Trekking unknown XC without a map which doesn't have terrain features detailed such as contour heights and detailed features such as rivers, dense woodland (dense woodland is sometimes easier to detour around) and streams, is not really recommended.
Good point. My personal experience bears that out. One time on a hike in the Hualapai Mountains in Arizona, I wanted to traverse between two mountains. All I had was a line drawing with an "x" marking the summit of two mountains that I wanted to traverse. Down the side of the first mountain I went only to find some tough cliffs. I got down the cliff all right, but a slip and injury there could have been serious. One never knows what lies between two points when all one has is a little line drawing sketch. Even a topo map doesn't show everything, particularly ones with 40m contour intervals (or greater)
(We used 1:50,000 maps with 40m contours in the army. 40m! You can drop an entire company of men in a 40m interval with nary a trace. Completely inadequate for XC travel)
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