Know your distance
by Alex
(Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
Some sound advice before venturing out in the bush is to know how many paces it takes for you to walk a hundred meters. That way when you are navigating you can keep track of the distance covered in relation to your map.
The average grown man will take between 65 and 75 'right footed' paces in a hundred meters or between 130 and 150 paces. Just count every left or right step and when you reach 65 or so start over. Each consecutive recount should be 100 meters.
Its an excellent and quick way of calculating distances traveled. Also important is to keep track of how many consecutive recounts you do.