Get good at map orienteering (map reading skills). Practice compass navigation. Those are invaluable skills.

Use GPS together with paper charts. It gives a much better understanding of how you move in relation to your environment. (And when the batteries die, you'll have a pretty good idea of where you are).

Make sure the datum of map and GPS are the same.

Use the waypoint functionality as you move along. Don't mark everything, but mark those spots which are handy to reach in a pinch (water, shelter) or constitutes important corners for your route (such as a bend to avoid nasty terrain).


If your map has UTM grid, choose MGRS coordinate for the GPS. It is the same grid as UTM, but you ignore the smaller numbers and the really big numbers are referenced to by alphabetic code which typically is written on the map. This code refers to the 100*100 kilometer square you'll find yourself in. So with a 100 meters accuracy, your only concern is to keep track of 3 digits (2 kilometer digits plus the 100 meter digit) in east and north direction, a total of 6 digits. A LOT more easy than all the digits of the full UTM system... 100 meters is plenty for outdoors navigation, and you won't be able to fix your position on the map any better than that in the field anyway.