The phone in your pocket is a more capable navigation device than the best dedicated GPS units of a decade ago. It is also a glass-fronted, battery-powered computer that was designed for coffee shops, not ridgelines. Used well, it is one of the best navigation tools most hikers will ever own. Used casually, it dies at the trail junction where you needed it most.

When you can’t see, you navigate by instrument, not by eye. How to travel safely in fog, whiteout, and darkness using compass bearings, pace counting, and terrain handrails.

Lost your compass or drained your phone? Find north with a stick and the sun, an analog watch, or the stars — and turn a rough direction into a straight line toward safety.

A complete guide to map and compass navigation: reading contours and scale, setting declination, orienting the map, taking and following a bearing, fixing your position by resection, pacing and timing distance, and the route tricks that keep you found when GPS fails.