How to Use Maps & Guidebooks When Hiking

Video Transcript

"Hi, I’m Kate I’m here with Zoar Outdoor on behalf of Expert Village and we’re going to talk about hiking today. When you go out backpacking or hiking you should have guide books or maps to know the area that you’re going through. When you get to the area, sometimes it’s a state forest or a national forest and they’ll have maps for you or guide books and rules. They also have things you should be aware of like animals in the area, plants that are invasive, anything like that you should know about the day. When you do have a map and you get on the trail, you should first thing orient yourself to the map. Figure out where you are, what direction you’re going to, where you want to end up and have it all parted out for yourself for the day. If it’s raining you can fold your map up to the section that you’re going to be doing for that day, put in a waterproof container and have it easily accessible. This way you can follow yourself as you go, you should take frequent stops to figure out where you are on your map, you should notice trail signs to make sure you are where you think you are and you should continually read about your trail and what you should be doing. Most guide books will tell you if its steep train, difficult train, high altitude, the mileage you plan on going to the next point, etc. Make sure you’re very familiar with where you’re going and your maps and you should have a pretty good day."