Using our Map Scale Cards

Curious, back in the 70s when I was a Junior Counselor at a mountaineering camp, the head counselor and I would try and visualize the trail and terrain. We'd encounter trail improvements that could really screw with plans. I remember one forced march because of a forest fire that was really interesting with our campers. At least none of the parents got a helicopter ride bill.

3D map tools would be fun.
 
R.A.T. said:
HD, another thing we do and might help you as well is print out a Google Earth Satellite map of the area you're working. You can usually see most of the rivers on the Google Earth maps and you've got a North reference, so even with a map such as these you can always get yourself found.
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I have been wanting to do this for my city. Mainly for emergencies where major roads and such might be congested or damaged. Looks like a great resource. :thumbup:
 
I was first taught land nav by the government. I thought it was hard then. Looking back, I see now that the instructors knew about what we knew as students--nothing.

I got into orienteering races about 9 years ago. I learned more in 15 minutes with one of those guys than everything I had learned in my life up until that point.

Orienteering is a great way to learn and get in shape. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a course with waypoints all over the area. Maybe 10-15 for a given course. There is one master map with the points plotted on it. You have a blank map and you have to transfer their plots to yours before the race.

Once the race starts, you have to be the first one to go find all of the points and pass the finish line. The actual point is a small orange flag with a punch on it. Sometimes they get really hidden and they are just like 8" across so you may have to be right on top of it. You'll learn to count paces, hit handrails, bushwhack, read terrain and everything else. Plus you basically have to do it running if you want to come in near the front. So, there isn't a whole lot of time to sit and think about what you want to do.

I like the ones that are done at night in the winter. You have a headlamp, a map, a compass. You have to be right on top of it at night. You could spend the entire race looking for one flag if you aren't careful. Talk about a workout.
 
Orienteering was taught to us at Ft Bragg in 1975 ROTC Summer Camp. I still use my Silva orienteering compass. It can get exciting at night.
 
My wife got me into orienteering a few years ago. We usually take the kids and have them help with the map and compass. It also has helped me look for land formations as markers but the map and compass have always saved us. Still working on that skill though.
 
R.A.T. said:
map-scale-card.jpg
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Heck, I didn't even know they were made any other way. But all the ones I've gotten have been from REI, and their products are generally kept as simple as possible for the weekend warriors, even if it gives up some versatility.

Horn Dog said:
Terrain association kept me going in circles one day. It all looks the same down there in the swamp! I am getting a GPS!
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Just never, EVER, leave the map and compass behind. A buddy of mine and I got turned around in a thick swamp/marsh a couple years ago, and the GPS's were useless. (1) The couldn't get a GOOD signal down under the tree cover. A signal, yes. But not good, so the speed was degraded, I believe. (2) Get one with a built-in compass. Neither mine nor my friend's gps had a built-in compass, so they only oriented on movement. By the time we would realize we were really headed in the wrong direction, we had already gone that way for long enough that we kept getting more turned around. Once I figured out things were REALLY delayed, I grabbed a simple compass, took an azimuth in a direction I knew from the map would take us across a specific stream, somewhere, and that is the way we went. Came out on the stream, got a better signal, plotted our grid coords on the map. THEN I could shoot an azimuth on the compass to get out. Before the first ded reckoning azimuth, we had been lost for about 40 minutes. 10 minutes later, we were on the creek. After the plotting and second azimuth, we were out of the marsh in 15 minutes.

The gps helped, but if I had to give up one piece of the three, the gps would go first. Second would be the map (because I can keep a general layout in my head after looking at a map). LAST piece of equipment I would give up is the compass. A compass (or analog watch), even without a map, has gotten me straightened out several times when I could have really ended up wandering for a while.
 
Expatriated said:
I was first taught land nav by the government. I thought it was hard then. Looking back, I see now that the instructors knew about what we knew as students--nothing.

I got into orienteering races about 9 years ago. I learned more in 15 minutes with one of those guys than everything I had learned in my life up until that point.

Orienteering is a great way to learn and get in shape. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a course with waypoints all over the area. Maybe 10-15 for a given course. There is one master map with the points plotted on it. You have a blank map and you have to transfer their plots to yours before the race.

Once the race starts, you have to be the first one to go find all of the points and pass the finish line. The actual point is a small orange flag with a punch on it. Sometimes they get really hidden and they are just like 8" across so you may have to be right on top of it. You'll learn to count paces, hit handrails, bushwhack, read terrain and everything else. Plus you basically have to do it running if you want to come in near the front. So, there isn't a whole lot of time to sit and think about what you want to do.

I like the ones that are done at night in the winter. You have a headlamp, a map, a compass. You have to be right on top of it at night. You could spend the entire race looking for one flag if you aren't careful. Talk about a workout.
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That sounds like an absolute blast :eek:
 
Wow.
I thought those cards you gave me at your booth were pocket scrapers for ice on the windshield.
I'm gonna have to take a closer look. :)
Glad you posted the info.
Denis
 
Don't feel bad, most "outdoorsmen" that walked up to the booth didn't know what a map scale card was. ;)
 
I do appreciate the cards & the time you spent, when are those new blades out?
Denis
 
I have been able to spend a fair amount of quality time with several of the ESEE Nav cards including the Izula Gear set. I am extremely impressed.

It seems like such an insignificant thing, but it is actually the shape/size of these cards that endears them to me. The credit card shape makes them so easy to carry. They can fit in a survival/E&E tin, in your wallet, in a cell phone case, in your compass pouch, etc etc etc.

The other UTM grids that I have experience with place the numbers on the bottom and right sides of the grid. The ESEE cards place them on the top and right sides which makes them useful and intuitive as a UTM corner tool as well as a grid. The precise 10 meter hash marks on the grid a real accuracy aid.

The info cards are another thing that sets the Izula Gear Nav Cards apart. My wife doesn't share the same love of orienteering that I do but she comes out often enough to remain somewhat familiar with map/compass/GPS work. These info cards have just enough info to bring someone like her up to speed. It is nice to have an all in one solution like this that not only covers any map scale that she is likely to come across but can also serve to refresh her navigation skills. It is the perfect kit to drop into the hiking bag, E&E kit, or BOB for novices and experts alike.

I put up a full review here: http://jerkingthetrigger.com/blog/2011/02/03/review-esee-navigation-cards/

Thank you Jeff and Mike for letting me try these.
 
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