Navigation 

We will be taking a look at I think one of the most important skills for any outdoor enthusiast, traveler, adventurer, hiker, that is navigation and being able to find your way.

Navigation can be defined as a process or activity of accurately ascertaining one's position, then planning and following a route or coarse either by land or sea or air to your objective.

The importance of being able to navigate and find your way. The ability to navigate across country by day and knight is an essential skill that must be mastered. Many survival situations begin from people making navigational errors, or not being able to read a map or compass in the first place. In a survival situation you will be faced with many tough decisions. You may have to decide whether to stay where you are and wait rescue or move to an area that offers a better chance of survival and rescue. Your ability to navigate effectively weather by using a map and compass or by using natural navigation play a major role in your decision-making process. Map craft being able to relate the map to the ground and the ground to the map, map scales, the maps marginal information (legend   , contour lines, north point diagram, grid magnetic angle) grid reference, measuring distances, orientating the map, plotting bearings. Compass using a compass roamer, taking a bearing, converting a bearing to a grid bearing and vice versa, magnetic declination, back bearings, walking on a bearing, resections, pacing and aiming off.  Map legends refer to north in three ways:  true north, grid north, magnetic north. True north is the direction of the geographic north pole. Lines of longitude coverage towards each other at the north and south poles and are known as meridians. These lines are parallel. Magnetic North indicates the direction and compass needle when it is affected by the earth's magnetic field. The magnetic pole is not the true north pole. There is a variation between true north and magnetic north at any place. This is known as magnetic variation. Grid North is the direction in which the north/south grid lines point towards the top of a map.

They are parallel, unlike the lines of longitude using true north which are not. The variation between grid north and true north and true north is called grid convergence and the angle between GN, and TN is known as the grid magnetic angle. This needs to be calculated when using a map and compass. Natural Navigation is the art of finding your way by using nature. It is a process of observation and deduction involving the rare skill of of being able to determine the direction without aid of instruments or tools and only by reference to natural clues including the sun, stars, moon,land,sea,weather wind, plants and animals.