Navigation Training - Folding, Orienting and Thumbing a Map

Lately, I've been pouring over navigation club articles,  military navigational course materials and Adventure Race guides as a refresher for navigating successfully with a map.  Most sources start with the three basic tenants of map work.  They are, folding a map, orienting the map and staying found.

Folding a Map.  Most maps are much larger than can be easily carried and manipulated while in motion.  By folding a map down to a manageable size, it is not only easier to work with, but there is much less information being shown at a time.  This makes it easier to keep track of where you are on the map.  A good rule of thumb is to fold a map down to an easily manageable size that still depicts where you are in the field as well as your next couple of objectives.

Orienting the Map.  Most people learned to use maps in a classic "North Up" position.  This is all well and good when doing the planning phase of navigation but when using the map to execute a plan and actually get somewhere, this is not the best technique.  If you are walking South while looking at a map in the North Up orientation, everything you see in the field is opposite of its representation on the map.  You have to mentally reverse directions when moving from the map to the field and vice versa.  This can become exceedingly challenging when dealing with winding trails and gets even worse as mental fatigue sets in.  It is much more effective to orient the paper map so that the cardinal directions on the map match up with those directions in the real world.  The GPS in your car or phone probably already does this for you.  If you're following down a stream on your map and want to take a left fork, look up and the fork will be to your.... left!  Consider making this decision at 3am after 12+ hours of racing or hiking and it's a no-brainer.

Staying Found - Thumbing a Map. Knowing where you are on your map is all important.  If you don't know where you are, fat chance you're going to be able to figure out how to get where want to go.  Unless that doesn't matter...

Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: That depends on where you are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

One great way to stay found is to thumb your map.  The concept of thumbing is quite simple.  Find your position on the map and put your thumb just under that spot.  As you move through the terrain, update your thumb position on the map to match your real world position.  Anytime you need to consult your map, you'll know right where you are (or very close) at a glance.

Click HERE for a Map Exercise to Practice these Skills.