Randall's Adventure Training is over in Alabama and is legendary for it's nav-training and other survival courses:
http://www.jungletraining.com/course-descriptions.htm
http://www.jungletraining.com/course-descriptions.htm
Hmmm, we are looking for a vacation idea this year.
Join the Army! They will give you all the land navigation training that you would ever want. I'm naturally blessed with an exceptional sense of direction and aced every land navigation course I ever took in the ARMY. As a kid I was always aware of landmarks and pointing them out to my parents as we would drive along. Its a skill that I have had all my life. One drunken night in Tulsa, I managed to find my way back to Camp Gruber based on the radio towers I had used a landmark when I got into town earlier that evening.
Land Navigation is like anything else, the only way to get better is to practice. You dont have to run the traditional pole to pole courses to practice. You can do something as simple as go to a section of land and try to navigate from one corner to the other. Or drive along one side of the section and tie marker to a fence post and go to the opposite side of the section and try to hike a line that you think will put you on top of it.
Land Navigation is like anything else, the only way to get better is to practice. You dont have to run the traditional pole to pole courses to practice. You can do something as simple as go to a section of land and try to navigate from one corner to the other. Or drive along one side of the section and tie marker to a fence post and go to the opposite side of the section and try to hike a line that you think will put you on top of it.
jstaylor62 has it right that some are blessed with a better sense of direction and distance than others but it can be learned. Like him, my instruction came courtesy of the US Army and I've since used that to instruct soldiers in my unit and my son when hunting. I also worked with his Scout troop on that merit badge.
You walked back to Gruber from Tulsa, while drunk? My hat is off to you!
Remember to learn the difference between land navigation and orienteering, and how to use each to your advantage. The really competitive guys scan their maps to get an image in their heads of what's between them and their objective, check compass and go.
Walking around, nose buried in compass while trying to keep track of a pace count is a fragile and slow way to find anything.
Check the compass manufacturers websites for links- Sunto, Silva,.. And if you need 1:24K maps, there's a USGS Map place in Norman, near the Habitat for Humanity Renovation Station.
And have fun!
Walking around, nose buried in compass while trying to keep track of a pace count is a fragile and slow way to find anything.
Check the compass manufacturers websites for links- Sunto, Silva,.. And if you need 1:24K maps, there's a USGS Map place in Norman, near the Habitat for Humanity Renovation Station.
And have fun!
No crap that is quite a hike.
With landowner permission, of course.
You do see that I am 52 years old, right. They won't even take in the Reserves.
After I got jacked up in the Army they exiled me to the land nav course since I used to teach for all the guys going in for their EIB, which that was better than getting stuck on the EPA detail it's really not that hard just read the material go out in the field and go over the material while looking at the terrain and it will start coming together for you.
http://www.armystudyguide.com/conte...opics/land_navigation_map_reading/index.shtml
http://www.amazon.com/U-S-Army-Reading-Navigation-Handbook/dp/1592283829
http://www.armystudyguide.com/conte...opics/land_navigation_map_reading/index.shtml
http://www.amazon.com/U-S-Army-Reading-Navigation-Handbook/dp/1592283829
Similar threads
