I just posted an article on my blog about using a magnetic compass, map and a baseline to navigate in the backcountry.

A baseline can be a road, stream or trail that is distinct and long.

Baseline navigation is out and back navigation. It's an easy skill to learn. Not as complex as learning to triangulate but it's a good intial skill to learn.

Blake

www.outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Thanks Blake. I'll check it out!

Way back when there was no GPS, I learned navigation with map and compass. Still use it, as I don't always trust a GPS - shades of Mayhem and recalibrating.

The key is terrain association. If you can read the map and know what it is showing and can translate that to the ground, you are good to go.

Triagulation (I learned it as resection) isn't hard, just tedious finding two known points and a place high enough to take readings from. Still, if you can do terrain association you shouldn't have to do it too often.

And then the golden rule, if you haven't found your objective, you are more than likely short, not long.

What is the difference between "baseline navigation" and so-called "aiming off"?

Or are is "aiming off" a type of "baseline navigation"?

There is an old story in my son's troop where the troop was backpacking to a train station and had to get through an opening in a fence that ran through some fairly dense woods and lay between the boys and the station. The problem was that they didn't know exactly where the break was.

So, when they got to the fence 1/2 the boys went right and half went left. Those that went one direction found the opening and headed for the station. The others kept walking and walking and walking, and at some point decided to turn around. Eventually they too found the opening, but they almost missed the train and had to literally make a mad dash for it.

I like how you present the idea. Thanks.

KenK,

Baseline nav is the same as aiming off. Great story about the scouts.

JBmat,

Terrain association is a big part of compass navigation. Excellent point.

For me, at the begining of a hike, terrain association starts when you use your compass to orient the map to your surroundings.

Blake