Alert30

Nothing like the taste of fresh pow in the morning. Link in bio to check out this long sleeve - the perfect layer for shreddin’ the mountain. Who’s out there today?!
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The first thing to know when working with a compass is that magnetic north is NOT true north (the North Pole). Since maps are oriented towards true north, you’ll find life much simpler if the N on your compass points to true north when you box your needle (have the red arrow within the red outline –the orienting arrow).

So how do we resolve the issue of these two different Norths? Declination! Declination is simply the difference in degrees between true north and magnetic north for any particular area. But be aware: the amount of difference between true and magnetic north varies by location. (Hang in there – this gets really cool!)

Now if you’re using a topographic map, it probably has a legend that displays the declination as two straight lines, where true north has a star at the top of the line and magnetic north is indicated as MN on the other line. If your map isn’t fairly new, please feel free to ignore this legend, because not only does declination vary by area – it varies over time. Just because the declination was 12 degrees west when the map was published, it doesn’t mean that it still is.

So what’s a person to do? Just type in the zip code or coordinates for the area you’ll be hiking at this NOAA website and you’ll have the exact current declination figured out for you! -https://americanhiking.org/
Know before you go!
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For survival in the wilderness, fire is a lower priority than water and shelter.
1. Gather dry, downed wood no thicker than your arm, and small, dry twigs and leaves for kindling and tinder
2. Make a low impact fire pit by clearing away brush, or use a dry riverbed
3. Place paper and a small candle or fire starter in the fire area. Gauze soaked with petroleum jelly-based lip balm or sunscreen may work as fire-starter.
4. Stack tinder (material that, if dry enough, should ignite from a spark)
5. Ignite fire starter or tinder. Without matches, you can create spark using flint and a steel knife blade. Often flints are located on match containers or come with your firestarter.
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