Clearly I remember the day: My training group was navigating from point to point across miles of timbered hills and ridges. We took great care in determining our location on the map, plotting our course, and checking our bearings.

Taking note of major landmarks from an elevated perspective will help you pick a route to your objective and give you more precise bearings.

Then one afternoon we unwittingly walked in a huge circle around a peak -- a maneuver that ate up one hour of daylight and a load of calories. Our instructor let us do it, aware that we'd have to double our efforts to get to the final point by nightfall. I will share with you -- in a slightly more civil way -- what he told us that day to help us stay on course, directly to our destination.

Walk a straight line. This might sound easy, but in hilly or steep terrain, it can be a challenge. If you are navigating the slope of a ridge or hillside, your tendency will be to "slide" a heading downhill, meaning you will move forward and laterally downhill at the same time.

To counter this, pick an obvious landmark -- rock, tree, peak -- as far ahead on your compass bearing as you can see, put your compass away, and hike straight to the landmark, rather than stopping often and re-shooting a bearing. This helps prevent the "slide" and helps you better pick your path around obstacles.

Compare terrain features to your map. Topographic maps are essential, and I recommend a scale of 1:24,000 for greatest detail. Scale is the ratio of units of measurement on the map to units of distance on the ground (e.g., one inch on the map equals one mile on the ground). I buy maps through National Geographic's mapmaker (www.nationalgeographic.com/topo), which prints any designated area on waterproof paper, with no seams. Another good map website is www.mytopo.com. Or look for kiosk mapmakers in REI and Sportsman's Warehouse.

To stay on course in the field, pick out a few easy-to-distinguish landmarks and find them on the map to maintain an idea of what direction you are (or should be) from them. If in doubt, use your map and compass to evaluate your position by triangulation.

Trust your map and compass. If you rely solely on your compass or, conversely, on your map, you get only 50 percent of the information available, only half the story. To get the full story, use both.