Lost in Mountainaire
Map and compass basics

How to orienteer

You only need a map to start. A compass helps once you leave the trails. These are the skills orienteers use, roughly in the order people learn them.

1. Read the map

Orienteering maps use colour to show how easy the ground is to cross, not just what's on it.

White: open forest you can walk or run through Green: thick undergrowth. Darker green is harder to get through. Yellow: open ground such as meadows and clearings Brown: landforms. Contour lines show hills and gullies. Blue: water: streams, ponds, wet ground Black: rocks, trails, fences and buildings

Contour lines join points of equal height. Lines close together mean a steep slope, and lines far apart mean gentle ground. A small closed loop is a hilltop.

The thin parallel lines across the map are north lines. They point to magnetic north, which is where a compass needle points.

2. Orient the map

This is the most important skill. Turn the map so that what's in front of you on the map is in front of you on the ground. A trail that goes left on the ground should go left on the map.

Keep the map oriented the whole time. When you turn, turn the map too. It's fine if the writing ends up upside down.

With a compass: lay it on the map and turn the map, not the compass, until the red end of the needle points the same way as the north lines.

3. Thumb the map

Fold the map small and keep your thumb on the spot where you are. Move your thumb as you go. When you look down, you'll know where you are straight away instead of searching the whole map.

4. Plan a route

The straight line isn't always the fastest. Before you set off for a post, look for:

  • Handrails: long features such as trails, fences and streams that you can follow without much thought.
  • An attack point: something easy to find near the post, such as a trail bend or a big boulder. Go there first, then make the short, careful last bit to the post.
  • A catching feature: something just past the post, like a road or a fence. If you reach it, you've gone too far.

5. Take a bearing with a compass

For crossing forest with no trail to follow, use a baseplate compass (the clear, flat kind):

  1. Lay the edge of the compass on the map along a line from where you are to where you want to go, with the direction-of-travel arrow pointing toward the destination.
  2. Turn the round housing until the lines inside it are parallel to the map's north lines, with its N pointing to the top of the map.
  3. Take the compass off the map and hold it flat in front of you.
  4. Turn your whole body until the red end of the needle sits inside the outline arrow in the housing. People call this "red in the shed".
  5. The direction-of-travel arrow now points your way. Pick a tree or rock in that direction, walk to it, and repeat.

Orienteering maps are drawn to magnetic north, so you don't need to correct for declination.

6. If you're lost

  • Stop, and orient the map.
  • Look for something big and certain: a trail, a hilltop, a fence.
  • If you're still unsure, go back to the last place you were sure of.

Before you go: tell someone where you're heading, carry water, and wear shoes you don't mind getting dirty. Getting a little lost is part of the fun.

Print the map