the --and one and two and three and four and five and…. One pace equals two (forward) footsteps.
3. Practice this activity a few times on the grassy area as you wait for your turn at the site. Beginners practicing together, in a group with a leader, might all want to start with the same foot; however, it really doesn’t matter which foot you begin with as long as you remember that each time your other foot touches the ground as you walk you have moved one pace. It feels awkward, maybe even silly, at first but you’ll have fun. When you get used to doing this activity it will feel natural and you may wonder why you never learned it before.

Pacing:

1. Find your partner and prepare to work with him/her.
2. Go to the steps of The Stone House.
3. Look toward the water.
4. Record the direction you are facing (in the appropriate place on your worksheet).
5. Identify the obstacle (a tree stump) in the middle of Continental Road. That is your target.
6. Pace to it.
7. Record the number of paces you took to get there
8. Check your worksheet for the standard (yards, feet, inches) distance between these two points.
9. Divide this distance by the number of paces you took to find out the average distance you cover in a pace.
10. Compare length of pace for each other. Chances are, the distance covered in a single pace is more or less the same for each of you.

B. Maps and Compass Reading

How to read a compass:

1. The compass is a circle divided into quarters - north, south, east and west. It is further divided into degrees (Azimuth). There are 360 degrees in a circle divided evenly between the four compass directions (north, south, east and west). These are called quadrants. 0 degrees - 90 degrees North to East, 90 degrees - 180 degrees East to South, 180 degrees - 270 degrees South to West, 270 degrees - 360 degrees West to North.
2. Practice Reading:
1. What quadrant is 10 degrees?
2. What quadrant is 75 degrees?
3. What quadrant is 100 degrees?
4. What quadrant is 150 degrees?
5. What quadrant is 200 degrees?
6. What quadrant is 250 degrees?
7. What quadrant is 300 degrees?

Remember:

• The sun rises in the east.
• The sun sets in the west.
• The sun is in the southern sky at mid-day.
• A compass needle points north. Facing north, to your right is east, behind you is south and to your left is west.

Compass Reading:

1. Hold your compass steady on the palm of your open hand
2. When the needle stops moving, rotate the compass so that the arrow points to the N, North.
3. Study your compass needle positions as you identify and then record the azimuth for landmarks to the North, South, East and West.
4. Compare your findings with your partner’s findings--- you should agree.
5. Locate NORTH again. Is it in the same direction it was when you found it independently? Is it in the same location for both of you? It should be!
6. If the sun is shining today, identify its location. What quadrant of the sky is it in? What is its approximate azimuth?
7. Turn and face North if you are not already doing so
8. Now, using your Black Rock Forest map, identify objects on the map that are in your immediate location. Are they to your left or your right? Ahead of you or behind you? Are they North, South, East, West or at some other azimuth relative to your own position in the forest?
9. Using the compass and map, follow the compass trail at Black Rock Forest.

C. Getting Ready to Hike:

1. Gather together all the supplies you’ll need and pack the things that you are not wearing or using in your backpack.
2. You’ll need your map, compass, clipboard and writing utensil in your hands.
3. Of course, you’ll be wearing your watch, cap/hat, comfortable boots or high-top sneakers (to protect your feet and ankles) and clothing (long pants with bottoms tucked into your white socks, shirt)
4. Don’t forget to apply sunscreen and bug spray. (Bugs like moisture and you might work up a little bit of a sweat.)
5. Visit the comfort station; you won’t find one on the trail.
6. Decide who your partner will be for the hike; buddies help each other out and having a partner is a natural way of being in the forest.
7. When the hiking begins, walk at a comfortable and steady pace.
8. Review the Black Rock Forest map by identifying landmarks and their azimuths from where you and your partner are right now.

When the entire group reassembles, ask questions that promote discussion. Examples:

1. In what way is the skill of map reading helpful to hikers within a forest?
2. How did the map help you and your partner on your mission today?
3. Why is it essential that cartographers be precise when they make maps of areas?
4. From your experience today what have you learned about the importance of math and its accuracy in people’s daily lives?
5. What does drawn to scale mean?
6. What is the name given to map makers?
7. Besides math, what other skills and knowledge must cartographers have?
8. In what way do compass reading skills assist hikers and forest workers?
9. Imagine yourself in a different place on planet Earth right now - tell how a compass might help you find Black Rock Forest form that location.
10. Given an appropriate map and a compass, could you find the way to your town, city, or neighborhood?
11. Why doesn’t the compass always identify NORTH in the same direction as you move around the forest?
12. Could securing a compass to the dashboard of a car help the driver navigate the course of his/her journey? Explain.

Björn Kjellström, Maps and Compass: The Complete Orienteering Handbook. New York: Macmillian,1994.

Download/View this Orienteering Lesson as a pdf

Download/View the Compass Trail as a .pdf

Download/View the Scavenger Hunt as a .pdf

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