Improvised Navigation

[Mistwalker]

For a bit of an improvised navigation tip, the old adage that a lot of people say about moss only growing on the north side of trees is erroneous information. Moss growth is however still one of the elements of using the environment to determine direction. It grows on all sides of rocks and trees, regardless of direction, however it does like shade and grows thicker on the north sides of trees as a whole. You just have to look at a broad section, or sections, of the environment in order to get a feel for direction.

If you take a good look around in an area where moss is common you will start to notice patterns in the growth of the moss.

Looking North

Looking South

Looking East

Looking West

By the way, the little compass I am holding in the photos is the threaded cap of a hollow handled knife made by Newton Martin of Martin Knives that I recently got and have been testing.

If anyone is interested there is a full review of the knife here, it is a photo-heavy review.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ler-Hollow-Handled-Survival-Beast-(Photo-Hvy)


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[fmajor007]

Nice pics Mist. I thought you were going to do a "primer" on field-expedient land nav.

For navigation, I almost always have a compass. However, for daylight movement without a compass, I learned the "sun-dial" method (as well as trying to magnetize a needle). Also, there are ways to make a map (at least in a general sense) of direction of travel and/or around large obstacles, but that's another topic all together....

Great info to share with the Community!

 

[baldtaco-II]

I'm minded of moons ago when a silly sod was telling me that you can navigate with an analogue watch but you can't with a digital. It was a golden opportunity for a bit of proposition betting but he wouldn't go for it. Smart move 'cos I did tell him afterwards that watch hands are a graphical representation, no more, no less. It doesn't matter if I get to know the time through spoken French, or Morse or Hex or flashing lights, or even Braille if I could parse it. If your watch tells you Mickey's big hand is on the 12 and his little hand is on the 3 I can represent exactly the same thing by carving two lines into your hand, even if you only told me that's what Mickey said. Similarly, if your visuo-spacial sketch pad is up to snuff you can get a pretty good gist in your mind's eye without recourse to physical props. Imagine an analogue clock that's telling you it's 15.00 and orientate it. I'm not much of a gambler but I regret not luring him on to that bet better.

 

[Mistwalker]

Nice pics Mist. I thought you were going to do a "primer" on field-expedient land nav.

For navigation, I almost always have a compass. However, for daylight movement without a compass, I learned the "sun-dial" method (as well as trying to magnetize a needle). Also, there are ways to make a map (at least in a general sense) of direction of travel and/or around large obstacles, but that's another topic all together....

Great info to share with the Community!

Thanks man. I know what you mean, at this point I have a fairly extensive collection of compasses of different styles and I know how to make a sun compass, and use my watch, and magnetize a piece of steel. But I still like being able to glance around and look at the growth of the moss and the growth of the trees in the area and assess the direction of the suns travel when I am debating on a shot I want or think I'll like better in different lighting.

I'm minded of moons ago when a silly sod was telling me that you can navigate with an analogue watch but you can't with a digital. It was a golden opportunity for a bit of proposition betting but he wouldn't go for it. Smart move 'cos I did tell him afterwards that watch hands are a graphical representation, no more, no less. It doesn't matter if I get to know the time through spoken French, or Morse or Hex or flashing lights, or even Braille if I could parse it. If your watch tells you Mickey's big hand is on the 12 and his little hand is on the 3 I can represent exactly the same thing by carving two lines into your hand, even if you only told me that's what Mickey said. Similarly, if your visuo-spacial sketch pad is up to snuff you can get a pretty good gist in your mind's eye without recourse to physical props. Imagine an analogue clock that's telling you it's 15.00 and orientate it. I'm not much of a gambler but I regret not luring him on to that bet better.

That's funny. Last year a neighbor, one some of us around here nicknamed "dead-weight" several years ago (long story, not going into it here), asked me if I switched to "a handed watch" because I could use it as a sort of compass. I just sort of shook my head, and said no I am just nearly sick of all things digital...but honestly was too impressed that he was even thinking along those lines to bust him on it.