This week, learn navigation skills from the Wilderness Navigation Challenge - a series of about 80 questions and answers/explanations that cover beginner to intermediate wilderness navigation skills.

It's designed as a teaching tool and for self-evaluation. Every question is followed with an answer and explanation, so you can learn as you go along.

Below are a few sample questions and answers from the challenge. If testing your knowledge and learning more about navigation flips your switch, you can check out the entire navigation challenge here.

Note - at the bottom of the answer slides, you may see a reference for a “Lesson number”. That refers to a youtube video series that covers that topic in detail if you’d like to learn more.

Here’s the video that covers today’s topic.

This week - map scale. Understanding scale lets you calculate real world distances on a topo map.

• What’s considered a “small scale” and “large scale” map for backcountry use?

• You have a map with a ratio scale of 1:50:000. One cm on your map equals how many km in the real world?

• Would a 1:100,000 scale map be a good choice for a technical climbing trip?

• How can you use a twig to measure distance on your map?

Break a twig to match a mile, kilometer, or multiple thereof on your scale bar. Then, leapfrog the twig along the map to measure real world distances.