Wilderness Navigation Tools

The Brunton TruArc 10 is a baseplate-style compass with a declination adjustment that is best suited for use in forested or mountainous terrain where you can rarely see your destination. Featuring a global needle, you can also use the TruArc 10 compass interchangeably …

The Suunto M-3 D Compass is a baseplate style adventure compass with a declination adjustment that is optimized for use in forested or mountainous terrain where you can rarely see your destination. I’ve been using mine for 10 years, ever since I …

I’ve owned the same Suunto A10 Compass for years and can recommend it highly for 3 season hiking. The markings on mine are  a little worn, as you can see, but it has all of the key attributes you need for following …

The Garmin inReach Mini (MSRP $350) and the inReach Explorer+ (MSRP $449) are satellite-based communicators that share a common set of capabilities in terms of emergency communication, two-way messaging, tracking, and navigation. Both units require the purchase of a satellite messaging subscription …

If you own a Garmin GPS receiver, you can save yourself a chunk of change by downloading and installing the free user contributed maps available at GPSFileDepot.com which has an excellent collection of US topographic maps, as well as maps from all over the …

Maplets is an iPhone App and an Android App that lets you track your location using GPS on an offline map that you’ve downloaded to your phone or tablet. Once you purchase the app, you can download any map you want for free. …

I keep several map books in my car for the different states that I hike and backpack in, called Gazetteers. They’re published by a company called Delorme (recently acquired by Garmin) and contain detailed maps of each state including all of the …

If you hike in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest, you should get yourself a copy of Guthook’s New England Hiker App (iPhone and Android) which has maps for most of the trails listed in the Appalachian Mountain Club’s White Mountain Guide. It’s …

GPS Smartphone navigation just got easier using Geospatial PDF, an extension to Adobe’s Portable Document Format that let’s you encode GPS features with PDF documents. Imagine being able to download a PDF map to your phone for a state park or ski resort and having …

I started using Caltopo.com to plan and document all of my hikes and backpacking trips about a year ago after my friend Matt (Matt’s Hikes) recommended it on the approach hike to Peak Above the Nubble. Matt raved about Caltopo’s ability to print …

I have been reading a lot of books about compass navigation this year to improve my skills as an off-trail navigator and to figure out if there is a better way to teach compass navigation to hikers who want to learn it. …

The Casio PAG240-1CR Pathfinder Triple Sensor Multi-Function Sport Watch has a built-in barometric altimeter that helped transform my off-trail navigation skills this year. While it is a fully featured sports watch and has many built-in functions, including a compass, barometer, thermometer, multiple times …

The first thing I do when I evaluate digital mapping software is to look at the accuracy of the maps provided or available with the software. You can have the best user interface or software features in the world, but if the …

The Fox 40 Classic Whistle weighs just 0.1 oz, but it is one of the most important pieces of safety gear that I own. Every one of my backpacks has a whistle attached to it. If you need to be found or …