What is a compass course?

There are many different types of compass courses.  In general all a compass coures is are points on a map that must be visited.  The points do not have a set trail between them.  To get from the first point to the second point you could go straight as the crow flies or you could detour around obstacles if you think that be doing so you could make bette time.  Orienteering is the sport that has been built up around running (or walking) a compass course.

What is Orienteering?

Orienteering started in Scandinavia as a way to teach troops how to navigate.  In Norway it became an official sport and the first offical event was sponsored on October 31, 1897.  The courses usually have between ten and fifteen control points (controls) that must be visited in order to compete the course.  At each control a punch is used that is different for each site so that the judges know the competitor has been to the control.  The International Orienteering Federation IOF sponsors events and the World Cup for orienteering.  In the US the United States Orienteering Federation has some 600 planned events in 2006.

Compass Courses:

Compass courses can be as long as is wanted or as short as possible.  Creating a compass course in you own back yard  just for the fun and practise of using a compass can be fun.  Walking or running in the case of die hards a compass course in open terrain usually in woods lets you really get out in the country.  The map above is a compass course that the creator of the solar compass created to test the diferences between the solar compass and the magnetice compass.  This map only has distances and degree turns, but most orienteering maps are a wealth of information in and of themselves.  Everything possible is detailed in orienteering maps down to the locations of rocks, trees, and even vegetation.

The actual walk:

To know where you are at all times as you find the different controls for the compass course is a different experience from following a path or a track that has been laid and beaten into the earth.  On a path you look for the big stuff in the distance like mountains or buildings, when orienteering you only look far enough ahead to line up trees and rocks with your current heading.  Sometimes this is only twenty feet ahead, sometimes this is even less when dealing with poor visibility.

Orienteering Equipment:

You don't really need anything for a compass course is a compass, and a map.  Compasses are pretty standard and most organized compass courses have compasses available to rent.  The map is made by the sponsors of the event and can be anything from copies of map made with a pen and pencil to computerized maps made with some kind of CAD software.  Of course shoes that fit well and are made for a little bit of the hard work only add to the experience.  Once you are a orienteering pro there are all kinds of ways to make your orienteering experience more fun.