Sunday, March 30, 2014

Mt. Si hike 3/23 and Navigation

29pounds starting backpack weight.
2 hrs:55 min up ; 2 hrs down
Nice sunny day but ice and packed snow last 2 miles requiring microspikes.

Thought of taking advantage of  the great weather by practicing my navigation skills today.
1. At the Mt Si trailhead, set compass to obtain bearing towards the snowqualmie view point on the map. Got bearing at 328 degrees. When I reached the viewpoint, it was still pointing towards the haystack which is the right direction. My compass had the declination set.

 
2.At the snowqualmie view point,thought of identifying an unnamed nearby peak on the map. From the map contour lines identified that peak was at 4500 ft elevation. Steps to locate the peak:
1. First oriented myself with the compass and map to all point north. Had the compass N at the pointer.
2. Set it on the map at the snowqualmie view point and angled compass towards the unnamed mountain. Rotated the bezel until the meridian lines were parallel to the map's grid lines, all the while maintaining the N of compass pointing to the North of map.Found bearing of 50 degrees
3. Keeping the compass on the palm of my hand moved until the "red fred was in the shed". The peak was located.
 
 
 

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