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Back by popular demand!

If you carry a compass around with you because someone told you it's one of the ten essentials, but you have no idea how to use it, this course is for you.

I've taught this course a number of times over the years, but I've substantially revised the course to take into account the advent of smartphones as a navigation tool.

We'll meet on Sunday, 5/5, at Little Bennett Regional Park, where we're start with the basics of map and compass navigation. You will learn (1) tips for navigating on trail, (2) how to read a topographic map, (3) how to use a compass, (4) how to take and follow a bearing, (5) the basics of walking off trail. Then, in the afternoon, we'll do some of the permanent orienteering courses that the Quantico Orienteering Club has set up in the park. I guarantee you that you'll learn a lot from completing these courses.

However, this is not simply a map and compass course. It's really a route-finding course for backpackers, so we're going to talk about walking off-trail routes and bushwhacking. I also will discuss using a phone plus GaiaGPS to plan and walk ambitious off-trail routes.

Unlike most DC UL events, we're going to charge a small fee for this event since we are really providing instruction. $25 per person. That's a good deal, as we will be giving you quite a lot more instruction than REI does for its $60/$85 basic map and compass course.

Of course, once we're done, we'll head off to the pub somewhere.

Let me know if there are questions. All you really need is a decent compass that can be adjusted for declination, like this one:

https://www.rei.com/product/877062/brunton-truarc-3-compass

$25. Limited to 20 people. Refunds up to seven days beforehand! I'll collect fees as the date approaches, either by PayPal or Venmo.

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