I've posted some navigation items before and this is one more for the new folks. It's easy to get off course even when walking on fairly flat land. There are several reasons for that.
1. We all have a dominate foot so your stride is a bit stronger with that leg. Walking in a straight line is not all that easy because of it.
2. Packs that are loaded unevenly can cause us to drift.
3. We naturally tend to shy away from places like cliffs or ravines of even if you have strong sun in your face.
4. Many of us have a tendency to always pass objects on the same side. In other words we may walk around an obstacle by passing it always to the right or to the left.
Knowing these "tendencies" will always try to lead us off course is probably the first important step. But you can compensate for any or all of them even if you don't have a map and/or compass.
Dead reckoning is nothing more than determining your current position by calculating your course and distance from the last known location. For example. One hour ago you were standing at the truck. You calculate you can make about 4 miles per hour given the terrain and your conditioning so you "dead reckon" you are four miles from the truck.
If you have a map but no compass, you can then plot your estimated location on the map. Your calculations will take into consideration any known features such as a river or mountain against their locations on the map.
If you do not have a map then try this. Remember that sheet of paper and pencil you carry in your kit? It's time to drag it out. Establish a North direction on the piece of paper. Establish a scale so the entire route fits on the paper. The starting point and your estimated location are plotted on the paper as accurately as possible and in accurate relationship to each other. 1 inch = 1 mile for example. You need to establish actual direction on the ground. Which way in North, South, East and West? We've talked about many different ways to do that so I won't go into it here.
If you are on flat ground, pick a distant landmark and walk toward it. You can also find TWO landmarks ahead of you and line them up. OR find two prominent landmarks BEHIND your and line them up.
If you are in a heavily wooded area you can still accomplish the same thing but the prominent features will be much closer. If you have the ability to attain high ground or climb a tree (you aren't injured or other wise impaired) then you can still find a distant point to navigate toward.
Continue to plot your progress on your home made map and try to be accurate in relation to the scale you've chosen.
Some folks find this so easy to do while others struggle so hard at it. It's only my personal opinion but I truly believe some of us have a genetic ability to orient by dead reckoning and some folks simple don't have the genetics that allow them to. Whatever the reason, if you find it difficult then the above methods can work well for you if you practice it often and always keep in mind those things we discussed above that will steer you off course.
