Adventure In Adventure OutAmherst College Outing Club – Navigation Program
In April, Farlin led a whole-day navigation program with 5 Amherst College students from the Amherst College Outing Club. They took bearings and practiced triangulation using the Holyoke Mountain range, starting from the War Memorial at Amherst College
Amherst College War Memorial in the Summer
They ventured out into the surrounding woods to practice dead reckoning through the wilderness, following a single bearing. They also learned about taking and shooting bearings from a map, and determining back bearings. The students made mini orienteering courses for eachother and they took turns following them.
Here is a method that Farlin used to help the students understand how a topographical map translates to the actual landscape, showing the depth that may not be perceived by looking at the paper.
This is one of the ways that we teach visual learners how to interpret the vertical world (the actual mountains) into a horizontal one (the mountains as represented on topographical maps).