Night Navigation

Due to the fact that man is not a nocturnal animal seeing at night has its limitations, especially without artificial light. He becomes very unsure of himself and his surroundings especially in unknown terrain.

• Movement at Night:  Moving on foot at night will be much slower and this should be taken into consideration when planning your route.  Also remember you could be caught out, or delayed on a walk during daylight and you may have to finish your walk in darkness, especially during the winter months. Its amazing how many walkers this happens too and they have to seek assistance.
• Pitfalls:  It is essential at night or in bad visibility, prior to moving that you really study your intended route on the map before proceeding, looking for potential hazards that could be a danger to you or your party.
• Ambient Light:  This is the light that comes from the moon and stars.  On a clear moonlit night its amazing how much ground detail you can see,  especially if you do away with artificial light and just use your eyes.
• Judging Distances:  At night  judging distances is even harder than in daylight due to shadow and  dead ground.  How many times have you had someone walking towards you with a torch on, and you have said to yourself he/she is a good bit away, and before you know it that person is standing beside you.  Also you tend to imagine that you have gone much further than you really have and you may think you have missed your objective when in fact you are far short of it.
• Using your Senses:  At night and in bad visibility it is always advisable to stop, stand still and listen, its amazing what you can hear at night.  For example if you where looking for a stream or river you will hear the water, also looking for a wood or plantation you will hear the wind in the trees, even a slight wind.  All sound travels further at night.
• Safety:  When moving at night with a party it is advisable to nominate a responsible person to bring up the rear of the party or team.  Their role is to make sure that no other member of the party or team drops back behind them, thus keeping the whole group together and under control .

        It is not easy in any circumstances to hold a constant course in the dark.  Every precaution should be taken

        and plenty of practice is needed before it can be done with complete confidence.

• Check Points: Check points or targets after dark should be more prominent and more identifiable than those chosen during daylight, also closer together,i,e. shorter distances between checkpoints.
• Handrails: Full use of handrails should be made where possible. With the following in mind, that when following handrails such as streams downhill in rocky mountainous locations will often lead into difficult or dangerous terrain. So if your intentions are to follow a stream at night, a careful study of the map should be done and all steep areas, waterfalls, gullies and crags, noted and given a wide berth.

          Where possible, its best to stick to tracks and paths

Using a Compass at Night

If you have to cover distances cross country at night to get to your destination, it should be done in stages and on magnetic bearings. Once you have taken the grid bearing of your route apply the magnetic bearing to your compass, look down the bearing line and try and pick out an object or feature on your line of march, advance until you are at that location, check the bearing and carry out the same procedure until you reach your destination.

Even at night, because of the difference in darkness between the sky and the ground, you will be able to locate features, objects on the skyline, even if this means laying down to observe. The only exception to this would be bad visibility.

Point to Note: If you are having a problem seeing the luminous parts of your compass, all you have to do is shine the light of your torch onto the compass this will illuminate the luminous parts.

Looking at the pictures below you can see that the figure is just about at the limit of the cameramans visibility (photos taken on Ben Vorlich, Lochearn).

Leap Frogging

Another way is to send someone out in front of you keeping them on the bearing by talking to them, or using hand signals or a combination of both. Once that person starts to disappear from view (your limit of visibility) tell them to stop. Walk forward and join up with them and then carry out the procedure again until reach your destination. This is very useful in thick mist and heavy snow.

This method is slow, but can be very accurate when combined with pacing. The basic technique used for night navigation is dead reckoning.

Tips

When moving around in the dark, it is safer to move slowly.

Travel at a steady pace and avoid running.

You tend to travel slower and take shorter steps, you will need to adjust your pace count.

Check your position at least every 30 minutes.

Lifting your knees higher than normal when walking will reduce the risk of stumbling 

Finding the North Star

Using the stars for navigation is the original direction finding system, the ancient Phoenicians used it and even today the armed forces of most nations teach this method.

Finding north and south using the stars is an invaluable navigational aid.

Being able to make a reference to north without continually refering to a compass makes you a more competent navigator.

At night, the north star (Polaris) sits almost exactly at the north pole, i,e, true north, it is always in the same position in the night sky. It is not very bright, so to locate it we use the well known constellation (The Plough also called the Big Dipper and Great Bear) which is nearby as a way of pointing towards it.

Draw an imaginary line from the so called pointer stars in the Plough, and continue in a straight line until you get to the next bright star and you have found the north star. You can now determine the cardinals of the compass.  

If the Plough is obscured for any reason the constellation Casseopia may be used; Casseopia has a distinctive "W" configuration and is easily identified.

Using Stars

This is convenient, as the star can be followed over a much longer distance, but some precautions must be observed: choose a star that is conspicuous and easily identified. You cannot travel far without taking your eyes off it. You must be able to pick up the right star easily and quickly each time you look up to it. Choose a star not to high in the sky, nor to low. If the star is more than 30 degrees above the horizon you will have to walk with your head in the air, which is inconvenient, particularly in the dark, across country. Near the horizon stars lose their brightness and are more difficult to pick up. Choose one that you can keep it and the ground in your vision at the same time. You will have to take your eyes off it now and then to look at your feet. Stars move. A star fairly low down may move about 5 degrees sideways in twenty minutes. An error of 5 degrees is about 150 metres over 1 kilometre. The length of time you use a star will depend on how accurately you need to hit your destination. Generally you will have to choose a new star every fifteen or twenty minutes.

Night Vision Aids

There are a lot of night vision devices that can be purchased most being hand held.

They all use a combination of battery power and the ambient light from the stars and the moon. The clearer the night the better the view.