The Importance of Maps
Most experienced hikers rely on maps to navigate along hiking
trails and through wilderness areas. Actually, it's the more experienced hikers
who tend to do this and the beginners who think they don’t need maps.
Beginners will often think that they can stick to well-travelled
trails and forego the hard work needed to learn how to use maps.
You really can get seriously lost, even near clearly marked
trails. Stepping a few yards off a trail into heavy forest has confused more
than one beginner. In the absence of sun, stars or geographical markers it's
easy to get turned around. You can end up walking even farther from the trail.
Then when you look again, you're lost.
Many hiking maps won't necessarily help you out of that forest.
But you'll usually come across another trail that, which hooks up with the one
you were on. A good hiking trail map will help you easily get back to your
starting point.
So, how do you start?
When you start hiking, I advise you get into this habit from the
get go. Find a current map covering the area you intend to hike. Study it at
home in a relaxed environment. You won't be able to match the map against
features you see, but it will help you understand the symbols used. Google maps
is an amazing tool to use with the map you have to get to know the area you are
going to hike.
Almost all maps will have a legend. Get familiar with the symbols,
this is very important. They differ from map publisher to publisher. Find out
what the scale is - look for 1 cm = 1km or similar markings.
Don't forget, that distance is only part of the story. One km on
level ground is one thing. But if 3/4 of that distance takes you from near sea
level to 600 meters high by a steep, winding incline, that's quite another.
You need to consider altitude. Altitude markings are usually
indicated by a series of curved lines that. The distance between two curved
lines around some natural feature like a large hill indicates altitude. Often
there will also be numbers printed along the lines to help you. These are
sometimes called contour lines. The closer the lines are together, the steeper
the terrain.
Now look at the longitude and latitude lines. Longitude runs 'up
and down', or north and south. Latitude runs 'right and left', or east and
west. Those directions are put in quotes because they're all just conventions.
In the daytime you can use the sun and natural features to keep
direction. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. So early in the day,
find the sun and you are facing mostly East. Late in the day, face the
direction of the light and you are facing predominately West. There are
variations because of coastlines, latitude, etc. It's just an approximate
starting point.
At night, you can use the stars. You can often see the sky
reasonably well - most wilderness areas are relatively far from city lights.
This link from Getaway magazine will help you with that. http://www.getaway.co.za/travel-ideas/things-to-do/how-to-navigate-using-the-stars/
