Compass Work - Martin River Provincial Park

Today I set out with Chris Beatty and Bill Steer for a trip to the old growth forest trail in Martin River Provincial Park.  The weather was sunny and cool for our early morning departure of 7:45 am.  Bill brought a couple of compasses, map, and gps so that we could practice our navigating skills.

The trip to the park gate took 40 minutes and our first task after parking was to orient our map to north.  Easy to do -- an essential first step.  "Here we are, now where do we want to go."  We took a compass bearing -- west, then marked our spot with the gps and headed off in search of the trail head.

Chris and Bill measure the diameter of a White Pine.

As we travelled we often referenced the map, checked our compass heading, and marked significant geographic features on the gps.  These basic skills are simple to learn and easy to do; the result is you pay more attention to where you are and where you are going.  This was a great training exercise and something I'll do on future to adventures.

Dressed as Hunter

It was smart to dress as a hunter on this adventure.  It is hunting season.  People are carrying guns and the popular colour is orange.  Chris Beatty was kind enough to loan me the orange and we headed off up near Sand Dam Road and started exploring.  The weather was at the freezing mark, so depending on the sunshine it was either snowing, a light drizzle, or nothing but fresh clean air.  This time of year -- with the leaves mostly off the trees allows you to see the terrain and explore easily off trail.

We did not encounter any large game, but we did spot 4, what I believe were Otters, and 1 graceful Eagle.