[pct-l] Compass vs GPS & missing hikers

[Dan Welch]

Herb - I'm with you on this one. If you go trekking for miles in flat,
featureless land, then a truly accurate compass may be a real benefit.  But
all I ever use one for in the mountains is to orient my map and match the
map features to land features.  Moderate accuracy is fine for that.  I've
been backpacking for decades with cheap compasses in the Sierras and never
gotten lost.  My experience doing the PCT was much the same.  I find the
accuracy of the compass is far less important than how you use it.  But I
guess if you mis-use a really good compass, you'll be more exactly wrong.
Right??

Timberline

-----Original Message-----
From: Pct-L [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Herb Stroh
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 4:33 PM
To: 'pct-l at backcountry.net'
Subject: [pct-l] Compass vs GPS & missing hikers

"Herb... regarding?your post ...'I do still bring a compass, but it is a
cheap small one.'

You are probably aware that every degree of error in a compass bearing
creates 100 feet of error per mile traveled? Multiply that error by the
degrees in a compass like yours and you lose direction even more. If you're
out of water and trying to make a heading to a pond that shows on a map, you
could miss it entirely."



Yep. But even back in the day when there was no GPS, I never used a $75
compass and seemed to find my way. As suggested by the thrust of my post, I
think the most important skill is reading a topo. Give me the general
direction and a topo and I will find the pond.



Herb


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