Troop 599

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Everglades District

Lesson 1�Basic Land Navigation

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Objectives

Upon completing this lesson, the scout will be able to:

• Describe some hazards or injuries that you might encounter on a hike or during a geocaching or orienteering activities and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, and respond to these hazards. Discuss first aid and prevention for the types of injuries or illnesses including cuts, scrapes, snakebite, insect stings, tick bites, exposure to poisonous plants, heat and cold reactions (sunburn, heatstroke, heat exhaustion, hypothermia), and dehydration.
• Explain what geocaching and orienteering are.
• Demonstrate how a compass works.
• Demonstrate how to take a compass bearing and follow it
• Use a topographic map to point out and tell the meaning of ten map symbols and five terrain features.
• Explain the meaning of declination. Tell why you must consider declination when using map and compass together.
• Demonstrate how to orient a map.
• Set up a 100-meter pace course. Determine your walking and running pace for 100 meters. Tell why it is important to pace-count.
• Using a map and compass, take a 5-mile hike that requires finding caches and measuring the height and/or width of designated items (tree, tower, canyon, ditch, etc.).

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Connection to Advancements

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Completion of this lesson meets

the following requirements:

Second Class: 3a, 3b, 3c

First Class: 4a

Geocaching Merit Badge: 1a, 1b, 5a

Orienteering Merit Badge: 2, 3, 4, 5

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Hazards

• Hazards or injuries that you might encounter on a hike or during a geocaching or orienteering activities: 
• Cuts & scrapes
• Snakebite, insect stings, & tick bites
• Exposure to poisonous plants
• Heat and cold reactions (sunburn, heatstroke, heat exhaustion, hypothermia)
• Dehydration

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First Aid Review

• Soap & Water, Dry Dressing, Bandage
• ID Vector, Keep Pt Calm, Remove Vector, Clean, Dry Dressing, Bandage, Consider Transport
• ID Plant, Neutralize poison, Reduce Pain, Consider Transport
• Remove from environment, Normalize Temperature, Hydrate, Rapidly Cool or Slowly Warm Pt.
• Remove from Heat, Infuse fluids

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What is Geocaching

Geocaching: The word geocache is a combination of "geo," which means "earth," and "cache," which means "a hiding place." Geocaching describes a hiding place on planet Earth - a hiding place you can find using a GPS unit. A GPS (Global Positioning System) unit is an electronic tool that shows you where to go based on information it gets from satellites in space. (Merit Badge Series Book)

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History of Geocaching

• Geocaching was originally similar to the 160-year-old game letterboxing, which uses clues and references to landmarks embedded in stories. Geocaching was conceived shortly after the removal of Selective Availability from the Global Positioning System on May 2, 2000, because the improved accuracy^[3] of the system allowed for a small container to be specifically placed and located. The first documented placement of a GPS-located cache took place on May 3, 2000, by Dave Ulmer of Beavercreek, Oregon.^[4] The location was posted on the Usenet newsgroup sci.geo.satellite-nav^[5][6] as 45°17.460′N 122°24.800′W. By May 6, 2000, it had been found twice and logged once (by Mike Teague of Vancouver, Washington). According to Dave Ulmer's message, this cache was a black plastic bucket that was partially buried and contained software, videos, books, food, money, and a slingshot.^[6] A geocache and plaque called the Original Stash Tribute Plaque^[7] now sit at the site.
• The activity was originally referred to as GPS stash hunt or gpsstashing. This was changed shortly after the original hide when it was suggested in the gpsstash eGroup that "stash" could have negative connotations and the term geocaching was adopted.^[8]
• Over time, a variety of different hide-and-seek-type activities have been created or abandoned, so that "geocaching" now may refer to hiding and seeking containers, or locations or information without containers.(Wikipedia)

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What is a Geocaching?

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What is Orienteering

Orienteering, the use of map and compass to find locations and plan a journey, has been a vital skill for humans for thousands of years. Orienteering is also a recognized sport at the Olympic Games, and thousands of people participate in the sport each year in local clubs and competitions. (Merit Badge Series Book)

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History of Orienteering

The history of orienteering begins in the late 19th century in Sweden, where it originated as military training. The actual term "orienteering" was first used in 1886 at the Swedish Military Academy Karlberg and meant the crossing of unknown land with the aid of a map and a compass. The competitive sport began when the first competition was held for Swedish military officers on 28 May 1893 at the yearly games of the Stockholm garrison.^[1] The first civilian competition, in Norway on 31 October 1897, was sponsored by the Tjalve Sports Club and held near Oslo. The course was long by modern standards, at 19.5 km, on which only three controls were placed. The competition was won by Peder Fossum in a time of 1 hour, 47 minutes, and 7 seconds

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Types of Compasses

• Gyro & Magnetic
• Liquid filled
• Marine
• Lansatic
• Baseplate or Orienteering
• Thumb
• Solid state
• Qibla
• GPS
• Astro

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Why Compasses Works

• A compass points north because all magnets have two poles , a north pole and a south pole, and the north pole of one magnet is attracted to the south pole of another magnet. (You may have seen this demonstrated by a pair of simple bar magnets or refrigerator magnets pushed end to end.)
• The Earth is a magnet that can interact with other magnets in this way, so the north end of a compass magnet is drawn to align with the Earth's magnetic field. Because the Earth's magnetic North Pole attracts the "north" ends of other magnets, it is technically the "South Pole" of our planet's magnetic field.

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What is Orienteering?

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Parts of a Compass

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Parts of a Compass

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Essentials of Using a Compass

We’ll touch upon three basic tasks:

1. Taking a field bearing
2. Taking a map bearing
3. Following a bearing in the field

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Topographic Maps

How to use a topographic map

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Contour Lines

• Contour lines indicate the steepness of terrain. Contour lines connect points that share the same elevation: Where they’re close together (they never intersect), elevation is changing rapidly in short distance and the terrain is steep. Where contour lines are wide apart, elevation is changing slowly, indicating a gentle slope.

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Contour lines also indicate the shape of the terrain. Roughly concentric circles are probably showing you a peak, and areas between peaks are passes. Studying a topo map of a familiar area is a great way to learn how to match terrain features with the contour lines on a map.

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Map Scales

• The map’s scale tells you how detailed your map is. A 1:24000 scale, for example, means one inch equals 24,000 inches in reality. A larger scale, like 1:65,000, means that a map covers a larger area, but that it will have less detail.

• Maps also have a representative scale to help you visualize real-world distances. You can use this scale and a string or the edge of your compass to get a rough estimate about hiking distances on your map.

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Legend & Features

• The legend is found in the lower left margin.
• Loaded with map-reading clues and navigational data. Start by studying what each line, symbol and color means. Generally, darker colors mean denser vegetation, while light or colorless areas suggest open terrain. And, as you’d expect, streams and lakes are shown in blue.

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• The legend also lists key data like the map’s scale, contour- and index-line intervals, grid systems (used for more advanced navigation) and magnetic declination (needed to set up your compass).

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Color on Maps

• Basic colors of a map:
• Black - Indicates cultural (man-made) features such as buildings and roads, surveyed spot elevations, and all labels.
• Red-Brown - The colors red and brown are combined to identify cultural features, all relief features, non-surveyed spot elevations, and elevation, such as contour lines on red-light readable maps.
• Blue - Identifies hydrography or water features such as lakes, swamps, rivers, and drainage.

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Colors on a Map (cont’d)

• Green - Identifies vegetation with military significance, such as woods, orchards, and vineyards.
• Brown - Identifies all relief features and elevation, such as contours on older edition maps, and cultivated land on red-light readable maps.
• Red - Classifies cultural features, such as populated areas, main roads, and boundaries, on older maps.
• Other - Occasionally other colors may be used to show special information. These are indicated in the marginal information as a rule.

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Features

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Declination

• What we think of as the top of the globe is referred to as “true north.”
• Magnetic north (where your compass needle actually points) is a function of Earth’s magnetic fields and its core elements, which fluctuate in complicated ways.

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• The difference between magnetic north and true north is “magnetic declination.”
• In the continental U.S., declination can vary from nearly 20 degrees east in places on the West Coast to nearly 20 degrees west in places on the East Coast. When you’re navigating in the wilds, degrees matter.
• A 15 degree error, for example, on a mile-long hike puts you a quarter-mile away from your destination.

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Declination�Scales

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Declination Practice

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Orienting a Map

• Using the compass to align the map with the actual terrain.
• https://youtu.be/NWaR_hWqm4E

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Pace Count

• A pace is the distance covered by two steps or a normal walk. This is used to estimate the distance traveled in a certain direction. It can also be used to estimate the height or width of objects.
• Please keep in mind that your pace may change over time. Your pace can also depend on the terrain and also if you are carrying weight on your back. Check your pace often to ensure that you have the most accurate information.

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Measurement

• Now that you know your pace, there are different methods you can use to determine the height or width of an object where a measuring tape would just not work. The methods are listed below: ��Width:
• Salute Method
• Stick Method
• Compass Method
• Height:
• Felling Method
• Stick Method

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Width

• Salute Method

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Width

• Stick

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Width

• Compass

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Height

• Felling

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Height

• Stick

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Troop 599

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