This talk discusses the three aspects of the art of finding your way: knowing where to go, knowing where you are, and getting to your destination with your group intact. Assuming the listener has a basic knowledge of map reading and compass use, I will explain how to use your ears, eyes, and feet in finding your way. I will discuss the differences between what is shown on maps and in guidebooks, how to use oral information gathered enroute, what to do when the map is wrong, and how to cope with difficult routefinding situations. I will describe how even signs can occasionally be useful. Finally, I will show how to keep your group together during the trip.

Joseph Hearst is a member of the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council High Adventure Team, has 16 years experience as a Basic Backpacking Awareness course instructor, was course director for 12 fifty-mile backpacks with youths, has taken many non-youth backpacking treks in the Sierra and other ranges in North America, and long-term treks on six continents: from the desert of the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim trek and the rain forest of Australia's Great Dividing Range to the snows of the passes of the Himalaya and the summit of Kilimanjaro.

He also has a Ph.D. in Physics, and has been a researcher in Earth Sciences at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for more than 30 years. He received a Fulbright Award in 1979 and the Frank A. Morrison Jr. Memorial Award in 1987, and co-wrote "Well Logging for Physical Properties", the standard text in the field of well logging.

This Forum is OPEN to the public.
Host: Marti Hearst, (415) 812-4742, hearst@parc.xerox.com