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gravelroad
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02/02/2022 08:45PM  
I came across this passage in Thoreau’s “The Maine Woods” and it struck a chord, having been there, searched for that in vain occasionally:

“ While it is river, you will not easily forget which way is up stream; but when you enter a lake, the river is completely lost, and you scan the distant shores in vain to find where it comes in. A stranger is, for the time at least, lost, and must set about a voyage of discovery first of all to find the river. To follow the windings of the shore when the lake is ten miles, or even more, in length, and of an irregularity which will not soon be mapped, is a wearisome voyage, and will spend his time and his provisions. They tell a story of a gang of experienced woodmen sent to a location on this stream, who were thus lost in the wilderness of lakes. They cut their way through thickets, and carried their baggage and their boats over from lake to lake, sometimes several miles. They carried into Millinocket Lake, which is on another stream, and is ten miles square, and contains a hundred islands.

“ They explored its shores thoroughly, and then carried into another, and another, and it was a week of toil and anxiety before they found the Penobscot River again, and then their provisions were exhausted, and they were obliged to return.”
 
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02/03/2022 06:57AM  
I have yet to need the compass, but I always bring one, along with a backup map.
 
02/03/2022 07:07AM  
Probably a good idea to have enough map with it too . . .
 
santacruz
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02/03/2022 07:17AM  
Twenty years ago, I left Round Lake, near Tuscarora, beginning my solo and proceeded west thru the smaller lakes, entering a lake, where I thought, according to my map, I was in the right spot, found what I thought was the portage, and away I went, up over a hill, packs, then canoe, then sensing something not quite right, took out my compass and realized then, I had taken a wrong turn. The compass corrected my path and always have one on board.
 
treehorn
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02/03/2022 07:51AM  
I've yet to truly need a compass, nor am I totally sure it would help me all that much as I'm not a practised navigator, but always do have one with me.

I have certainly had moments of disorientation, as you look for spots on the map to gain your bearings and they don't always appear as you expect them to. Islands, campsites and portage landings seem obvious on a map, but don't always show themselves the way you expect them to. It's part of the fun/adventure of being in the woods I guess...until it isn't.
 
Minnesotian
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02/03/2022 08:02AM  

Haven't really needed a compass while in the BWCA or Quetico, though I always bring one.

Now Philmont, that's a different story. If you don't know compass basics before, you'll get a crash course there. The unwritten rule is that troops should go off-trail and navigate to their next campsite via compass bearing.
 
gravelroad
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02/03/2022 08:19AM  
1. I taught wilderness navigation for many years and constantly preached the usefulness of maps over compasses if the choice is between the two.
2. I make my own maps.
3. Anybody who has set out across Cache Bay without a compass on their way to the Falls Chain made the trip longer than it needs to be. :-)

 
02/03/2022 08:30AM  
I navigate most of the time with a compass and maps. GPS on phone for backup.

I met someone in 2020 however, who had failed to use his. He really, really, really should have used his. Really.
 
gravelroad
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02/03/2022 08:45AM  
sns: "I navigate most of the time with a compass and maps. GPS on phone for backup.


I met someone in 2020 however, who had failed to use his. He really, really, really should have used his. Really."


Spent a lot of years looking in the woods and mountains for people like that. Including one who walked right across a trail that would have taken him back to the trailhead ...
 
Savage Voyageur
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02/03/2022 08:59AM  
I had a couple of guys paddle up to me on Saganaga. They were lost and asked where they were. They said their compasses were off. They put the two compasses next to each other for comparison and said see they are off.
 
PaddleIN
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02/03/2022 09:26AM  
Using my compass on a trip is a "small pleasure" for me. Orienting the compass and map. Setting the bearing. Picking a landmark reference point. Aiming Off to minimize back tracking. All helps me feel more connected with my surroundings.
 
02/03/2022 09:44AM  
I learned basic orienteering as a boy scout 40+ years ago. Still use every once in a while in the wilderness.
 
Chuckles
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02/03/2022 09:54AM  
My tripmates taunt me mercilessly about not paddling enough and spending all of my time 'checking the map'.

But I find that because canoe country is so uniform, if you lose track of where you are, it can be difficult to re-orient yourself. So I check my map constantly.

The taunts are jokes, but can have a hint of barb in them. Occasionally I force them to navigate and then they appreciate my map checking much more.

 
02/03/2022 10:03AM  
A few years back on the kek trail I believe it was two women who were hiking the trail and got offit plus lost their map. Not sure if they lost their compass also or never had one?

If bushwacking it is a good idea to have a backup of both/
 
02/03/2022 10:07AM  
By KBJR News 1

KBJR-TV

updated 12:17 a.m. CT, Thurs., Oct. 9, 2008

A massive search has begun for two Duluth women, aged 23 and 42, who are missing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The Cook County Sheriff's Department is coordinating the search effort.

The women left Ely on Friday planning to hike the Kek-a-kay-bic Trail which runs from Ely to the Gunflint.

The campers were scheduled to end their trip on Sunday at the South end of the Gunflint trail but haven't been heard from since then Searchers from Cook, Lake and St. Louis County Sheriff's Rescue Squads have been asked to stage in Grand Marais to begin an intensive ground search.

In the meantime a plane from the U-S Park Service has been scouting the area in which the women were expected to have been hiking.

We have a crew heading toward Grand Marais and we'll bring you more information as it becomes available.
 
02/03/2022 10:15AM  
gravelroad: "Spent a lot of years looking in the woods and mountains for people like that. Including one who walked right across a trail that would have taken him back to the trailhead ..."


I'll bet you have a few interesting stories!

This guy was not quite to SAR levels yet, but had I not set him straight with a map & then food/water (the next day!) he could well have been a BWCA SAR story.

He was the primary topic of my trip report: Angleworm
 
02/03/2022 11:05AM  
I’ve always brought my compass, but in the 23 years I’ve been paddling the B-dub I don’t recall ever using it more than once. I don’t find myself on large lakes often where it may be needed more than on smaller lakes. However, in 2014 my buddy, Tom, and I embarked on a cross-bwca trip from Little Indian Sioux to Morgan. On day 8 we found ourselves paddling up the Frost River from Afton to Pencil and got lost. For your enjoyment I’ve included a snippet of the mini-novel I wrote about our trip below:

After lunch, we paddled the rest of the lake under increasingly overcast skies and entered the Frost River which was flowing toward us at a very good clip, owning to the high water levels we had experienced everywhere on this trip. This fact alone is what should have saved us from the headache ahead, but we didn’t realize it until afterward. Due to the high water (a) every curve in the river pushed the bow of the canoe away from the desired direction of travel and into the banks, making us both fight to turn the corner and slowing us down, and (b) portages were not where they were marked on the map. We’re not sure what portages we did take or if they matched any on the map, and since the Frost is narrow and very zig-zaggy, it was hard to make progress through all the turns. All of this led to confusion as to how far we had actually gone, and an accurate sense of time eluded us. Looking at the map, we knew that the river would turn northeast from the southeasterly direction from which it started. And we knew that we didn’t want to miss the 65-rod portage into Pencil Lake, or we’d continue northwest into a dead end. Certain we had gone passed the portage, we turned around—a tricky feat in this narrow river with swift current—and backtracked to an area we thought looked like the area surrounding the portage on the map, all the while hunting intently for the trail head.
There seemed to be a small stream that came from the direction of Pencil on the map directly south of the landing, and we thought we were currently looking at it. Then it was that we made our mistake; we decided to bushwhack the stream thinking that since we couldn’t find the trail head, we’d be able to reach Pencil via the stream instead. It couldn’t be more than 70 or 80 rods away. Off we went and shortly ran into a beaver dam. Not unlike the narrows in Fente, the water here was deep on both sides of the dam. It was a struggle to (a) get Tom and his pack out of the canoe onto the reeds and cattails so he could stand on the dam and hold the canoe while I got out on the dam and grabbed my pack, (b) get the canoe over the dam, (c) get the packs back in the canoe, and (d) get Tom and myself back into the canoe, all without falling in or loosing hold of the canoe in the current.
We discovered and portaged over five separate beaver dams! In some places the stream was so narrow that we could not park the canoe parallel to the dam for either of us to exit. Meanwhile, Tom’s shoe had decided to come apart while traversing these dams, so he mended it with duct tape and, from time to time, we would stop for him to re-wrap it. All this took over an hour and now, shortly after passing a beaver lodge, we were sitting in very little water in an area that looked as if a dam had broken recently, spilling all the water out of the gorge that used to contain it with hills on both sides. This did not look at all like what we expected to see approaching Pencil. We were lost and we knew it. When all else fails, look at your compass. This was mistake number two—not getting a bearing to see what direction we were headed when taking this shortcut bushwhack. I pulled mine out and discovered that we were heading southeast, not northeast as we supposed. “Tom, we’re going the wrong way.” This was a very disconcerting feeling, not knowing quite where we were at 5 o’clock with no campsites between us and our destination eight portages and many miles away. The only thing to do was go back to the Frost River the way we came and get a bearing to see where to go from there.
Another forty-five minutes passed before we had re-traversed those five beaver dams and found ourselves back on the Frost River. We checked the compass and discovered that the direction of travel up the Frost would be taking us east instead of north, so, referring to our maps, we determined that we had not come nearly far enough on the Frost and had taken a stream heading southeast just south of tiny Seat Lake. We should have traveled nearly a mile farther on the Frost! So much for missing the 65-rod portage to Pencil. Off we went, continuing our voyage against the current of the Frost to try once again to find the portage. In the end, we did go past it, as it wasn’t obvious, and had to turn around yet again, still a bit uncertain as to whether this really was the 65-rod portage to Pencil that had eluded us for three hours. The longer we walked this rugged, overgrown trail, the more convinced we were that we were finally on track again, and in short order we found ourselves on Pencil Lake.
 
AirPrex
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02/03/2022 11:25AM  
As we were heading back to the EP on the Kawishiwi River last year on the stretch from Kawaschong to Square we ran into a father/son heading in the opposite direction who asked if they were nearing Kawishiwi Lake. We got them turned back around and eventually saw them paddling into the EP as we drove off and were glad to see they made it as it was a windy day but it goes to show being on a river doesn't guarantee you're headed in the right direction.
 
dustytrail
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02/03/2022 11:35AM  
gravelroad: "1. I taught wilderness navigation for many years and constantly preached the usefulness of maps over compasses if the choice is between the two.
2. I make my own maps.
3. Anybody who has set out across Cache Bay without a compass on their way to the Falls Chain made the trip longer than it needs to be. :-)

You kinda need both.

"
 
Wispaddler
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02/03/2022 12:17PM  
Interesting discussion. I always bring 2 fisher maps…”one to use and one to lose”, and 2 compasses (same reasoning), and keep one around my neck. When paddling, I find that if I mostly just keep re-checking the map (hanging in the handy CCS thwart bag in front of me) against what I see ahead of me - I can stay oriented and catch a missed bay, etc pretty quickly. The compass still comes in pretty handy, especially on bigger, island filled waters. However, I must confess I also bring my iPhone on airplane mode with the Gaia app and a battery brick, if need be the phone will always show me where I am within a meter or so. Belts, suspenders, etc. but I do prefer just navigating along non-digitally.

 
02/03/2022 12:57PM  
Map & compass in the bow, map & compass in the stern. Trust but verify!

TZ
 
moosedoggie
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02/03/2022 01:35PM  
On the last day of a Quetico trip, camping on an island in Pickerel, we woke up to pea-soup fog.
It was the thickest I have ever seen. I don't know if visibility was even 50'.

Since we had to go, we got out our map and took a bearing from our known location to where we needed to be heading. Then we set the compass on the bow and paddled keeping the bearing. It actually worked.

I always travel with both even though now I also carry a GPS.

 
andym
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02/03/2022 03:29PM  
TrailZen: "Map & compass in the bow, map & compass in the stern. Trust but verify!
TZ"


I'm not sure it is trust but verify for us. It is more like there is no way either of us would ever give up having a map and compass. They're too much fun!
 
MikeinMpls
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02/03/2022 03:40PM  
On a solo probably 15 years ago I ran into two guys on the portage from the Pine River into Clove Lake. They said they were turned around. They had a map and I asked them where they were. They pointed to somewhere they were not. I told them that their current location was off the map sheet they were using. Fortunately, I had another and I gave it to them.

What I have found is that a lot of people inexperienced in map reading travel to a spot and then try to figure out where they are on the map, when in fact they should have used the map to travel to a spot so they know where they are.

I think that the use of a compass and map is becoming a lost art. When I started tripping in the BWCA there was no GPS. I learned how to read a map and compass from Cliff Jacobson, and later as an Army infantry officer were I learned even more about terrain association, magnetic declination, and the like. Learning in that manner gave me both an affectionate affinity for map and compass, as well as a level of security I just don't feel with a GPS. I certainly could use a GPS, but I would still bring a map and compass for backup. And since a map and compass weigh next to nothing, don't require batteries, and work regardless of the atmospheric conditions, I've just stuck with them. I have an area on the thwart in front of my stern seat where my compass goes, velcroed securely. Usually I have the cover closed and open it only when required. (I am scared to death that the mirror on the opposite side of the cover will reflect the sun into the eyes of a pilot cruising at 37,000 feet and they will call in a rescue.)

I always have my map in front of me oriented in the direction of travel. I always always always need to know where I am. I still get turned around once in a great while, the last being on Snowbank where the islands messed me up.

Lastly, I feel a map and compass is a nod to earlier times before GPS and camp stoves and Crazy Creek chairs and nylon tents that weigh two pounds. Of course I take full advantage of almost all of the modern conveniences, but I really just enjoy using a map and compass.

Thus concludes my philosophical ramblings.

Mike
 
02/03/2022 06:20PM  
MikeinMpls: "On a solo probably 15 years ago I ran into two guys on the portage from the Pine River into Clove Lake. They said they were turned around. They had a map and I asked them where they were. They pointed to somewhere they were not. I told them that their current location was off the map sheet they were using. Fortunately, I had another and I gave it to them.


What I have found is that a lot of people inexperienced in map reading travel to a spot and then try to figure out where they are on the map, when in fact they should have used the map to travel to a spot so they know where they are.


I think that the use of a compass and map is becoming a lost art. When I started tripping in the BWCA there was no GPS. I learned how to read a map and compass from Cliff Jacobson, and later as an Army infantry officer were I learned even more about terrain association, magnetic declination, and the like. Learning in that manner gave me both an affectionate affinity for map and compass, as well as a level of security I just don't feel with a GPS. I certainly could use a GPS, but I would still bring a map and compass for backup. And since a map and compass weigh next to nothing, don't require batteries, and work regardless of the atmospheric conditions, I've just stuck with them. I have an area on the thwart in front of my stern seat where my compass goes, velcroed securely. Usually I have the cover closed and open it only when required. (I am scared to death that the mirror on the opposite side of the cover will reflect the sun into the eyes of a pilot cruising at 37,000 feet and they will call in a rescue.)


I always have my map in front of me oriented in the direction of travel. I always always always need to know where I am. I still get turned around once in a great while, the last being on Snowbank where the islands messed me up.


Lastly, I feel a map and compass is a nod to earlier times before GPS and camp stoves and Crazy Creek chairs and nylon tents that weigh two pounds. Of course I take full advantage of almost all of the modern conveniences, but I really just enjoy using a map and compass.


Thus concludes my philosophical ramblings.


Mike"


Agreed! Orienteering is a valuable skill not taught much anymore. Owning a compass and knowing that it points North is not orienteering and the compass itself may not be of much help if you find yourself lost in the wilderness. While I may not use them much, I would never head into the backcountry without a map and compass.
 
02/03/2022 09:27PM  
I always bring at least one compass but generally use maps and more recently GPS to navigate. Maps are very effective if you pay attention to where you are on the map at all times.

The only time I've really used a compass to get "unlost" was hiking in SD. The trail just kind of disappeared in the woods and a storm was coming in. Had a simple park map in hand and used the compass to figure out the general direction back toward the car.
 
scottiebaldwin
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02/03/2022 09:56PM  
Besides my Fisher maps, I always carry the East and West Nat Geo BWCA maps in my Stohlquist Fisherman PFD along with a Suunto MC2 compass. Those along with my iPhone running Gaia (which is fantastic) are my trusty backups. It may be overkill but who cares? Just try finding the Little Sag to Virgin portage without GPS and let me know how that goes for ya'! Hint: keep going towards the west! It's there!!
 
02/04/2022 08:33AM  
Many years ago we were paddling a lake. We came upon a group who waved at us as we approached. We waved back, continued to paddle towards the portage until we noticed they were now frantically waving at us. When we met up with them we found out they were lost; and had been for 2 days. They pointed to where they thought they were on their map and were very surprised to find out they were on a lake not on their map. Our group had 2 maps of the area so we gave them one and some directions and some advice. I hope they made it out.
 
SummerSkin
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02/04/2022 10:13AM  
I wasn't in Scouts and was never taught map / compass skills beyond the basics. So for my first trip (Quetico) I was a bit nervous. However before the trip I received the best piece of advice I've ever gotten for navigating, from a fellow canoeist at the outfitter: "Always know where you are."

I've followed that advice religiously on every trip, and it has yet to fail me.

In all my trips I've only had one issue locating the portage, and that was due to a map error. (Curse you, Fisher maps!)

I have a compass / emergency whistle combo thing that I hang around my neck while paddling. I occasionally use the compass to orient myself or to verify that I'm heading the direction I think I am.
 
02/04/2022 01:36PM  
We were on our way out of Seagull a few years ago. Came around a curve and saw a canoe with 2 people in it. They waved. We waved and kept going. They did not wave like “hey we need help” and they did not try to intercept us. A while later we pulled into Seagull outfitters. We had loaded up the car with everything but the canoe when another canoe came in. Yup, it was the wavers. They had no idea where they were and just followed us. It was their first time, all outfitted gear. The guy was surprised we enjoyed doing this every year. The women looked like she would never be on the water again, and probably wouldn’t talk to guy on the way home either.
 
02/04/2022 04:49PM  
I was going from Jordan to Cattyman when I started a conversation with "where are you guys heading". the just carried from Cattyman to Jordan and said "Dissapointment". I replied, me too, but I'm going the other way, you may want to check you map.
I'm sure they would have figured it out, but it is funny that two groups can be going to the same place in two different directions! - They ended up beating us to
Dissapointment, but we were heading to Snowbank to get home!
I really learned the value of the compass on Insula, as my Cousin showed me how to actually use it to get your bearings with the map. Pretty easy to get turned around on a lake like Insula with all the islands. Kind of fun actually using the compass to navigate.
 
02/04/2022 06:50PM  
One of these days I should learn to use a gps for something other than driving. It doesn’t happen often but if you do get lost, really lost not just I’ll have to paddle around a bit to find the portage, it could be really helpful to figure out where you are on the map.
 
cyclones30
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02/04/2022 07:55PM  
I've always taken one on canoe trips. I've never actually gotten it out.
 
hobbydog
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02/04/2022 08:09PM  
Getting lost is half the fun.
 
straighthairedcurly
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02/04/2022 09:26PM  
TrailZen: "Map & compass in the bow, map & compass in the stern. Trust but verify!


TZ"
Absolutely!

Map is most important, but I always have a compass handy. I rarely use the compass for precise bearings. However, on big lakes I always take a "reality check" rough bearing. On winding rivers like the Frost, it is very helpful for the exact reason outlined in trstuck's post. Farther north (northern Ontario and Manitoba) I have required a compass in order to paddle across large lakes that were completely fogged in. Nothing more satisfying than setting a compass bearing, paddling through thick fog for an hour and arriving exactly where you planned.

Anyone who has yet to read the trip report by sns that he mentions, it is a crazy story and a great read for a cold winter day.

My tale of hapless mapless group...
On a hike in a large Texas state park one cold (for Texas) winter day, my son and I had a group of twenty somethings ask for our help. They were wondering if we knew where the trailhead was. They had no map and had been depending on a phone, but its battery had died. There were multiple possible trail heads, but I took a wild guess and asked them if they had a maroon Jeep. Yes!, they cried. We sketched out a map for them to get back to their car As they wandered away, I turned to my son and said, "I hope you will never be so stupid as to go for a hike without a map." He reassured me he doesn't like to go anywhere in any wilderness park without a paper map and compass. Good boy!
 
02/05/2022 11:26AM  
My favorite map story: About twenty years ago I was part of a volunteer trail patrol on a local state forest with shared-use (equestrians, trail runners, hikers, mountain bikers, etc) trails. As I entered a trail that looped to a steep, rocky descent, I was surprised to see fresh hoofprints; equestrians usually avoided the trail. A half mile later I caught up with the group, asked if they had questions, and one asked "does this trail go back to the parking lot?" I answered that they should turn around and stay left at the next two intersections. Reaching into my pack, I offered maps to the group, only to learn "we've got a map, but it don't work!"

TZ
 
EddyTurn
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02/05/2022 12:19PM  
hobbydog: "Getting lost is half the fun. "

As long as hypothermia is not the other half.
 
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