Old guy at the library set me straight on map reading

I was in the reference section last week looking at a topo map for a hike I'm planning, and this older volunteer walked over. He saw me squinting at the contour lines and said 'you're reading them backwards, those are ridges not valleys.' He was right! I had been misreading elevations on paper maps for like 10 years because I never learned the basics. Has anyone else had a random person correct a dumb habit you didn't know you had?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah_palmer4219d ago

Admit it's not that deep, you can still read a map fine even if you mix up a few lines. Most people just use GPS these days anyway so knowing ridges from valleys barely matters. Unless you're doing serious backcountry stuff it's probably not worth stressing over.

felix38519d ago

Respectfully disagree with you @noah_palmer42. Knowing how to read a map properly matters even on day hikes when the phone battery dies or you lose signal. Getting ridges and valleys backwards can put you miles off trail real quick.