Compass course

As the instructor, you will be responsible for setting up the course. There are many ways to do this, but one thing that does work well is to use tent stakes to mark the control points. When you lay out the course, make sure you do not have anything magnetic on your person, as this will throw off the compass readings for everyone. If you could make it through an airport metal detector, you should be OK. Be extra careful when shooting your azimuths, and write them down. This would be a bad time to discover that your memory isn’t as good as you thought it was. If you are marking the control points, it is OK to estimate the distances. Remember that for most people two steps equal about five feet. Therefore, you can make a reasonable estimate of the distance if you start out on your left foot (like when you do marching and drilling), and count by fives every time your right foot touches the ground. If you have an accurate bearing, this should be close enough. You can also indicate the number of paces instead of the distance in feet. Your instructions should indicate that the Pathfinder should walk a particular bearing for an approximate distance and look for the tent peg. Then shoot the second azimuth and repeat, until they reach the final control point. Be sure to collect the tent pegs on the way back.

Adapted from AY Honors/Compass course on the Pathfinder Wiki, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. See the original page's history for its authors.
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