Compass?

[GoLight]

About 30 years ago in Central Maine I turned the wrong way while deer hunting and like to never made it back to the road. Ever since I´ve carried a compass even for day hikes.
The suunto clip on can be a lifesaver, or at least an embarrassment saver. For $23 its worth it and will last a lifetime if not damaged in a fall. Other option is a wrist watch with compass and thermometer and altimeter. I bought a Casio about 20 years ago for $50 or $60 and it still works fine except the glow in the dark button has faded to useless.
My favorite compass is the Suunto M2 with the mirror. I use the compass for orienteering games and the mirror for tick checks every morning and night. I also use a mirror on my smartphone and have even snapped a photo of hard to see place to check on butt chaffing.
Smartphone compass is excellent idea, too when you have a signal and battery is charged. You can pull up the map on screen that shows your surrounding highways and your location, then its easy to get unconfused.

[pickNgrin]

Having a compass is a good idea for if you take a wrong turn and get lost in the woods. Most people, when attempting to walk in a straight line, will in fact go in the circle. That will get you even more lost. With a compass, if you have a general idea of where you are, you will be able to walk a straight line and intersect the trail, a known stream, a roadbed, etc.

[rickb]

Here are three questions for all those suggesting a compass is not needed on a thru hike:

1. How many times have you camped out of sight of the Trail?

2. What is the farthest distance you have camped away from the AT or a blue blaze?

3. Do you think that camping out of sight of the AT has any place on a thru hike?

[GoLight]

It is entirely possible that Inchworm would have found her way back to the trail within minutes or hours if she had a compass. For every story about a tragedy such as Inchworm there are probably thousands of stories that never get told about hikers who step off the trail to get water, or camp, or pee break and momentarily get turned around, for an hour or more, and losing time on the trail, suffering anxiety and frustration and possibly doing something irrational, like walking even further away from the trail.
When we retraced my steps that time I was lost in Maine I saw when I first got lost I was only a 100 feet from the trail, yet I turned the wrong way and walked miles out of my way to finally come to a road, and found my friends all out searching for me. Embarrassing could have ended in tragedy. A compass is a cheap, easy peace of mind, don´t hike without it.

[Fireplug]

No you don't need a compass the trail goes in every direction. Not just North or South.

[ernie84]

You do not need a compass to hike the AT, unless maybeit is winter and the trail and tress are covered in fresh snow. I know how touse a compass but have never even considered carrying one with me on the AT.Why? There is no need. What are you going to do with it? *Checks compass*"Yep, still going NOBO." It is a (roughly) north-south trail, wellblazed, with signs at nearly every intersection. It's hard to get lost! If,while taking a tinkle, you wander so far off the trail that you can't find yourway back then, #1 reconsider your hobbies, #2 walk downhill until you come to astream, follow it until it intersects with a road. It will take a day at most.There is no place east of the Mississippi River that is more than a day's hikefrom a paved road.
Selecting a campsite? C'mon. You should know what directionthe sun is going to come up without a compass. The ridges generally run SW toNE. East is on your right if you are going NOBO. If you are unsure, look andsee what direction the sun is going down. It is going to come up in theopposite direction in the morning. Adjust tent accordingly.
That being said, I always carry a good map on overnighthikes or day hikes on unfamiliar trails. I study it whenever I stop and in mytent in the evening. I like to know where I am at. It is also good thing tohave to find the quickest way off the trail if necessary. But I have met thruhikers that don't even carry a map.
This advice applies only to the AT and other similarly wellblazed trails. If you are hiking the BMT or another trail that is oftenovergrown and less well blazed, then you might consider taking a compass withyou. But honestly, you can download a free compass app on your smartphone. Iknow what you are going to say, grandpa. The battery on the phone could die.That is why you carry a Mophie or some other power source. I relied on thecompass on my iPhone when I hiked the BMT a couple years ago and it worked justfine.
But hey, if you want to buy a compass and carry the thingaround, go right ahead. I carry a camp chair with me sometimes. Just don'tmislead impressionable new hikers into thinking they must carry one too.

[ernie84]

1. While hiking on the AT? Never. Unless you count sheltersoff of side trails, which I don't.2. On blue blazes? Maybe a couple hundred yards.
3. I'm not sure why you would ever need to but if that’s whatyou plan to do then, sure, take a compass (and a map). Same goes if you areplanning to bushwhack from GA to ME.

[ernie84]

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!

It is neither hard-core nor stupid to hike without a compass on the AT. It is perfectly reasonable. I think some folks are a little more into the planning and prepping than the actually experience of backpacking.

[Sarcasm the elf]

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.

For thousands of years humans also had a four in ten chance of dying before the age of then and routinely faced both plagues and famine. Oh the good old days...

Maybe we make up new guidelines like the ten essentials because we learn from the past and find better ways to do things.

[rocketsocks]

I think the ten essentials was brought about by gear companies so we'd spend our money...like Hallmark holidays.

[rafe]

I have never actually needed or used my compass, but I always carry one. It weighs a few grams. It could be a life saver, in dire circumstances. Seems like a worthwhile "compromise." I would never suggest not carrying one on the AT, or any excursion into the back country.

[Sarcasm the elf]

It is neither hard-core nor stupid to hike without a compass on the AT. It is perfectly reasonable. I think some folks are a little more into the planning and prepping than the actually experience of backpacking.

Some of us have just been doing this long enough and on enough trails other than the A.T. to understand the importance of being properly prepared. Could you get away with hiking most parts of the A.T. without a map and compass in three season conditions? Sure, probably. But if you head into the Whites, or hit the trail in deep winter, or hike multi day on nearly any lesser used trail then not having a map and compass, or not knowing how to use them becomes a very foolish.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Personally when I see someone write "You don't need a compass on the A.T." I see it as the hiker equivalent of my college friends who would say "I'm fine to drive home I've only had four beers."

Will they make it? Sure, the odds are very good that they will, but it still doesn't make it a good idea and it absolutely doesn't make it good advice to give to strangers.

[ernie84]

Personally when I see someone write "You don't need a compass on the A.T." I see it as the hiker equivalent of my college friends who would say "I'm fine to drive home I've only had four beers."

Will they make it? Sure, the odds are very good that they will, but it still doesn't make it a good idea and it absolutely doesn't make it good advice to give to strangers.

Comparing hiking the AT without a compass to drunk driving is just ridiculous.


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[ernie84]

Some of us have just been doing this long enough and on enough trails other than the A.T. to understand the importance of being properly prepared. Could you get away with hiking most parts of the A.T. without a map and compass in three season conditions? Sure, probably. But if you head into the Whites, or hit the trail in deep winter, or hike multi day on nearly any lesser used trail then not having a map and compass, or not knowing how to use them becomes a very foolish.

I think the OP was asking whether it was necessary to carry a compass on the AT. Some of us know that it is not. As I stated in a previous comment, if you are hiking in snowy conditions or a lesser used trail, you might want to consider it.


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[ernie84]

I think the ten essentials was brought about by gear companies so we'd spend our money...like Hallmark holidays.

Or lazy writers trying to crank out a click bait article for Backpacker magazine.


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[GoLight]

I´ve been carrying a compass watch for 20 years and a pin to my shoulder strap compass for 10 years before that. I have to admit I´ve never needed one to get me out of trouble or save my life on the AT. But, being alone and scared in the woods for a few hours thirty years ago was enough to teach this old grandpa the lesson loud and clear that it costs pennies per year to be prepared, and it could cost a life to be unprepared.
It gives me peace of mind to know that its there when I do need it. Glancing at it when I´m unsure about direction gives me something to do. Life gets slow at 2 mph so I look for ways to entertain myself. But its just silly of me since nobody ever got lost on the AT, right?
I hear a lot of people say don´t waste your money on a compass. I wonder if these are the same people who say don´t waste your money on a water filter. Nobody ever got sick drinking bad water on the AT, right?

[rafe]

Or lazy writers trying to crank out a click bait article for Backpacker magazine.

Umm, no. SAR crews take that list very seriously.

Your posts on this topic bring to mind an old saw about the Internet. "Never before has so much information been available to so many. And so much of it dead wrong."

[ernie84]

Umm, no. SAR crews take that list very seriously.

Your posts on this topic bring to mind an old saw about the Internet. "Never before has so much information been available to so many. And so much of it dead wrong."

Yeah, I'm sure SAR crews are real concerned about whether you are packing your sunscreen and tent repair kit.

Your posts remind me of the guy who is always talking about his "buddy in the Special Forces". That and chicken little. Typical message board hero stuff.


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[Sarcasm the elf]

Your posts remind me of the guy who is always talking about his "buddy in the Special Forces". That and chicken little. Typical message board hero stuff.


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That's cute. Fortunately many of us here have met Rafe in the flesh out on trail over the decades.