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would. Over short distances, magnetic declination won't cause too much error in your direction, but as the distance increases, the error becomes much more pronounced, and you could entirely miss your intended destination.

Reading the Map

Reading a topographic map is as much art as it is science. It takes practice to be able to read a map quickly in the field. A well-practiced hiker can envision the terrain they will be traveling and can easily identify landforms they find on the map during their hike. One of the best things you can do to work on your map reading skills is to get a topographic map of a local area that you know well, and just walk around, trying to determine where you are on your map. Before heading out into the field to practice your map, you need know a few rules:

Contour Spacing - the closer two contour lines are to each other, the steeper the slope. If the contours all come together and meet as one line, it indicates a cliff. Likewise, if the contours are spaced far apart, the terrain has a gentle slope.

The rule of V's - sometimes you will see a series of "V" shaped lines stacked like nesting dolls. These are found in stream valleys, and even if a stream isn't marked on the map, there might be seasonal or flood drainage, which could provide life saving water. V's always point upstream, so you can think of them as arrows pointing uphill.

The rule of O's - any contour line that connects to itself is marking an isolated hill. These can also represent depressions or sinkholes, but most maps hatch negative elevation lines to prevent confusion.

Also, thanks to modern technology, you can use Google Maps or Google Earth to familiarize yourself with reading topo maps. Using the terrain setting, you can see a birds eye view of a landscape. Search for a town represented on your paper map, and then start matching map landforms to real landforms. While this won't help you locate locations in the wilderness, it will help you to start making the connection between contour lines and 3-D shapes in the real world.

Using Topos to Plan a Trip

Before you head out on the trail, you'll want to sit down with your topo map(s), all the information you have about your hike, such as a guide book or website description, and a sharp pencil. Only use pencil to mark your maps because you can erase any mistakes, and pencil will not run like ink does if your map gets wet.

Use the pencil to lightly mark the trailhead. If you are hiking on poorly maintained trails, you may want to

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