Orienteering vs. Land Navigation
In 2022, a 20-point Orienteering and Land Navigation Course was installed at Deerfield Nature Park.
- Location & Hours
- 2425 W. Remus Rd., Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858
- Open All Year
- Park Hours: 8:00 am – Dusk
- Fees
- A daily entrance permit to access the park is $6.
- Annual permits can be purchased at the park: $25 for Isabella County residents, $35 for Non-County residents.
Orienteering is a sport in which orienteers use an accurate, detailed map and a compass to find points in the landscape for pleasure or sport. Enjoy a refreshing walk in the woods or time yourself to make it a competition!
Land Navigation is the discipline of following a route through unfamiliar terrain on foot, using a map of the terrain, a compass, protractor, and other navigational tools to find points in the woods. This skill is normally exercised in a sanctioned event and rigorously tests one’s knowledge in traversing terrain. It is highly recommended that an individual is taught Land Navigation skills before attempting Land Navigation on their own on this course.
The Land Navigation and Orienteering courses are the same course, but the course is used differently depending on whether you are using it for Orienteering or Land Navigation.
Orienteering at Deerfield Nature Park
How to use the Course for Orienteering
Start by choosing a course based on the level of difficulty you desire. There are 6 Easy Courses, 3 Medium Courses, 3 Hard Courses, and 2 Expert Courses.
Before Starting the Course, Go Through the Four-Point Safety Check!
- Always take a buddy and tell someone else where you are going, what you are doing, and when you expect to be back.
- Make sure you have all of the proper equipment and gear: charged cellphone, lane card, small backpack, proper clothing, compass, writing utensil, map, and water
- Trust yourself and use common sense. If something seems unsafe or dangerous, it probably is!
- Respect wildlife and do not provoke it.
- STEP 1 | Lane Cards
- Each orienteer needs a lane card, available at the links below or at the park entrance gate. These lane cards consist of the start point, 3 or 4 points to find (depending on the course difficulty level you choose), and the distance and direction from one point to another. These lane cards will be filled out at each point (wooden post) you find to check your work!
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- Each orienteer needs a lane card, available at the links below or at the park entrance gate. These lane cards consist of the start point, 3 or 4 points to find (depending on the course difficulty level you choose), and the distance and direction from one point to another. These lane cards will be filled out at each point (wooden post) you find to check your work!
- STEP 2 | Pace Count
- Next, determine your pace count. Count your left steps from the START post to the 25m post and multiply by 4.
- The START post is located just east of the Deerfield Nature Park Sledding Hill parking lot near the pit toilet and the 25m post is located just north of the parking lot.
- This number will help you track every 100m you travel to meet the given distances on the courses.
- Write down your pace count so you don’t forget it.
- Next, determine your pace count. Count your left steps from the START post to the 25m post and multiply by 4.
- STEP 3 | Using the Compass
- Next, start from the START point of the course and shoot your azimuth to the first point on the lane card.
- Holding the compass level, match with your compass the same number that says “azimuth” on the lane card for the point you are trying to locate.
- Keeping the compass level, begin to walk the distance to your point. The distance is noted by the “distance” in meters on the lane card.
- Note: When calculating your own azimuths based on UTM or MIL coordinates, you will need to account for the 7° declination angle on this course.
- STEP 4 | Finding a Point
- Once you locate your point (wooden post), mark down the letter found on the wooden post onto your lane card.
- STEP 5 | Continue the process until you have found all of your points.
- The 3 or 4 point letters you found on the wooden posts should spell a word.
- STEP 6 | Return to the START point using the park roads, trails, and map.
- If you believe you are lost at this point, use your phone’s GPS.
- STEP 7 | Check Your Work
- You have the option to check your work and make sure you spelled the right word by viewing the Orienteering Solutions Answer Key.
Panic Azimuth
A panic azimuth is used if you ever become lost or turned around and do not know how to find your location. This can be a stressful scenario, but trust your judgment and stay calm. Shoot a panic azimuth of 0 degrees (North) and walk in that direction until you find one of the following: the Chippewa River or the paved highway, M-20. If you reach the river, keep heading North until you reach the entrance of the Deerfield Nature Park Trail.
Land Navigation at Deerfield Nature Park
How to use the course for Land Navigation
On the Land Navigation course, there are 21 preset courses for daytime and nighttime including 16 non-self-correcting difficult courses and 5 self-correcting easy courses. Additional courses may be created using the dataset found here, which contains the post number, post letter, post name (Marvel character name), UTM and 8-digit grid coordinates for each point as well as calculated distance and map azimuth between all points. The points are distributed over the 591 acres of land at Deerfield Nature Park with some points being easily accessible and others being off the beaten track!
Before Starting the Course, Go Through the Four-Point Safety Check!
- Always take a buddy and tell someone else where you are going, what you are doing, and when you expect to be back.
- Make sure you have all of the proper equipment and gear before starting. (charged cellphone, small backpack, proper clothing, compass, notebook, military protractor, headlamp (for night land navigation), writing utensil, map, and water)
- Trust yourself and use common sense. If something seems unsafe or dangerous, it probably is!
- Respect wildlife and do not provoke it.
- STEP 1 | Equipment & Knowledge
- Land Navigation requires the use and skill of terrain map reading, using a military protractor, plotting 8-digit UTM grid coordinates on the terrain map, and converting grid azimuths to magnetic azimuths.
- You will need a hardcopy of this Deerfield Nature Park Terrain Map printed at actual size (11″ x 8.5″) to practice Land Navigation on this course.
- STEP 2 | Lane Cards
- Each land navigator needs a lane card, available at the links below or at the park entrance gate, to complete the course. These lane cards consist of the start point and the 8-digit grid coordinates of the 2 or 4 points you are to find. These lane cards will be filled out at each point to check your work.
____________________
- Each land navigator needs a lane card, available at the links below or at the park entrance gate, to complete the course. These lane cards consist of the start point and the 8-digit grid coordinates of the 2 or 4 points you are to find. These lane cards will be filled out at each point to check your work.
- STEP 3 | Plotting the Points
- From your lane card, you will be given 2 or 4 points to find and the 8-digit grid coordinates for these points.
- Using the military protractor, you will plot these points on the terrain map to plan the best route to find the points.
- When plotting the points, split the 8-digit number in half to make two four-digit numbers.
- The first four-digit number is the Easting (moving west to east on the map).
- The second four-digit number is the Northing (moving south to north on the map).
- Think, left to right, bottom to top.
- Align the military protractor in the correct coordinate on the map by using the first two numbers of the four-digit numbers.
- Then, using the last two numbers of each four-digit number move left to right and then bottom to top on the lines of the protractor.
- Once you have calculated where the point is, mark it with a pen or pencil on the map. Do this for all of the points, including the START point.
- STEP 4 | Calculating the Distance and Direction from Point to Point and Finding the Grid Azimuth
- With the points plotted on your map, it is time to figure out how far they are away from each other.
- Using a spare piece of paper (even your lane card) place it over two points so that you can see the top half of the dot you made on your map for each point.
- Mark a line on the piece of paper at each point so that you have two dashes on the spare piece of paper, this being the distance between the two points.
- With the paper making a straight line between the two points, place the middle of your protractor on the point from which you will be traveling.
- Make sure the protractor is square on the map.
- On the outer edge of the protractor, find the number the piece of paper lines up with. This is the grid azimuth from the point in the middle of the protractor to the point you are finding the distance to.
- Mark the grid azimuth down.
- To find the distance between the two dashes you have marked on your spare piece of paper or the lane card, measure them by using the scale at the bottom of the map. This will give you a reading in meters.
- Do this for all of your points.
- STEP 5 | Converting Grid Azimuths to Magnetic
- To convert Grid azimuths to magnetic (compass direction), simply take the “declination angle” (7 degrees) and add it to the grid azimuth.
- Do this for all of your grid azimuths.
- STEP 6 | Pace Count
- Determine your pace count. Count your left steps from the START post to the 25m post and multiply by 4.
- The START post is located just east of the Deerfield Nature Park Sledding Hill parking lot near the pit toilet and the 25m post is located just north of the parking lot.
- This number will help you track every 100m you travel to meet the given distances on the courses.
- Determine your pace count. Count your left steps from the START post to the 25m post and multiply by 4.
- STEP 7 | Using your azimuths and calculated distances, find your points and record the letter AND number combination on the metal sign on the point marker.
- Record this combination for the correct point that you are at.
- Return to the START point when you are done.
- STEP 8 | You have the option to check your work by viewing the Land Navigation Lane Answer Key.
Panic Azimuth
A panic azimuth is used if you ever become lost or turned around and do not know how to find your location. This can be a stressful scenario but trust your judgment and stay calm. Shoot a panic azimuth of 0 degrees (North) and walk in that direction until you find one of the following: the Chippewa River or the paved highway, M-20. If you reach the river, keep heading North until you reach the entrance of the Deerfield Nature Park Trail.