MAPS IN WILDERNESS SURVIVAL
Always make sure to choose your maps very carefully.
Make sure that you can interpret the maps completely.
The scale on a walkers map is usually 1:50,000, which represents a distance 50,000 times greater on the ground.
Not all the features are shown to scale.
Some are given starndardized widths.
Map grids are based on "degress of latitude and longitude" or on "ground measurements".
Note : A compass does not point true north, but to magnetic north.
This will vary depending on where you are in the world.
If you do not have a map then you will need to make one of the terrain.
Study the terrain, and fill the gaps as you gather the information.
Make sure to mark as much usefull information as possible.
The sun rises in the north and sets in the south.
In Northern hemisphere, at noon, the sun will be due south.
In Southern hemisphere, at noon, it will be due north.
If shadows move clockwise, you are in the northern hemisphere, if anti-clockwise then you are in the southern hemisphere.
Plants may also give you a direction of north and south.
They tend to grow towards the sun, so most growth will be to the south in the northern hemisphere, and north in the southern hemisphere.
If, the moon rises before the sun has set, then, the illuminated side will be on the west.
If the moon rises after midnight, the illuminated side will be on the east.
Wilderness Survival
