I wasn't very clear. I am not talking for an "internal sense of direction." What I am talking about is a sense of direction based on clues like sunrise/sunset, orientation of the street grid, topography, and the like.
For me it's often the opposite. I'll find the street, or a fence, or even a stream, but I won't know which way to walk along it without a compass. So the compass gives me rough orientation and topography gives me exact direction. (Using the sun is great, but you can't rely on being able to see it in the UK.)
But in terrain with any kind of distinctive features, maintaining orientation is quite easy.
Well, this is partly about how much preparation you get. If you know in advance you are going to need orientation, then you can look around and decide on landmarks - and you should also take a better compass than a button. An every-day-carry button compass is for when you find yourself geographically embarrassed unexpectedly.
Even though I rarely use a compass, I almost always carry one, because you never know. I just make sure that it is a really good one.
Good ones tend to be bulkier. There's a trade-off on how much bulk to allow for a tool that you don't expect to use. This started with the Watch thread, and part of why I like to wear a watch with a built-in compass is that the compass feature adds no bulk and yet is always with me. If I didn't have that and EDC'd a compass instead, it would need to be a very small one. Preferably a "really good one" within that constraint, which is where this thread started.
Previous Topic
Index
