Three weeks ago, my wife and I were exploring a remote area ENE of Ely, MN near the BWCAW where the roads end. There is a lot of iron in the rocks there, and in fact, there are many old mines in the area.

We were in the truck traveling SW when I noticed my trucks' magnetic compass indicating that we were going N....the wrong way. As I watched the compass, the heading changed or reversed several times, but at no time did it indicate our true heading. We were not lost, as there is only one road and we had gone to the end, did some hiking, and were returning to Ely. I had a dash-mount GPS unit in the truck, so I turned it on and obtained a true heading....WSW.

I wonder what would have happened if we were hiking up there and became disoriented (it was a grey day), and only had a map and compass to navigate.... The area is rugged, hilly, heavily wooded, with most of the remaining area covered in bogs or open water. The map and compass would have directed us into the heart of the wilderness.

I still prefer map and compass, but in iron country, the handheld GPS and a fist-full of AA's is going back into my pack.


I edited this to show me standing on the porch of an old outfitters cabin we came across along the way.