The better advice is to never travel in bear country alone. Always carry pepper spray and keep it quickly accessible. Use bear bells, and carry a whistle (better yet, a marine air horn). Keep a clean camp, bear proof smellables, watch for bear signs, and know the seasonal foods that bears eat.

The first thing that should of been done is leaving someone with your trip plan which includes a check in time....one hour late, and SAR is activated

LOST - Looking Over Strange Terrain
STOP - Sit, Stay calm - Thank - Observe - Plan

However, perfect land navigation skills to prevent getting lost...

All ....in cattle country suspect growth hormones, and anti biotics. In mining country...mercury, and acids. In logging country, or forest areas impacted by forest fires....mercury, dioxins and furans.

From the topo locate nearby U shape terrain features, and plot watershed boundries...

The UTM Grid Zone Designator "N" refers to?

a. A bearing North
b. The row letter
c. The Northern Hemisphere
d. NAD 27 (The North American Datum of 1927, Clarke 1866)

Using a 12 inch ruler marked in 1/16ths, what is the "magical number" used to plot lat/lons from a 7.5 min. topo map?

a. 12 inches
b. 6 1/4 inches
c. 9 6/16 inches
d. 7.225 inches

I'm guessing but I am going to say

A.) A bearing North.

as in coordinates example: 50° 52′ 10″ N, 115° 39′ 3″ W

Trick question...b, and c...

In the civilian UTM system N designates the Northern Hemisphere. In the Military, Row N (November)

Jesus Christ Telos, I fail to see how this is even practical in a situation for a average layman.

Can you create a scenario where this would be relevant. We all know your smart, (and smarter then me) which is why I question why you have such a hard time understanding anything I post.

This kind of intellectual prowess gives you a false sense of Genius, or understanding because the Human factor can not be gauged with any amount of accuracy. People are always changing, wants, needs, etc.. conditions change the whole equation. Which is why group thinking is popular, but has never worked. blah blah blah...


I get it, you know your shit, being ex-military.

But my guess is 7.225, or D.

Okay... a sentence


Your hand held GPS is dead being chewed on by a griz the same as you were. You need to communicate your position to a SAR aircrew using a basic cell phone having no apps, nor GPS tracking. With map and compass you've established a fair fix, however SAR need lat/lons to rondy and extract.
All you have other than the map and compass is a simple 12 inch ruler marked in 1/16ths. What is the "magical number" needed to extract lat/lons coordinates from the topo.....

Correct answer - 9 6/16 (9 3/8). Using the tick marks (+), all 7.5 min topos can be divided into 9 grids of 2' 30" on all sides. 2' 30" is equal to 150 seconds, 150 seconds being the scale required. Thus, 9 6/16 provides the 150 increments needed to plot lat/lons to an accuracy of 1 meter, or less....

An old school method of fire making when everything is soaking wet....

Thanks Telos.

I'm relativity new to Bush Craft, but I live close to the Sierra Nevada mountains to test shit I learn.

But absolutely a new fish or FNG