Knowing Where You Are.
It isn't really a question of whether you can get along without a compass. Most of us can learn to do that, because even in the strangest surroundings there are a lot of recognizable signs that can indicate direction, and some of these are more accurate than a magnetic needle. But traveling through unmarked places without a compass can be as difficult as lighting a fire without matches.
Making a Temporary Compass.
The compass is nothing more than a magnetized needle mounted on a pivot so it can rotate freely. A temporary compass can be made from a small needle, by stoking it in a single direction with a piece of silk or with a pocket magnet that you may have if you're out prospecting. The next thing is to place the magnetized needle so it can turn freely.
This can easily be done by coating the needle with oil, simply rub your forefinger and thumb over your nose and forehead, then oil the needle by pulling it through your thumb and forefinger. Gather two thin pieces of grass or bark fibers and form them into two small loops to suspend the needle. Slowly lower the needle into any still pool of water using the looped grass as a tool. The needle should stay afloat in the water, remove the grass loops. The needle should swivel around and point to magnetic north. If you've stroked the needle from the eye to the tip, then the eye will point north. Try this experiment in a small plastic bowl away from other magnetic materials and you'll see that it does work.
Magnetic North?
Compasses do not inherently point to true north, they actually point to a spot called magnetic north, this is the earth's rotating axis. The axis point, or magnetic north actually lies in the Northwest Passage above Hudson Bay about 1400 miles south of the actual north pole.
The Compass line is never constant, the magnetic center is always drifting, but never drastically enough to cause a major malfunction of an ordinary compass. The difference between true north and magnetic north is called declination, and the variance is usually indicated on most detailed maps.
Compass Degrees.
The compass is normally numbered in the clockwise direction and divided into 360 degrees, 0deg= North, 90deg= East, 180deg= South, 270deg= West. These four points are called the cardinal points. The point halfway between north and east equals northeast, halfway between south and east equals southeast and so forth.
Knowing where you are. Always carry a good map with true and magnetic north indicators.
When you are trying to find your location on a map it can be very frustrating and even a little scary if you're alone. Here are a few tips to help you. Lay your map flat on the ground in a large enough area to move around in and get out your compass. Turn the map until the magnetic north indicator lines up with magnetic north on your compass, true north will automatically line up when you do this. Look around to your east a little north of you for a large natural structure like a mountain or lake. Hold your compass up level between you and the structure with the needle and dial still set on zero north, make an imaginary line with your eye through the center of the compass to the landmark, read the degrees on the side of the dial that is furthest away from your eye and closest to being directly in line with the object you're looking at. Write down the degrees east. Likewise find a landmark west of you, preferably one that is at between 60 and 160 degrees opposite from the first reading, and write this number down. Now to the map. Plotting these numbers on the map can be a little confusing for a beginner. I usually carry with me 2 lengths of string about 2 feet long. Why? After you've taken your readings or (Azimuth bearings) you'll need to transfer them to the map. I don't like drawing lines all over my maps, I use them often, long pencil lines tend to clutter things up so I use the string. Place your compass over the image on the map that corresponds to the first landmark and zero the compass dial on magnetic north. Lay the string over the center of the compass and the degrees east you first observed keeping the string tight so it makes a straight line through the center and across the map. Leave the string where it lays and pull the compass from underneath the string. Do the same for the westerly landmark. Where the two strings intersect is your present location. Mark this spot with a small x or dot, time and date it for future reference. This is good practice for anyone. It's hard to judge distance in miles when you're in the mountains, time is a more reliable way.
Walk two miles or walk one hour?
It's your third day out, you were in a hurry to get to the mountain lake where you were supposed to meet some friends in two days, you've left your pemmican, matches, knife, mirror and hand axe on a log next to where you had breakfast before you started out this morning. You stop to get some pemmican out of your bag an hour later. It's gone, your axe and knife are gone too. You get out your map and compass, take a reading and check the time. good thing you've been keeping track. You discover you have to backtrack 1 hour and six minutes at a heading of 165 degrees south southeast if you want your only axe back. Two hours later you're stepping over the spot where you remembered the missing items chuckling to yourself, relived you'd taken the time to write it all down. This one happened to me in the Frank Church Wilderness Of No Return in central Idaho.
If you take a minute to get it all on paper at the beginning of your trip and at least twice a day during your trip, you'll never get lost, you'll always know where you are and where you've been and how long it took to get where you are, you can backtrack to any point on your journey or use it to get out the exact way you came. Make this a habit on all your trips into the wilderness, it'll make the journey more enjoyable and safer for everyone.
