FoF Wilderness Workshops
Each year, the Friends host a series of outdoor skills workshops. The emphasis this year is Wilderness Navigation. Sign up at our online store.
Visit the Events Calendar page for free education activities.
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Wilderness Navigation: Introduction to Using Maps. Level One.
This one-day workshop teaches the basics of navigating with only a map.
Topics will cover:
- information found on a map,
- using the Grid Reference System,
- Measuring Distance,
- Contour Lines,
- WETMan,
- and Triangulation.
You will also learn to tell direction using the sun, and will practice your new skills through a 3-km guided hike along Doe Lake.
Experienced map users will gain new knowledge, and inexperienced students will leave, confident and ready to solo-hike on marked trails.
Please note, this course is one of three Navigation Courses, and is a prerequisite for the next two levels (Level 2, Navigation with Map & Compass, and Level 3, Navigation with Map, Compass & GPS).
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Wilderness Navigation: Advance Techniques with Maps and Compass. Level Two.
This one-day workshop builds on the skills and knowledge acquired during the Level One session and introduces the use of the compass.
Topics include:
- measuring bearings on the map and from the ground,
- converting bearings from magnetic to grid and vice-versa,
- marching on a bearing,
- determining and setting magnetic declinations,
- and using the resection method to determine one’s location.
This instruction will be confirmed through a challenging map and compass march to select points within the Park.
Please note, this course is one of three Navigation Courses.
Attendees must have taken Level 1, Navigation with Map.
This course is a pre-requisite for Level 3, Navigation with Map, Compass & GPS.
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Wilderness Navigation: Advance Techniques with Maps and GPS. Level Three.
This two-day workshop teaches the basics of navigating with a GPS device and a map.
Topics will cover:
- programming the GPS
- creating waypoints
- using the GPS for navigation.
The workshop will include a challenging navigation exercise using the GPS.
NOTE: the workshop is built around the Garmin 62 series handheld GPS but any make and model of GPS is welcome.
This workshop is the final in a series of three Wilderness Navigation courses. Completion of Navigation 1 (Maps) and Navigation 2 (Maps and Compass) is required as a prerequisite to this course.
