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HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List
Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List
Okay. Before we meet up, here's what you need. None of this is expensive and you don't need to go buy a bunch of gear to feel legit. Low Key the whole point of this class is that you can get by with cheap stuff and good habits.
The Must-Haves (Budget Tier)
A baseplate compass. Not the mirror kind, not the fancy sighting kind. The flat rectangular one with the clear base, usually $10-20 at any sporting goods store. Fewer parts to fumble. I've got the expensive one sitting in a drawer somewhere and I still reach for my cheap one. It just works.
A topo map of somewhere you actually hike. Doesn't have to be fancy. Print one off if you want, but a real paper one holds up better. We'll practice with a sample map in class, but bring one from your own trails if you've got it.
A gallon ziploc bag. I mean it. This is not optional and I will bring extras if you forget. Your map goes in this bag every single time you're out. I got caught in a canyon storm once with a soaked phone and a dead battery, and the map in the ziploc is the only reason I wasn't just guessing my way down. Cheap insurance.
A pencil. Not a pen. You'll be marking bearings and erasing them. Any pencil works.
A notebook or index card. Small, just for writing down bearings as you take them. Your brain will not remember three bearings in a row. Mine doesn't either.
Nice-to-Have Tier
A lanyard or cord for your compass. Keeps it from disappearing into a pack pocket forever. I lost mine on a hike once for a full hour and felt like an idiot.
A dry bag or larger waterproof pouch, if you want to upgrade past the ziploc for longer trips. The ziploc still works fine though. Don't let anyone upsell you.
A second, smaller compass as a backup. Only if you're the type who loses things. I am that type. Amber is not, and gives me grief about it.
A guidebook or old scouting manual, if you like reading the theory side. My dad Craig's old handbook is basically why I know any of this. You don't need one for class, but if you like that kind of thing, secondhand ones show up cheap.
Shopping Notes
You can get everything on the budget list in one stop at a sporting goods store, and honestly a lot of it works from a general store too. No need to drive around for it. If you're doing a Costco run anyway, grab the ziplocs there, they're cheaper by the box and you'll go through more than you think between this class and just regular kitchen use.
Skip anything that advertises itself as "professional grade" or has a bunch of extra dials and mirrors. That stuff is for people who already know what they're doing and want to get fancy. You are not there yet and neither was I for a long time. Stick with simple.
One more thing. Don't buy anything you can't return. If the compass doesn't feel comfortable in your hand when you're standing in the store, it won't feel better on a trail. Hold a few before you pick.
See you at the first session. Bring questions, bring the ziploc, and if you're good I might bring fry sauce for after. 😎
Thanks, Jason
HandoutHandout 2: Map & Compass Cheat Sheet
Handout 2: Map & Compass Cheat Sheet
Print this, fold it small, put it in your ziploc with your map. This is the whole class boiled down to one page. If you forget everything else, don't forget the declination step. That one's non-negotiable.
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The Four Steps, In Order
1. Orient the map to the ground. Before you touch a single number, turn the physical map until it matches the terrain in front of you. Ridge on your left should be the ridge on the map's left. This feels backwards if you learned it the other way, but do it anyway. See first, calculate second.
2. Check declination. Out loud. Every time. Utah's declination is roughly 10-11° East right now (it drifts a little year to year, check before a big trip). That means Magnetic North and True North on your map are not the same line.
- Map reading to Compass: subtract East declination
- Compass reading to Map: add East declination
Say the number out loud when you do it. Don't trust yourself to remember silently. I walked 40 degrees off a trail once because I skipped this step. Cost me a wrong hill and a long backtrack.
3. Take your bearing standing still. Plant your feet. Point the direction-of-travel arrow where you want to go. Turn the bezel until the Needle sits inside the orienting arrow ("put Red Fred in the shed," if that helps you remember it). Read the number at the index line. Then walk.
I can't take a clean bearing while moving and I've stopped pretending I can. Stop, read, walk. It's honest and it's fast enough.
4. Walk the bearing, checking a landmark ahead. Don't stare at the compass while you walk. Pick a tree, a rock, a saddle in the ridge that's on your bearing line, then walk to it with your head up. Re-check every so often.
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Triangulating Your Position (when you're turned around)
- Identify two or three landmarks you can see AND find on the map (peaks, towers, distinct ridgelines).
- Take a bearing to each one.
- Adjust for declination on each bearing.
- Draw each line back across the map from that landmark.
- Where the lines cross is roughly you.
Did this once off two peaks and a radio tower and landed dead in the clearing I was standing in. Sat down and felt Low Key smug about it for a solid ten minutes. No one around to see it, which is honestly the correct way to feel smug.
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Quick Troubleshooting
- Needle spinning or acting weird? Check what's near it. Metal water bottles, phones, belt buckles will all mess with the Needle. Get it away from anything metal and try again.
- Numbers not making sense? Go back and re-check your declination math. This is almost always the problem.
- Map getting soft, torn, or wet? Should've been in the ziploc. Put it in the ziploc.
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Gear Note
Cheap baseplate compass. That's genuinely what I use and what I recommend for anyone starting out. The mirror sighting compasses are fussier and don't add much until you already know what you're doing. Fewer parts means you'll actually use it instead of leaving it in a drawer.
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Bring this with you up the canyon. Practice it somewhere boring first, a parking lot, a park, your street. If you can only do this when the weather's nice and you're not stressed, you can't really do it yet.
See you next class. Fry sauce after, if enough of you show up. 😎
Thanks, Jason
WorksheetHandout 3: Map & Compass Field Checklist
Handout 3: Map & Compass Field Checklist
Fill this in as we go. Don't overthink it, just work through it in order. This is the same sequence you'll run through up the canyon, so if it feels boring in the parking lot, good. That means it'll feel easy on the trail.
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Step 1: Before You Even Pick Up the Compass
- [ ] Map is oriented to the terrain (turn the map, not the compass, until it matches what you see around you)
- [ ] I can point to a real landmark and find it on the map
- [ ] I can point to a second landmark and find that one too
Notes on what you used as landmarks:
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Step 2: Declination Check (do this every single time, out loud if you have to)
- [ ] I found the declination value for this area
- [ ] I adjusted my compass or did the math (circle one: adjusted compass / did the math)
- [ ] I said the number out loud to myself like a weirdo, because that's how it sticks
Declination value: __________
Step 3: Taking a Bearing
- [ ] Feet planted, not walking (Low Key the most common mistake is trying to do this on the move. Stop first.)
- [ ] Compass held flat and away from anything metal — water bottle, keys, phone
- [ ] Direction-of-travel arrow pointed at my target
- [ ] Needle boxed (red in the shed)
- [ ] Read the bearing off the dial
My bearing: __________
Target I aimed at: _______________________________
Step 4: Walking the Bearing
- [ ] Picked an object in the distance that's ON my bearing line, so I don't have to stare at the compass while I walk
- [ ] Walked to that object
- [ ] Stopped, checked the compass again, picked a new object, repeated
How many "checkpoints" did it take you to cross the lot? __________
Step 5: Triangulation (if we get to it today)
- [ ] Took a bearing on Landmark 1
- [ ] Took a bearing on Landmark 2
- [ ] Drew both lines back on the map
- [ ] Found where they cross — that's roughly you
Landmark 1: _______________ Bearing: __________
Landmark 2: _______________ Bearing: __________
Where they crossed matched where I was actually standing? Yes / Close / Not even close, help
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Gear Check (do this before you leave the house, not at the trailhead)
- [ ] Compass
- [ ] Map, actual paper one
- [ ] Map is in a ziploc bag. I mean it. This is the cheapest insurance you'll ever buy.
- [ ] Phone charged, but treated as backup, not the plan
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One honest question at the bottom, answer for yourself
What's the one part of today that still felt fuzzy? Write it down now while it's fresh. That's the thing to practice again this week, in your own driveway or a flat trail, before you take it up the canyon for real.
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Bring this sheet back next time if you want me to look it over. No pressure. If you get through Step 4 solid today, you can find your car. That was always the whole goal.
Thanks, Jason
HandoutHandout 4: Troubleshooting Guide
Handout 4: Troubleshooting Guide
Here's every mistake I watched myself make, plus a few I've watched a room full of beginners make. If something's going wrong out there, it's probably on this list.
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1. The needle won't settle down. Check what's near it. Phone in your pocket, water bottle, keys, radio, all of it messes with the Needle. Amber found this one out for me when she held her compass right next to a steel bottle and the needle just spun. Get metal away from the compass, give it a second, try again.
2. You took a bearing and walked 40 degrees off into nowhere. Declination. I promise you it's declination. Utah's declination isn't huge but it's enough to put you on the wrong side of a hill, which I know because I've done exactly that. Don't trust yourself to remember the correction. Build it into the process, out loud, every single time you take a bearing.
3. The map and the ground don't seem to match. You skipped orienting the map. Turn the whole map, physically, in your hands, until the terrain in front of you lines up with what's drawn. Don't start with numbers. Start with your eyes. This is the thing that finally made maps make sense to me, and I give my dad full credit for teaching it to me that way.
4. You're getting a different bearing every time you try. You're probably not holding the compass flat, or you're tilting it toward your face to read it. Hold it level, at waist height, and look down at it. If the baseplate's tipped even a little the needle can't sit right.
5. You froze up trying to take a bearing while walking. Same. Everyone does. I still can't do it smoothly and I've stopped trying. Plant your feet, take the reading, then walk. It's not slower in any way that matters.
6. Your bearing says one thing and your gut says another. Trust the compass, not your gut, but double check your own math first. Most "the compass is wrong" moments are actually a declination skip or a map orientation mistake. The compass itself is doing exactly what it's built to do.
7. You bought a nice sighting compass and now you're fumbling with mirrors and sight lines. Yeah. I did this too. Went and bought the fancy one thinking it'd make me better and it just made me fussier. Go back to a cheap baseplate compass. Fewer parts, fewer ways to mess it up, and you'll actually reach for it.
8. The map got wet, or torn, or blew out of your hand. Ziploc bag. Gallon size, the map folded to show your section, in the bag the whole hike. I got caught in a canyon storm once with a dead phone and a dry map was the only reason I wasn't guessing my way down. I will talk about this longer than you want me to.
9. You can identify where you are on a big obvious landmark but not on featureless ground. This is a practice problem, not a compass problem. Go stand in a parking lot, or a park, somewhere boring and flat, and practice there first. If you can only navigate when the view is pretty and the weather's calm, you can't actually navigate yet.
10. You triangulated and your position doesn't land anywhere near where you're standing. Check that your two or three landmarks are actually identifiable on the map, not just visible from where you're standing. A radio tower that isn't marked on your map won't help you. Once your landmarks line up, the lines should cross pretty close to your feet. When it works it's Low Key one of the most satisfying things you'll do outside. Sit down and feel smug for a minute. Nobody has to know.
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If none of these match your problem, bring it to class. That's what the parking lot practice sessions are for. Bring the fry sauce excuse if you need one.
Thanks, Jason
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —so I'm asking him this because I genuinely want to know, and he goes "well, first you have to turn the map."
JASON: I stand by it.
JESS: This is Jason Kelly, everybody. He teaches Intro to Map and Compass, which starts next week, and I made him come sit in this closet we call a podcast studio to talk about it.
JASON: It's a nice closet.
JESS: It has a window now. Okay. So episode one, no class yet, I just want people to know what they're signing up for. Jason, why does anyone need this. Phones have maps.
JASON: Phones are great until they're not. Mine died halfway up a canyon a few years back. Not dramatic, just a normal hike, and the battery quit right where the trail forked. I stood there a solid twenty minutes trying to remember which way the car was.
JESS: Did you figure it out.
JASON: Eventually. But it bugged me the whole way down. I'd been hiking my whole life and I basically couldn't function without a little blue dot telling me where I was. That felt bad. So I bought a compass at the sporting goods store and just started teaching myself.
JESS: And now you teach a class about it.
JASON: Now I teach a class about it. Low Key it's the most useful three hours you'll spend all year if you hike around here at all.
JESS: Okay, give me the thing you always say is backwards from how other people teach it.
JASON: Most people start with the compass. North arrow, bearings, numbers first. I start with the map and the ground. You orient the map to the terrain before you touch the numbers at all. Turn the paper until what's on it actually matches what's in front of you.
JESS: That sounds obvious when you say it.
JASON: It felt backwards to me too, honestly, when my dad first showed me. Craig, my dad, he did all this stuff back before there was another option. And he made me stand there turning a map around until it clicked. I was annoyed. But that's the thing that actually made it make sense. Once you can see the ridge on the paper match the ridge in front of your face, the numbers are easy. Before that, the numbers are just numbers.
JESS: Give me a practical tip. Something people can use even if they never take the class.
JASON: Ziploc bag.
JESS: That's it?
JASON: That's it. Put your map in a gallon ziploc before you leave the house. I got caught in an afternoon storm coming down a canyon, phone was soaked and dead in my pocket, completely useless, and the only reason I wasn't just guessing my way out was that map staying dry in a bag. Costs you nothing. Takes ten seconds. I preach it harder than the compass at this point.
JESS: You said in the planning doc you'd "die on this hill."
JASON: I would. It's a boring tip. Nobody wants to hear "put a bag around your paper," they want to hear about triangulating off two peaks and feeling smug on a rock. Which, also happened, also true. But the bag is the one that actually saves you.
JESS: Tell the compass one, though. The metal one.
JASON: Oh, with Amber. My sibling. I was teaching her a bearing on a hike, and she's holding the compass flat right next to her big steel water bottle. Needle's just spinning like it's possessed. Took me ten minutes to figure out why, because nobody tells you that metal messes with the needle. It's not in the pamphlet. You just have to find out the hard way, usually by looking like an idiot on a trail with your sibling laughing at you.
JESS: Did she stop laughing.
JASON: No.
JESS: Okay. So what happens in an actual class, when people show up.
JASON: I get there early, chairs and maps already out, I don't love standing around making small talk while people trickle in. We start on time. I talk for maybe five minutes then everybody's got a compass in their hand and we're doing it wrong a few times, because that's genuinely how it sticks. I'd rather you mess up a bearing in a parking lot with me standing right there than mess it up up the canyon by yourself.
JESS: Parking lot, though. Not somewhere pretty.
JASON: On purpose. Flat, boring, nothing to look at. If you can only find your bearing when it's calm and scenic, you can't actually do it yet.
JESS: Alright. What's next week look like, for anyone deciding whether to sign up.
JASON: Session two we're actually getting into declination, which is the thing that will quietly ruin your whole bearing if you don't account for it. I've got a system for it now, I check it every single time, out loud, like a tic. First time I didn't, I walked forty degrees off and ended up on the wrong side of a hill I did not want to be on.
JESS: Sounds like a good time.
JASON: It's a good time. There's fry sauce after if enough people show up.
JESS: That's the whole pitch, folks.
JASON: That's the whole pitch.
JESS: Thanks, Jason.
JASON: Thanks, Jason.
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JASON: —and that's the thing, once you plant your feet and take the reading, you're not guessing anymore. You just walk the line.
JESS: Okay wait, back up, because you skipped the part where you tried to do this walking.
JASON: Oh. Yeah. I don't do that.
JESS: You don't do that.
JASON: I tried for a while, taking a bearing while I'm still moving, and I just can't get it clean. The needle's bouncing, I'm second-guessing the number, it's a mess. So now I'm honest about it. I stop. Feet planted. Take the reading. Then I walk.
JESS: That feels like it should be slower but you're saying it's actually faster.
JASON: It's faster because you're not walking in the wrong direction for two minutes while you sort it out. Stopping for ten seconds and being right beats moving the whole time and being wrong. Low Key that's most of navigation right there.
JESS: I like that you just admit the gap instead of pretending you've got some smooth trick.
JASON: What am I gonna do, lie about it in my own class? Somebody would ask me to demo it and I'd just stand there looking dumb.
JESS: Okay, so last session was orienting the map. This week's bearings, right?
JASON: Bearings, and the parking lot practice, and probably my favorite little disaster story.
JESS: Which one.
JASON: My sibling Amber. Years ago, I'm trying to teach her a bearing on a hike, real casual, and she's holding the compass right next to her water bottle. Big steel one. Needle is just spinning like it's possessed.
JESS: Oh no.
JASON: I'm standing there going, this doesn't make sense, the compass is broken, did I break it, and it took me a solid ten minutes to clock that the water bottle was the problem. Metal messes with the needle. Nobody tells you that. I sure didn't know it.
JESS: So now you tell people.
JASON: Now I tell people on day one. Get the metal away from the compass. Water bottle, keys, your phone even, some phones have magnets in the case now. Move it a couple feet away and watch the needle settle down. It's kind of satisfying actually, watching it stop being possessed.
JESS: That's a genuinely useful thing somebody could use tonight without ever taking the class.
JASON: Yeah, that's a free one. If your compass is doing something weird, before you assume it's broken, check what's in your pocket.
JESS: Give me one more thing people can use without signing up.
JASON: Practice somewhere boring. Seriously. Do it in a parking lot before you do it up the canyon. I know it's not glamorous, standing in the Costco parking lot taking a bearing on a light pole, but if you can only do this when everything's calm and pretty, you can't actually do it. You want it boring and repeatable so when it's windy and you're a little rattled, your hands already know the motion.
JESS: The Costco parking lot bearing. I'm gonna picture that all week.
JASON: Do it at the point of the mountain one, that lot's huge, you've got room.
JESS: So this week in class, bearings and declination again, I assume, since you mentioned that's basically a religion for you.
JASON: It's a habit, not a religion. Well. Okay, it's a little bit a religion. I check declination every single time I take a bearing, out loud, even when I'm sure I remember it, because the one time I trusted my memory I walked forty degrees off and ended up on the wrong side of a hill I did not want to be on. So now it's a step, not a memory. Say it out loud, adjust, then take the bearing.
JESS: And next session is what, the actual field trip?
JASON: Next time we're up the canyon for real. Bringing the maps in ziplocs, obviously, and we're gonna triangulate off a couple of landmarks so people can see it actually pin down where they're standing. It's a good feeling when the numbers agree with what your eyes are already telling you.
JESS: Any bribes involved.
JASON: Fry sauce after, if people show up and try. That's the deal. I'm not asking anybody to be good at this yet. Just show up and take a bad bearing a few times, that's how it sticks.
JESS: All right. Bring your compass, leave the water bottle in the car apparently.
JASON: Or just a couple feet away. You can keep the water. Hydration's still allowed.
JESS: Good to know. See everybody up the canyon.
Thanks, Jason
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —okay but that's the part I want people to hear, because you just said it like it's nothing. "I stood there for twenty minutes." That's a real amount of time to not know where your car is.
JASON: It felt longer. Standing there doing the math in my head, phone dead, trying to remember which fork we came up. It's Low Key embarrassing how long twenty minutes feels when you're the one lost.
JESS: This is the guy who now teaches other people not to be lost.
JASON: Right, because I didn't want to feel that dumb twice.
JESS: So last session was orienting the map to the ground, no bearings yet. This week you added the compass in. How'd that go.
JASON: Pretty good. Most people fumble the first bearing, and that's fine, that's the whole point of doing it in the parking lot instead of up the canyon somewhere. I'd rather you get it wrong forty times on flat asphalt than once for real.
JESS: Okay, tell the story. You've been holding back a good one all class I can tell.
JASON: Which one.
JESS: The sibling one. With the water bottle.
JASON: Oh, Amber. Yeah. So I'm trying to teach her a bearing on a hike, years ago, and she's got this big steel water bottle, and she just sets the compass down right next to it to read it steady. And the Needle just starts spinning. Like it's possessed. I'm standing there going, that's not right, that's not right, why is that not right.
JESS: How long before you figured it out.
JASON: Ten minutes, easy. I felt like an idiot twice in one week, honestly, between that and the canyon thing. Nobody tells you metal messes with the needle. Water bottle, car keys, even some belt buckles. It's not in the pamphlet.
JESS: So that's the tip. Practical, no-class-needed tip.
JASON: Yeah, here's a free one. If your Needle is doing something weird, jumpy, sluggish, not settling, check what's in your pockets and what's on the ground near you before you assume you're reading it wrong. Set your keys down. Step away from the water bottle. Nine times out of ten that's the whole problem.
JESS: I love that this is a thing nobody warns you about.
JASON: It's such a small thing and it'll make you question your entire sense of direction for no reason.
JESS: Okay, and we've got to talk about declination, because you mentioned it like six times tonight.
JASON: I check it twice every single time now. Out loud, even, if I'm alone, which probably looks unhinged to anyone watching from a distance. But early on I forgot the correction entirely and walked about forty degrees off course. Ended up on the wrong side of a little hill I didn't recognize, had to backtrack a good chunk of the trail.
JESS: Forty degrees is a lot.
JASON: Forty degrees is the difference between your car and somebody else's car, basically. So now it's not a thing I trust myself to remember. It's a step. Every time. Like checking your mirrors.
JESS: Good place to land it. So next session, what are we doing.
JASON: We're taking it outside for real. Still someplace easy, not up the canyon yet, but we're triangulating off landmarks, figuring out exactly where you're standing using two or three points you can see. It's genuinely one of my favorite things to teach. There was a time I nailed my position off two peaks and a radio tower, dead on, sat on a rock afterward feeling pretty smug about it for a solid ten minutes.
JESS: Anyone there to see the smugness.
JASON: Nobody. Which honestly is the correct way to feel smug about something. No audience required.
JESS: Bring a compass, bring a map, and apparently bring your dignity because you might spin in a circle a few times figuring out your landmarks.
JASON: You will. Everybody does. That's fine. Bring the map in a ziploc too while you're at it, I will mention that approximately forty more times before this class ends.
JESS: We know. We know, Jason.
JASON: Fry sauce after, if people show up on time. 😎
JESS: There it is. Alright, see everyone next week.
Thanks, Jason
Videos worth your time
Hand-picked by your instructor, with notes on what to watch for.
- Ultimate Map & Compass Navigation Tutorial: Essential Skills Every Adventurer Should MasterLotsafreshair
Watch for the clear step by step breakdown of taking a bearing, since this covers essential skills for beginners in one comprehensive session.
- How to Use a Compass || REIREI
Pay attention to the segment on orienting the map to the terrain, since this REI expert video keeps things short and practical for new hikers.
- Map and Compass (Simplified)Corporals Corner
Focus on the explanation of contour lines and setting declination, since this video simplifies topographic map reading alongside compass basics.
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