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Here are some helpful words to know before you get start backpacking.

 

Agonic Line - Line of zero declination, running from Florida to the Great Lakes.

Bearing - A compass reading or line that descries the direction of an object relative to your position.

Cardinal Points - Principal points of direction: north, south, east, west

Contour Lines - Brown lines on topographic maps indicating elevation

Course - The specific direction from where you are to where you want to go

DR - "Dead Reckoning" is a theoretical position based on time, course, and rate from a known point

Declination - The angle between True North and Magnetic North

LOP's - "Lines of Position" are lines on or near which you are the moment, without knowing exactly where on the line you are

Magnetic North - The direction of the flow of the earth's magnetic field

True North - The geographic North Pole. USGS topographic maps are generally oriented to True North

 

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