daveg
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Michigan
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Post by daveg on Nov 13, 2016 22:22:37 GMT -8
This weekend I took a newbie on his first overnight backpacking trip. He is a well educated older gentleman with very little outdoor experience. I took him on a 19 mile loop trail that was well blazed and easy hiking with a state forest campground at roughly the halfway point.
One of my concerns was the (admittedly slim) possibility that something would happen that required him to find his own way to the campground or back to the trailhead. So when we came to the first blaze I stopped and explained about blazes and how to use them to navigate a trail. Then I led all day Saturday and he just followed me. In retrospect, that was a mistake. I should have let him lead immediately after explaining about blazes so he could apply what I had told him.
On Sunday I did let him lead. There were quite a few well worn paths that intersected the trail so it was important to pay attention to and follow the blazes. At the first couple of intersections he followed the wrong path. Each time I called him back and pointed out the blazing. But it didn't seem to do much good. I got the sense that he wasn't even looking for the blazes or, even if he did notice one, the significance wasn't registering. So I began calling him back from the wrong path, had him stand beside me, and told him to figure out where the trail went. He would do so but at the next intersection off he would go down the wrong path again. It wasn't until the end of the day that I finally got the feeling that he was looking for blazes and understanding what they we telling him.
Perhaps this was just an individual thing; what one person finds difficult another considers easy. But it got me wondering whether there was any consensus that certain basic bping skills or techniques are more difficult to learn than others. |
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Post by Lamebeaver on Nov 14, 2016 4:35:48 GMT -8
I'd say picking out a proper campsite is also important. Protection from wind, no widow makers nearby, avoiding low spots that will flood in a downpour, etc.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2016 5:41:16 GMT -8
A woods sense is hard to teach, especially to a 'macho' male.
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zeke
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Peekaboo slot 2023
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Post by zeke on Nov 14, 2016 5:47:58 GMT -8
I'd say Map & Compass skills, as they take some studying and application.
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crawford
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Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.--Edison
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Post by crawford on Nov 14, 2016 5:52:18 GMT -8
Navigation requires not just skill with map, compass, terrain association, etc., it also requires confidence in those skills. That means it takes time to build the skills, but also time using them successfully to become confident in one's skills.
I also think a difficult skill is time management. Knowing how far one can move in a specified time is something I find important. Undershooting and overshooting present problems of their own. This is only developed through understanding of the terrain and self.
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tomas
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Post by tomas on Nov 14, 2016 6:27:37 GMT -8
I'd put navigation at the top of the list when it comes to toughest skill to learn. It really isn't that hard, but the lack of confidence and not keeping the skill fresh is the killer.
After that I'd agree with site location. That can be tricky in hilly country.
Everything else is pretty much learned from experience.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2016 7:08:02 GMT -8
I think there are stages that can lead people into different directions.
When I first started backpacking, I had thoughts of and practiced having saw and axe and I was on a conquest.
I was labeled as a gear junkie, I use to even give the gear lecture of the Sierra Clubs WTC.
I was into going out there fast and fourious.
I was introduced to moderate distances and listening to the wilderness as I made a connection.
I taught my wife navigation. After a few years of teaching her, I stopped navigating for her. I let her go on her own. It was a lesson to stand there on the trail as my wife figured out where we were at.
I am now a gram weenie, who hikes a moderate distance, at a moderate speed, whiles maintaining a connection with the natural world with practiced wood skilles.
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texasbb
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Hates chicken
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Post by texasbb on Nov 14, 2016 7:23:34 GMT -8
I think it depends entirely on the person. For some, going without a bath for 3 days is a difficult life change. Navigation can be tough for some, while others pick it up right away. Route finding can be a natural sense, but as with eyesight or hearing, it's not the same in everyone. Generalizations are mostly useless.
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tarol
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Redding, CA
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Post by tarol on Nov 14, 2016 8:20:25 GMT -8
Agree with Texasbb. It depends. I have a very good sense of direction, an internal compass, and maps have never been hard for me. My sister, on the other hand, can get lost in a mall.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Nov 14, 2016 8:33:44 GMT -8
I wonder if some of the differences in how people do with navigation come from childhood experiences. As children, we were fascinated by maps, and followed our family journeys (by automobile) on the map. So they never seemed odd to me. We even had navigational charts of Puget Sound laminated into the table in our van, so the idea of contours and elevation (depth) was old hat when I started backpacking. But for someone who's never paid attention to a map, it could be tough, and with people relying more and more on Siri, I suppose fewer will know how to read a map.
For me, the things that took the longest to get dialed in were clothing and cooking. For the former, some of that (okay, most of it) was budget, but the latter was a matter of experience and exposure to other ideas, mostly on these forums.
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daveb
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Post by daveb on Nov 14, 2016 8:54:01 GMT -8
I've learned most of my land nav from getting my EFMB while serving in Korea but I have no idea what a "blaze" is.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Nov 14, 2016 9:22:54 GMT -8
I've learned most of my land nav from getting my EFMB while serving in Korea but I have no idea what a "blaze" is. You may well know and not know--it's the mark on a tree (or sometimes paint on a rock--saw a lot of that in Maine last summer) that shows where the trail goes. Often it's a sort of "i"--a longer patch with a smaller, square patch atop, carved into the bark out west. I think back east it's often blue paint (white for the AT). |
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davesenesac
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Post by davesenesac on Nov 14, 2016 9:26:48 GMT -8
Over the decades a lot of passing groups and individuals on trails have stopped to talk to and question me. Conversations are sometimes about trails and destinations. When that occurs if appropriate I am likely to move such discussion towards actually looking at a map and prefer to have the other party pull out their own map instead of using my own because it tends to show how so many use their maps little if at all. For the more savvy I immediately recognize their experienced map skills. But more others will look to the person that has a map, dig down into the gear, find their map, and pull it out. I am then likely to first ask them to locate where we are now at? Most have trouble so I may try to guide them by pointing out terrain features like nearby peaks they can visually see from where we are standing and see how much nudging that takes.
An ability to understand where one is at with a topographic map while navigating across backcountry terrain, whether on a trail or off IS the most important skill to develop and to become accomplished takes far more experience than a novice might expect. Though note there are fair numbers of backpackers with considerable experience that never attain such skills because they always follow behind leaders. Leaders in groups would be wise to occasionally have others rotate into lead positions both on and off trails.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2016 9:36:14 GMT -8
This summer, my wife made her own map case out of empty bird seed bags. Actually, she made 2 bags. The first bag she just outright scrapped. She has made several modifications to the map bag she decided to keep. I enjoy seeing how important it has become for her to have quick and easy access to maps and compass.
On one of her early backpacking trips she climbed atop a large rock. On the way down she slipped and was left dangling by the compass lanyard. That was the last time the compass went around her neck.
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amaruq
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Post by amaruq on Nov 14, 2016 10:13:51 GMT -8
Perhaps not a basic skill, but definitely knowledge-based and one of the basics of staying in decent health: learning when to turn back, when you've reached the limit of your practical skill, or when pressing on is just a bad idea. It's something often not learned without first enduring a hard lesson.
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