Navigation Part 3 -- Day to day.

Sherwood Botsford

This is part 3  of my navigation series.  This is the day to day
navigation on the trip.

Enroute I usually use a vinyl map pouch.  Each evening when I write
up my log, any map I've finished with goes into a 'done' ziplock,
and the maps I need the next day go into the vinyl pouch.  Having a mini biner to clip the map pouch to a pack is a good idea.  Not fun to chase a map on a windy lake.

Carrying a chunk of coreplast (corrugated plastic that election
signs are made of when they aren't cardboard) that just fits the
pouch gives you a solid surface to write on.

I write on my maps a lot.  With paper maps I use an mechanical
pencil, or a red rollerball pen.  I'm not happy with the writing
yet.  In a perfect world I could write a fine permanent red line
on a soggy wet map.

"What do you write", you ask.

At night,

a dot, and a "C" and the time we arrived.  The next morning
the time we got on the water again.  At major stops (Lunch, playtime
in a rapid, fishing) a dot and a time range.

About once an hour a dot and a time stamp.  Usually this is the 5
minute break. we take.

I use my watch far more than my compass.  Firstly, unless it's one
of those gunmetal gray days, I can usually tell direction by the
sun, at least enough to orient the map.

Secondly, usually my doubts aren't 'what way are we going' as much
as 'how far have we come.'  For that a watch is far more useful.
After a day or so, you will find that in the first hour after you
leave camp you make 6.5 km, and for most of the rest of the day you
do 6, and after 3 in the afternoon, you're plugging at 5.

Ok.  You knew where you were at 11:15.  It's now 12:30.  You could
have lunch now, or you could press on to the next rapid.  How far
is it.  Knowing the time and rate, I figure 1 and 1/4 times 6 kph
= 7.5 klicks.  Call it 8 grid squares.

Pick up the map, find the 11:15 dot.  Count 7 clicks on your marked
line.  you're somewhere between 7 and 8.  Look around.  Twin small
islands ahead.  Bay to the left.  Look at map.  THERE.  We running
a bit faster than expected.  Rapids around the next corner.  Tell
the other guys and push on.

Current and wind can mess up your estimating.  When the conditions
change, make a new dot, even if the previous dot was only 20 minutes
ago.  I often put an arrow on the map, with the wind direction and
a 15-25 if I think its blowing 15 km/hr gusting to 25.  Google
"Beaufort wind scale" for tips on estimating wind.

On a river, if you weigh up, come to a stop relative to the water,
you can watch the shore drift by.  Put a dot on the map, estimate
your speed, and then check later.

It's useful to be able to estimate distances.  Make a game out of
it.  I find that the mushiness of trees is a good indicator.
Individual trees: 1-2 km.  Can still see dead snags. 2-4 km.  Can
tell poplar from spruce. 5-6 km.  Everything is just blue 8-10 km.
Everything is a siloette.  12-15 km.  Now I don't remember if these
are right.  And your eyes aren't mine.  But it's one way to tell.

(In passing.  Camping is usually better at the top end of a river
portage.  The bottom end is often heavy brush or swamp.  The top
end has some substance to stop the water.  Check the top and the
middle of a portage first for camping.  On some portages there isn't
a lot of room.  You may want to take the canoes over before you
settle in.   Leave them several canoe lengths from the water and
tie them if there is any wind exposure.)

There is a place for a compass.  If you are on a winding river,
taking a bearingalong the length of the river, then comparing that
to the map (remember that the map is using grid north, which is up
to 2 degrees either side of true north which is 30 degrees either
side of magnetic north. I won't talk about different kinds of north
here.

I've also used a compass on a foggy lake, moving from island to
island through the cotton wool.  If you do this, get the other guy
to SHUT UP.  You can hear an island in the fog before you can see
it, but you have to pay attention.

Navigation is a pretty full time job.  Get distracted it can take
hours to be sure of your location again.  (This is another place
where a GPS comes in handy) On big lakes where you are running from
point to point, you can drift while going to the next big point.
On small lakes you are usually interupted by a portage or a narrows
every hour or so.  Big lakes with smooth shorelines, and small
pretzle like rivers are tough.

My preferred way to navigate is to make predictions about what I
will see.  "The next island has a half moon bay on the south side,
and a long skinny point on the east side."  If it's confirmed,
you're tracking.  If it is missing those features, then take another
look at the map and see if you can figure out which island you got
it mixed up with.

One thing to remember:  All maps lie.  Firstly they have mistakes
on them.  Rapids that aren't marked.  Marked rapids that aren't
there (at least at this water level) Islands that are in the lake
but not on the map.  And in one case an island that was on the map
twice.  Once on the extreme west side of the map, a half klick from
the edge, and once on the east side of the adjacent map.

Maps also lie by the fact that they simplify.  They don't show
everything.  Each map maker will be slightly different in what he
chooses to insert.  One of the things you need to pick up:  How big
is an island before it gets marked as a little white spot and not
the + used to show a place where seagulls land to crap.  How big a
bay does it take to show on the map?

Maps are a snapshot of a particular time -- when it was last
photographed, which in the more remote areas can be 30 to 40 years
ago.  Sandy points can shift in a single storm.  Small winding
rivers in a flood plain can move several inches to feet in a year.
And if that cuts off a loop it can be very confusing.

Water levels make a difference.  At high water, rivers grow extra
channels.  Portage landings are under water, or sometimes theres a
lot of rapid left at the bottom end of the trail.

Somethings won't change.  The valley shape is unlikely to move until
the next glacier comes through.  Falls will usually be there.  Rock
gardens can turn into fast water, and vice versa.  The main channel
will still be the main channel.

What's your way?  Drop me a line on my profile or at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it