Learning to use a compass to tell if you’re hiking in the right direction is quite simple and useful for any hiker. For example, if you get turned around on a hiking trail and don’t know which direction you’re facing, you can use a compass to orient yourself and the top of your map, which is always north. While the orientation won’t be an exact match (for technical reasons I don’t want to get into here), it’s usually good enough in North America and the United Kingdom to get you headed in the right direction if you stick to established hiking trails.
First, hold the compass flat in front of you in the palm of your hand or flat on the ground and note the direction that the floating needle (which is usually colored red) is pointing to: that is north. You can ignore the compass dial and all the markings on the rest of the compass. No matter how you turn the compass (as long as you keep it flat), that floating arrow will always point north. If you line up the right or left edge of your map so it’s parallel to the direction that the arrow is pointing to, with the top of the map closest to the arrow, you’ll be able to decide whether you want to head north, south, east, or west. Try it.
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