Compass?

[nsherry61]

Don't need cell signal for compass to work...life-proof waterproof case. . .

Important point. You also don't need cell signal for the GPS on your phone to work. And, a Ziploc bag also works well as a waterproof case if you are trying to get by on the cheap.

[WILLIAM HAYES]

you dont need a compass on the AT

[Astro]

no compass is needed. they don't help anyway as the trail guides show "north" and "south" but the trail winds and weaves its way east and west around mountains.

And sometimes even North is South and South is North.

[Wise Old Owl]

you dont need a compass on the AT

Nothing against you Bill, this post was repeated sentiment from 5-6 other posters.

The unfortunate distraction is that others are as or not as smart as others. Yet over the years as a group we have read posts of people hiking twenty miles or more in the wrong direction on the AT. Sometimes its on a cloudy day, or there are other factors involved...



An occasional glance at a compass removes all the stupid doubt. So what is important to you? taking off and hiking back to the wrong shelter? Then you have to hike back? It's clearly your choice.

[colorado_rob]

Another use for a compass on the AT: Campsite selection. Sure is nice have a slope to the east along with a clearing (or slightly north of east, depending on time of year) to catch those first sun rays just so in the morning. Four grams, $17, well spent for that sweet little Suunto Clip.

[cmoulder]

Nothing against you Bill, this post was repeated sentiment from 5-6 other posters.

The unfortunate distraction is that others are as or not as smart as others. Yet over the years as a group we have read posts of people hiking twenty miles or more in the wrong direction on the AT. Sometimes its on a cloudy day, or there are other factors involved...



An occasional glance at a compass removes all the stupid doubt. So what is important to you? taking off and hiking back to the wrong shelter? Then you have to hike back? It's clearly your choice.

Last fall on an overcast morning I hiked a couple of miles in the wrong direction in the Adirondacks after departing Olmstead Pond. I arrived at a trail register and opened it to sign it only to discover I'd already signed it the day before, lol, grrrrrr... So I relented and whipped out the little tag compass (right there in my hip pouch, on a tether) and STILL didn't believe it when it told me to go the other way. But I did and got back on track quickly. Overcast sky can really get one disoriented, and a trail already hiked looks like a completely new trail when going in the opposite direction.

[kentc]

There is a fine line between hard core and stupid. A few dollars and a few ounces that you hopefully never use is cheap life insurance. Batteries die and electronics fail at a much higher rate than the trusty ole compass. Get a simple Silva compass for $15-$20 and tie it off on your pack. You may never look at it again. Or you may find it was the single most important thing you packed.

Reading all the posts about "the trail is marked so well you won't need a compass" makes me understand why SAR is so busy every year in this country. Yep, blazes and your iPhone will work if nothing weird happens, until something weird happens. Perhaps at 48 I am a dinosaur, but I never ever go into the woods without the ten essentials, even in my backyard. Murphy is out there and will rain HARD on your parade if you don't plan and prepare. I think some folks need to take a serious read on the following article and perhaps reexamine their stance on backcountry basics, starting with the compass: http://www.outsideonline.com/2060641...more-dangerous

If you have not used a compass, you need to mentally prepare yourself that it just does one thing, but it does that thing perfectly well: it points north. As cmoulder pointed out above, the hardest thing to do when you are "temporarily misoriented" is believe the compass. Believe the compass!

[JohnHuth]

I think some folks need to take a serious read on the following article and perhaps reexamine their stance on backcountry basics, starting with the compass: http://www.outsideonline.com/2060641...more-dangerous

Ha ha...I posted that article a page back or so.

Turning to the thought - for some reason, I'm always assuming that no one is going to rescue me. Do people really think that someone will come and rescue them if they do something stupid? Cell phones die, or coverage is absent. I only recently got a PLB, but that was for a trip in the Pacific in the Marshall Islands on an outrigger canoe - we had to get an elaborate scheme going with a chase boat, satellite phone link and the PLB. Even then, the group was self-policing. There was no chance of any Coast Guard rescue. We were on our own.

In any case, I feel naked without a compass - and this is from a guy who has memorized major navigational stars, and looks at the sun for directions.

[rock steady]

Please please keep track of where you are. and learn to use a compass and carry one. maybe the folks who say the trail is well marked will be OK. But the compass can SAVE YOUR LIFE if you find that you are off trail. I've been lost prob will be again, it ain't fun.

[rocketsocks]

Bout the only time I get to practice on my compass work is on hikes, it's something I enjoy knowing and doing, so yeah, I carry a compass. Required for the AT, prolly not, but I wouldn't leave home without it.

[Skyline]

Probably don't need it on the AT. But if you leave the Trail for some reason (side trail to some feature, or to get off the Trail in an emergency) you might find one handy. It's rather useless, tho, unless you also learn well how to use it properly.

I carried a map for the AT section I was hiking. That served me better than a compass. Maps typically show other intersecting trails and how to get to roads/"civilization" if you need to.

This advice is for the AT, which is well marked, has adequate signage, and except for deep winter has plenty of people on it. Other trails and backcountry areas? You might actually need a compass.

[TwoSpirits]

A few years ago I read a good article in Backpacker Magazine (back when it actually had a few intelligent articles, at least) and there was a great quote that has stuck with me: "It's better to have more skills than tools, more tools than rules, and more rules than rituals."

[DrRichardCranium]

Please stop telling people they don't need a compass.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[jjozgrunt]

If you know the time and it's day you can find south in the northern hemisphere and work out the rest from there. It's the opposite in the southern hemisphere you will find north. I can't be bothered to try and explain it here but this youtube video does a reasonable job. He is wrong though when he says it won't work down here, the south, as I use it all the time. Go out and practice it and have a compass to check your results. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoKQMwUx2gA

[bob7]

If you get a compass with a mirror you get a three for one package:
1. Backup if you get lost
2. Mirror for signalling aircraft and searchers during daylight
3. Mirror for hygiene, ie looking at face/teeth for cleanliness/cuts/zits

[rickb]

For whatever reason, many AT thruhikers (and perhaps that includes some giving advise in this thread) would never even consider walking out of sight of the Trail to camp.

In in certain stretches of the Trail you are require to walk a minimum of 200 feet away from the footpath to pitch a tent at a non-designated site-- if that is what you wish to do. In other sections, that is suggested as a good LNT practice.

That is not very far, but far enough that you can loose site of the trail -- and a suitable site may be beyond that minimum.

Typically you select your campsite at the end of the day when you are tired-- and light may be fading. Days are especially short for trail-hardened Southbouders accustomed to doing big miles By the time days get very short.

In my opinion a compass is essential on the well marked AT, especially for those who have the courage/desire to walk into the woods a ways to camp

[rafe]

If you know the time and it's day you can find south in the northern hemisphere and work out the rest from there.

Solar or celestial navigation doesn't work that well when it's raining or cloudy, or when the canopy is dense as to obscure your view.

Overall the AT goes mostly S-SW to N-NE, but in any given mile or tenth of a mile, it could be going in any direction.

[tour-kid]

food
water
warm enough clothes
map/compass/navagation
way to make fire
shelter
sunscreen
flashlight
first aid
repair

There is a reason these items are constantly listed in ESSENTIAL backpack gear lists.

[English Stu]

+1 for carrying one. Good for campsite selection re sunrise as said. I did use one once when a couple forestry crossings close together looked very similar and after lunching sitting on a log close by but slightly off trail I was not sure 100% which way I had come in.​

[Uriah]

food
water
warm enough clothes
map/compass/navagation
way to make fire
shelter
sunscreen
flashlight
first aid
repair
There is a reason these items are constantly listed in ESSENTIAL backpack gear lists.

And yet somehow humans did without some of these so-called "essentials" for eons (sunscreen? flashlight? first aid? hah!), likely endowed with navigating and survival skills superior to most ours here.