Leave it to you to create the best videos on this subject, hands down! You're an awesome teacher, and proof that you really can teach an old dog new tricks -- I just got started with backcountry canoe tripping/camping a couple years ago at the ripe old age of 54, but things have gone very smoothly and safe in great part because of the wisdom imparted by yourself and Keivin Callan. Thank you so much for putting these videos together.
Yet another great video. Your explanations are so clear and concise. I struggle with navigation on land and on water so more study in the works for me. I am using your videos and cookbook as a reference with another teacher for the outdoor ed class at my high school. Keep up the great content.
Great video! I’m reminded of my first week long canoe trip in the Boundary Waters, I was 18, canoeing with my parents and they put me in charge of navigating. I made a mistake on a portage, accidentally following a fork that wasn’t marked on the map, and came out on the wrong lake, which I paddled all the way across before I realized what was going on. I was noting landmarks as we went along, but my own confirmation bias convinced myself that I was still on track, misinterpreting the map when it was just one or two discrepancies, it was only once there were multiple significant differences between the map and what I saw around me that I accepted the error, and then I had the hassle of figuring out where I really was. This was back in 1987, handheld GPS wasn’t readily available for civilians, so keeping more or less constant track of where I was on the map was crucial, I was referring to my map all the time.
Thanks for your comprehensive reply. I once met at surveyor in the woods and his GPS equipment was impressive. He said this modern equipment allowed him accuracy up to 2 cm! The problem is that old survey lines are often not accurate so in urban areas he said this new level of accuracy can really cause problems when land and buildings change hands.
Great explanations, Kevin. For people with less practice at this, two things: handrail known features until your comfortable navigating and always mark a backstop on your route so if you overshoot a point you have physical barrier in front of you to stop you going too far astray.
Very helpful the way you explained things......also you inspired me to dehydrate my own food for our trip to Killarney and it turned out wonderful. Thank you!
Enjoyed your discussion of pilotage in reference to bodies of water. Before GPS we used a similar method in small aircraft making corrections based on location and speed one could calculate cross wind speed and future location. Fun stuff.
Hi Kevin, thanks for this good vidéo. One additional trick when you want not to miss a very specific location is to aim a bit off the location so that when you arrive, you know that by tuning left or right you will find the place you want to get.
I have the same t-shirt LOL! Great video. I had the same experience with a portage that was incorrectly located (on the same map used in your example by the way). The problem was that a LOT of paddlers had made the same mistake, likely following the same map. This had resulted in the formation of what can only be called a "false portage" which simply petered out in a moose meadow. Always make sure you are on the correct portage before starting your carry!
Well put together video filled with great tips. I stopped trusting maps after getting lost in Quetico Provincial park a few years ago. Nowadays I rely mostly on a combination of Gaia GPS, Avenza maps and paper maps, but as you said, not fixating on neither and exercising common sense more often.
Fantastic video! You are a great teacher, and the way you created visuals made learning and understanding even better. Thank you. I've done a lot of map and compass overland, but not as much on water in the wilderness. I learned a lot from you here, and am impressed with your teaching skills. Thank you!
I use OSM for river canoe. Very accurate with the speed and time estimation that I can even plan which bus I can take to get back. Good topos inside and works offline.
Kevin, I think you already covered this before, but have you talked about Portages, how to scout and traverse them, and talk about some of the the more infamous ones with longer rods? Your thoughts on approaching hidden portages got me thinking about that.
Thanks again for your great insights. One thing that has helped me many times is I download off line google map of where I am going to canoe on my phone. Like you explained so well, sometimes a mistake brings another one and another one when looking at an island or peninsula.... When I feel some thing is wrong I open my phone to spot where exactly I am. I remember once I was on a completely different lake than I tough :-)
Thanks for sharing that. People think it can't happen, then it does and it takes a real reality check to understand where you are. I have heard of folks looking at their phone or GPS and not believing where they actually were. ATB!
You have a talent for these kind of training videos. Great stuff. I am curious why you don’t use a GPS more. I live in Maine and Arizona and have taken navigation courses. It was demonstrated to me that traveling overland using a compass bearing is very difficult. In Maine you just cannot walk a straight line. Even in the deserts of Arizona it is very easy to be a few degrees off and over a long distance that can cause problems. I have come to use a GPS and map much more than compass with better results. I absolutely agree that a topographic map is essential. The little map on a GPS screen is just not adequate. No matter which tools you use to navigate, it is essential to PRACTICE in order to be confident and proficient. Trying to figure out where you are if you are lost can be frightening if you don’t have confidence in your navigation skills. I have been lost, but I trusted my skill using a GPS and found my way back to the car. Those are the times when all the practice pays off. Thanks for your continued excellence in your presentations.
Thanks for the thorough comment. I'm not anit-GPS or anything but batteries do run down so I try and keep it off at least on long trips. They are great to 'tie-in' if you aren't sure where you are but they aren't necessary especially on canoe trips. I consider most lake navigation 'easy' and I travel great distances with just the map an not using the GPS or a compass. I have actually started using my GPS more often to check my speed when I am paddling to answer questions like just how bad is this headwind. I spent many years working in forestry with a compass before GPS technology matured so my compass and map skills are pretty good and I rather use the GPS as a safety feature. Back in the day we used actual aerial photographs for navigation rather than a map. We would use a map to find north on the photo and draw our own north lines on it. We considered ourselves 'lost' if we were more than 10m off our desired route in a forest. Back then GPS was just coming out and the first units were backpacks with antenna that you had to raise on a series of poles you carried. And, back then the GPS signal was scrambled by the military so you had to un-scramble the data you collected back at the office by comparing it to another GPS at a fixed known point. I may do some videos on how to navigate in a straight line in a forest environment and how to incorporate GPS with map and compass. - Really appreciate your questions and comments.
That would have been a good addition to this video. Honestly it is a technique that I rarely use. Often there are plenty of landmarks and I sort of triangulate in my head. Good suggestion. Perhaps next time I am out in a boat.
Hi there, I'm just getting into backcountry canoing and I just want to say thank you. You're my canoe mentor now, your videos are GREAT. Can I ask how you got to Miniss Lake with a canoe in tow? I am not seeing a viable driving route to that area.. I will wait a while before attempting similar things, of course :)
Thanks great question. You might want to watch my St. Raphael trip videos I show the route in some detail. Basically I portaged in from Medcalf Lake to the north where I left my vehicle.
Excellent instructional video Kevin. I just saw your Fireside chat with Kevin Callan- cool. So my question is where do you get your maps from? I’m pretty new at map reading. Thanks!
Thanks, I get my maps from a local map and outdoor gear store called Chaltrek, I prefer to support them rather than an online store (Chaltrek also has an online presence). But there are several online map retailers for Canadian topographic maps that are easily found with a google search.
Your compass/map videos are great...please keep them coming! Question: In example 4 when you are traversing Clearwater West Lake to your parking spot. Do you need to adjust for declination first (with a fixed declination compass), or is it because you seem to orient your map to magnetic north during the process, adjusting for declination is not necessary?
That compass allows me to adjust for declination once. Before a trip I will adjust the compass to the location I am going and then I won't even think about declination again. I rotate the map so that the map is in the same orientation as the landscape and it helps me spot features in my path and locate them on the map.
Great video Kevin and I have learned a lot and need to go over it again. I do have a question that makes me wonder why the extra steps you take with the arrow of travel and I am a real rookie so sorry if this is obvious. I carry printed topo maps from Gaia and have a compass with me. All I do is find north on the compass and north on the map and turn the map so it is facing my direction and when I turn a bend I find north again with the compass and move the map in that direction and I am seeing the map in the direction I want to go. It seems to work and makes me wonder why the line of direction is necessary? Sorry for the basic question.
Thanks for the questions Cliff. First, what you are doing is just fine. In this video I tried to show a gradient of compass accuracy. In the first example I didn't even use a compass, which is probably how I travel about 60-70% of the time, the map is often enough. Then in the second example I just used the compass to generally find north, then west when I rounded the peninsula, I was just using the compass to generally orient the map as you do. In the third example I go a step further my using the arrow of direction to help me pinpoint where I was going. And, in the fourth example I used the same technique but instead it was to 'shoot' a bearing across a large lake that was lacking features. I hope that helps.
@@KevinOutdoors it was very helpful and I want to learn more about some of the more advanced things you showed and will watch it a few times. I really appreciate you making it Kevin.
Leave it to you to create the best videos on this subject, hands down! You're an awesome teacher, and proof that you really can teach an old dog new tricks -- I just got started with backcountry canoe tripping/camping a couple years ago at the ripe old age of 54, but things have gone very smoothly and safe in great part because of the wisdom imparted by yourself and Keivin Callan. Thank you so much for putting these videos together.
Thanks so much. Comments like that really make my day!
Yet another great video. Your explanations are so clear and concise. I struggle with navigation on land and on water so more study in the works for me. I am using your videos and cookbook as a reference with another teacher for the outdoor ed class at my high school. Keep up the great content.
Thanks so much Stephen, I really appreciate the positive comments. Makes my day!
Great video! I’m reminded of my first week long canoe trip in the Boundary Waters, I was 18, canoeing with my parents and they put me in charge of navigating. I made a mistake on a portage, accidentally following a fork that wasn’t marked on the map, and came out on the wrong lake, which I paddled all the way across before I realized what was going on. I was noting landmarks as we went along, but my own confirmation bias convinced myself that I was still on track, misinterpreting the map when it was just one or two discrepancies, it was only once there were multiple significant differences between the map and what I saw around me that I accepted the error, and then I had the hassle of figuring out where I really was. This was back in 1987, handheld GPS wasn’t readily available for civilians, so keeping more or less constant track of where I was on the map was crucial, I was referring to my map all the time.
Excellent story. Avoiding your own confirmation bias is most of what reading a map is all about. Thanks for sharing.
Kevin, binoculars are very helpful for distinguishing features and helping to verify against a map
Great tip.
I use a monocular with a built-in bearing compass, best of both worlds for me.
Cool, which brand(s) includes a compass?@@DominiqueB
Great video. I find that a compact set of binoculars can be really helpful to find portage or campsite markers, and other natural features
Great tip. I used to carry binoculars but over the years I got away from that practice.
Thanks for your comprehensive reply. I once met at surveyor in the woods and his GPS equipment was impressive. He said this modern equipment allowed him accuracy up to 2 cm! The problem is that old survey lines are often not accurate so in urban areas he said this new level of accuracy can really cause problems when land and buildings change hands.
That's pretty interesting.
Great explanations, Kevin. For people with less practice at this, two things: handrail known features until your comfortable navigating and always mark a backstop on your route so if you overshoot a point you have physical barrier in front of you to stop you going too far astray.
Great tip Craig, much appreciated.
You are a good teacher Kevin. This quite accurately describes the perception and decision making process.
Hey thanks, much appreciated!
Great tips for the novice map or compass reader. Thanks for sharing Kevin.
You bet, thanks for commenting.
Very helpful the way you explained things......also you inspired me to dehydrate my own food for our trip to Killarney and it turned out wonderful. Thank you!
Awesome, glad you food turned out for you!
Thanks for the tips! Lefty link helps me remember.
You are welcome!
Great video - These tips would have saved us several hours of wandering in BWCA earlier this year.
Well, I hope this helps for your next trip! Good luck.
Enjoyed your discussion of pilotage in reference to bodies of water. Before GPS we used a similar method in small aircraft making corrections based on location and speed one could calculate cross wind speed and future location. Fun stuff.
Very cool!
Hi Kevin, thanks for this good vidéo. One additional trick when you want not to miss a very specific location is to aim a bit off the location so that when you arrive, you know that by tuning left or right you will find the place you want to get.
Excellent tip. I am contemplating a similar video for a forested environment. I may add that to that video.
I have the same t-shirt LOL! Great video. I had the same experience with a portage that was incorrectly located (on the same map used in your example by the way). The problem was that a LOT of paddlers had made the same mistake, likely following the same map. This had resulted in the formation of what can only be called a "false portage" which simply petered out in a moose meadow. Always make sure you are on the correct portage before starting your carry!
Thanks for the comment Rob. Great example.
Well put together video filled with great tips. I stopped trusting maps after getting lost in Quetico Provincial park a few years ago. Nowadays I rely mostly on a combination of Gaia GPS, Avenza maps and paper maps, but as you said, not fixating on neither and exercising common sense more often.
Thanks for sharing those thoughts.
Fantastic video! You are a great teacher, and the way you created visuals made learning and understanding even better. Thank you. I've done a lot of map and compass overland, but not as much on water in the wilderness. I learned a lot from you here, and am impressed with your teaching skills. Thank you!
Thanks so much Randy, much appreciated!
I use OSM for river canoe. Very accurate with the speed and time estimation that I can even plan which bus I can take to get back. Good topos inside and works offline.
What is OSM?
@@KevinOutdoors 0penztreetm@p
Kevin, I think you already covered this before, but have you talked about Portages, how to scout and traverse them, and talk about some of the the more infamous ones with longer rods?
Your thoughts on approaching hidden portages got me thinking about that.
That would be an interesting topic. My best named portage so far was "Death March Portage".
Very well done Kevin! Thanks
Thank you!
Hey man thanks for the tips and the refresher, lots of practical advice 🍻
Thanks man! 👊
Thanks again for your great insights. One thing that has helped me many times is I download off line google map of where I am going to canoe on my phone. Like you explained so well, sometimes a mistake brings another one and another one when looking at an island or peninsula.... When I feel some thing is wrong I open my phone to spot where exactly I am. I remember once I was on a completely different lake than I tough :-)
Thanks for sharing that. People think it can't happen, then it does and it takes a real reality check to understand where you are. I have heard of folks looking at their phone or GPS and not believing where they actually were. ATB!
Wow, helpful informative. Thanks.
You're welcome!
Excellent. Thank you.
You are welcome!
Great video. Fun stories! 🤘
Glad you enjoyed!
You have a talent for these kind of training videos. Great stuff. I am curious why you don’t use a GPS more. I live in Maine and Arizona and have taken navigation courses. It was demonstrated to me that traveling overland using a compass bearing is very difficult. In Maine you just cannot walk a straight line. Even in the deserts of Arizona it is very easy to be a few degrees off and over a long distance that can cause problems. I have come to use a GPS and map much more than compass with better results. I absolutely agree that a topographic map is essential. The little map on a GPS screen is just not adequate. No matter which tools you use to navigate, it is essential to PRACTICE in order to be confident and proficient. Trying to figure out where you are if you are lost can be frightening if you don’t have confidence in your navigation skills. I have been lost, but I trusted my skill using a GPS and found my way back to the car. Those are the times when all the practice pays off. Thanks for your continued excellence in your presentations.
Thanks for the thorough comment. I'm not anit-GPS or anything but batteries do run down so I try and keep it off at least on long trips. They are great to 'tie-in' if you aren't sure where you are but they aren't necessary especially on canoe trips. I consider most lake navigation 'easy' and I travel great distances with just the map an not using the GPS or a compass. I have actually started using my GPS more often to check my speed when I am paddling to answer questions like just how bad is this headwind. I spent many years working in forestry with a compass before GPS technology matured so my compass and map skills are pretty good and I rather use the GPS as a safety feature. Back in the day we used actual aerial photographs for navigation rather than a map. We would use a map to find north on the photo and draw our own north lines on it. We considered ourselves 'lost' if we were more than 10m off our desired route in a forest. Back then GPS was just coming out and the first units were backpacks with antenna that you had to raise on a series of poles you carried. And, back then the GPS signal was scrambled by the military so you had to un-scramble the data you collected back at the office by comparing it to another GPS at a fixed known point. I may do some videos on how to navigate in a straight line in a forest environment and how to incorporate GPS with map and compass. - Really appreciate your questions and comments.
Nailed it! Great video instruction. Does anybody still use triangulation using a compass to find position on map? Or did GPS kill off this skill?
That would have been a good addition to this video. Honestly it is a technique that I rarely use. Often there are plenty of landmarks and I sort of triangulate in my head. Good suggestion. Perhaps next time I am out in a boat.
Hi there, I'm just getting into backcountry canoing and I just want to say thank you. You're my canoe mentor now, your videos are GREAT. Can I ask how you got to Miniss Lake with a canoe in tow? I am not seeing a viable driving route to that area.. I will wait a while before attempting similar things, of course :)
Thanks great question. You might want to watch my St. Raphael trip videos I show the route in some detail. Basically I portaged in from Medcalf Lake to the north where I left my vehicle.
Excellent instructional video Kevin. I just saw your Fireside chat with Kevin Callan- cool. So my question is where do you get your maps from? I’m pretty new at map reading. Thanks!
Thanks, I get my maps from a local map and outdoor gear store called Chaltrek, I prefer to support them rather than an online store (Chaltrek also has an online presence). But there are several online map retailers for Canadian topographic maps that are easily found with a google search.
Your compass/map videos are great...please keep them coming! Question: In example 4 when you are traversing Clearwater West Lake to your parking spot. Do you need to adjust for declination first (with a fixed declination compass), or is it because you seem to orient your map to magnetic north during the process, adjusting for declination is not necessary?
That compass allows me to adjust for declination once. Before a trip I will adjust the compass to the location I am going and then I won't even think about declination again. I rotate the map so that the map is in the same orientation as the landscape and it helps me spot features in my path and locate them on the map.
@@KevinOutdoors Makes sense, thanks Kevin!
Great video Kevin and I have learned a lot and need to go over it again. I do have a question that makes me wonder why the extra steps you take with the arrow of travel and I am a real rookie so sorry if this is obvious. I carry printed topo maps from Gaia and have a compass with me. All I do is find north on the compass and north on the map and turn the map so it is facing my direction and when I turn a bend I find north again with the compass and move the map in that direction and I am seeing the map in the direction I want to go. It seems to work and makes me wonder why the line of direction is necessary? Sorry for the basic question.
Thanks for the questions Cliff. First, what you are doing is just fine. In this video I tried to show a gradient of compass accuracy. In the first example I didn't even use a compass, which is probably how I travel about 60-70% of the time, the map is often enough. Then in the second example I just used the compass to generally find north, then west when I rounded the peninsula, I was just using the compass to generally orient the map as you do. In the third example I go a step further my using the arrow of direction to help me pinpoint where I was going. And, in the fourth example I used the same technique but instead it was to 'shoot' a bearing across a large lake that was lacking features. I hope that helps.
@@KevinOutdoors it was very helpful and I want to learn more about some of the more advanced things you showed and will watch it a few times. I really appreciate you making it Kevin.