Low-tech methods for getting home again By Chantal Macartney and Illustrations by William Jessup
Excellent GPS information web sites http://www.gpsnuts.com/mygps/ gps/tutorials/maps/maps.htm A basic course on GPS usage. www.garmin.com Surf to Garmin’s downloadable handbook entitled, An Introduction to Using a GPS. The document provides outstanding information about map, compass and GPS usage. http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/ manual/mapcompass.shtml Princeton University’s outstanding map reading course.
Geocaching 101
Global positioning systems have inspired a new high-tech, treasurehunting sport called “geocaching”— pronounced GEE-OH-CASHING. The hybrid word geocaching was coined from combining “geography” and “cache”—it means making stuff hard to find. This high-tech, adventure treasure hunt involves locating a cache using your GPS unit. Most caches are positioned so casual observers can’t find them accidentally. A cache may consist of only a logbook for visitors to sign. More elaborate caches contain valuable or entertaining information, often in the form of DVDs, maps, tools and games. Visitors are encouraged to take what they like, but to leave something else of equal value. What’s the most unusual object found in a cache? In 2001, an enterprising suitor used a geocache to propose marriage—hope the bride-tobe was technology-inclined!
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O T TAWA O U T D O O R S W I N T E R
YOU’VE BEEN OUT on the trail for a full week and your GPS batteries died two days ago. You’re lost, the food pack is alarmingly light, and the fun is draining from this trip faster than the colour from your cheeks. How do to find your way home? It’s time to get back to basics. Here are some simple direction-finding ideas:
Use the sun as a compass You’ve seen sun dials before: a circular platform with a rod protruding from the centre that helps you tell time. An improvised sundial can help you determine direction, too. 1. On a sunny day with little or no cloud, push a straight stick into flat ground. Mark the tip of the stick’s shadow with a stone. 2. After 10 minutes, place another stone at the tip of the new shadow. 3. Next, scratch a line in the ground between the two stones. This line will indicate an eastwest axis. How can you can tell which way is east? The stone that was placed at the point of the first shadow will be pointing eastward.
Find Polaris the North Star At night, you can easily find the North Star by first locating the star constellation known as the Big Dipper. When you see it, imagine a line joining the two outer stars of the dipper and follow it out until you see the really bright star. This is Polaris—the North Star (see diagram). By walking towards it, you are walking north.
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