Basic Navigational Skills

In this article we will examine some basic navigational principles useful for accurate navigation, apart from your map and compass. Specifically, we cover the concept of counting paces as well as controlling and understanding drift.

Counting Paces

While seemingly inconvenient, counting your paces can be a very useful tool in navigating terrain with limited (or no) visibility to your destination. Once you get the hang of it, counting paces will be of minimal inconvenience and will greatly aid navigation in otherwise challenging conditions.

Most people think of counting paces at every step. However, counting each time your right (or left) foot hits the ground simplifies things significantly. While everyone's pace is slightly different, the average is about 55-60 paces per hundred yards. Before using pace counting to navigate, you should determine your average pace count by walking a measured distance on terrain similar to that which you intend to travel. For simplicity in this article, we will say that your measured pace length is 60 paces per hundred yards, (resulting in a conversion factor of 0.6), in all examples.

It is important to understand pace counts are not exact measurements. A variety of factors can change the length of your pace. Traveling uphill shortens paces while downhill lengthens paces. Carrying a heavy load shortens paces and will cause fatigue. Environmental conditions such as ice, snow, rain, loose ground (such as sand or gravel) and limited visibility will also shorten your pace. In general, more difficult travel results in shorter paces and easier travel creates longer paces.

To use a pace count as a tool for navigation, you need to determine the distance to both your destination and to any major landmarks you intend to cross along the way. For example, on the map below, you're located at the 'X' mark. You want to get to the cabin along the plotted course. Using either a piece of paper and the map distance scale or a map ruler, as in the picture on the right, first find the distance to the cabin. From the ruler it is seen that the distance is about 1.18 miles.

Next, determine the number of paces you expect it will take to get there and add a buffer to that number (fifty percent is good). Using our example, multiply the distance (1.18 miles) by 1760 (there are 1760 yards in a mile) to get the distance in yards (2077 yards). Then, multiply that by 0.6 to determine how many paces it should you take to arrive at or near the cabin -- 2077x0.6=1246 paces.

Now you calculate your buffer number by multiplying 1246 by 1.5 for a buffer number of 1,869 paces.

You should never actually reach this buffer number. It is there to stop you from walking endlessly if you pass your destination.

Follow this same procedure for the distance to the creek you will need to cross (about 420 paces with a buffer number of 630 paces). Note the slopes involved. The contour lines on the map indicate that you should be headed nearly perfectly down-slope until you reach the creek. Then, nearly perfectly up-slope in order to reach the cabin. If you find yourself traveling substantially across the face of the slope, you shoul check your bearing.

After finding the bearing to your destination with your compass, you can set off for your cabin, counting your paces until you reach your first landmark. When counting paces, it is useful to employ a quick way to mark every hundred completed paces, allowing you to simply count two-digit numbers. A simple, classic approach is to tie a knot in a piece of string at every hundredth pace, though any number of methods will work. When you reach your pre-calculated number of paces, if you haven't already arrived at your landmark or destination, you know you're getting close. However, if you reach the buffer number, you know something's wrong and you've gone too far and might be off course.

This process can correct course errors before they become excessive, saving significant time and effort.

**For more information on using a compass to set and determine bearings, see our "How To Use a Lensatic Compass" articles.

Circumnavigation with Right Angles

At times, you will run into an obstacle like a pond, lake or butte, which forces you to detour from your course to get around it. Take the diagram below for example.

Let's say you're heading due North when you run into this pond. Unless you're a really avid swimmer, who also happens to like going hiking soaking wet, you really can't go across. Therefore you must use your pace count and a series of right angle turns to go around it.

First, locate the pond on your map and measure how far you will have to detour. It is better to go a little further in this case than to run into the obstacle again, so add a buffer distance to your measurements, perhaps ten percent. You determine that the above distances will get you around the pond. Since your pace length is 60 paces per 100 yards, you will multiply all the distances by 0.6. In this case that means 275x0.6=165 paces on the short legs and 320x0.6=192 paces on the long side. Now using your compass you will turn right 90 degrees (due East) and take 165 paces. Then turn left 90 degrees and take 192 paces, and turn left again, taking another 165 paces. You will then be standing back on your original bearing and can continue on your journey.

Preventing Drift

Several things can cause you to drift off course. At first, you might think you could simply keep looking at your compass while traveling. But there are two issues with that. First, it is unwise to keep the compass constantly open while traveling, as this greatly increases the chances of damaging it and tends to make you pay less attention to where you're actually walking. Second, drift can happen in such a way that you drift off course to one side, while still facing in the proper direction. As the extreme example, if you started walking North, but took one step sideways to the right for every step forward, obviously you would be traveling northeast, but you would still be facing north by the compass. A more real world example is traveling across the face of a slope. Your body will naturally tend to move down-slope a little with every step, so even though you're facing the right direction, you end up drifting off course.

The first and primary tool to prevent drift is reference landmarks, these should be used whenever possible. Using your compass, you find a visibly distinctive object along your bearing to head towards. This object should be relatively close, perhaps a few hundred yards. So even if you drift a little bit getting there, arriving at this landmark will inherently put you back on course. Following a string of such landmarks will reliably prevent drift all the way to your destination.

Some conditions that can lead to drift are environmental, such as intense sun, blowing sand, rain or snow. The tendency is to try to face away from such conditions, which imparts drift. A heavy, unbalanced load can also tend to pull you to the side, or traveling across slopes as mentioned above.

Seemingly irrelevant but actually useful, another trick for the navigator to keep in mind is how you go around an obstacle. Along a given path to a destination, you'll usually have to go around a myriad of minor obstacles such as trees, shrubs, protruding rocks, etc. It is a natural tendency for people to go around them on their predominate side, (eg: right handed people will tend to go around the right side of the tree). This leads to drifting off course to your predominate side. It's a good idea in such situations to alternate which side of obstacles you're going around.