SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/scout-orient-map

What does it mean to orient a map?

Turn it so it lines up with the land around you.

  1. Turn it so it lines up with the land around you ✔
  2. Fold it so north is on the outside
  3. Mark your starting point with an X

Why: An oriented map points the same way as the real world, so the trail on the map heads the same way as the trail at your feet. A compass is the most accurate way to do it.

Huh, didn't know that: Scout Life's method lays the compass edge along the map's magnetic north-south lines, then turns map and compass together.

The dad joke
I tried to orient my map, but it kept turning on me.
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Sources

  1. Scout Life (Scouting America): 9 Things to Know About Orienteering https://scoutlife.org/features/163874/9-things-to-know-about-orienteering/

Test yourself in the game

Outdoors & CampingOn a map and compass, what is magnetic declination?Outdoors & CampingA regular hiking compass needle points toward which north?Outdoors & CampingWhy might the declination printed on an old topo map be wrong today?

That's stuff everyone should know.