As you stand at the head of a long valley your general navigation is clear - go down the valley and up over the pass at the end of it. But how do you find the best route that will avoid as many obstacles as possible?

This is where routefinding skills come into play. First of all there is no better teacher than experience. So if you want to become proficient at navigation and routefinding then get out there in the mountains and practice. Even when you go on a trail hike, get used to checking your map and being able to quickly and easily identify your location and route.

But there are some techniques and information that can help you along as you build your own storehouse of field experience and knowledge.

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A Bird's Eye View

A lot of the backcountry trips I do in the summer are remote fly-in treks. There's no better way to scout a route than to fly over it in a single engine plane. This might seem almost like cheating but in fact if you aren't careful, your fly over will actually benefit you very little. Check over the route in detail before you hop in the plane. The more familiar you are with the overall route the easier it will be to get your bearings once in the air. But don't try to commit the whole flight to memory. There is just so much to see that you will find it difficult to absorb it all. You may be scratching your head as you try to recall the idea you had for a traverse while flying over it four days earlier.

So as you fly over the route concentrate only on those areas where you have the most questions. For example, the contours on the map may show a steep ascent up a narrow ridgeline which looks fairly doable on the map. But when you fly over it you might find that the crest which looked so smooth on your hundred foot contour map, is a jagged saw-tooth edge that would require technical climbing. That's the sort of thing you can learn on a fly over that can save you a full day detour later.

Bushwhacking

One obstacle that everyone wants to avoid is heavy brush. A mile of thick alder could take four hours or more to traverse. Again, scope out the brush from above, and not just from a plane but anytime you have elevation on your trip. Let's say you top out on a pass and are getting ready to cut across the next valley. Take your time to plot a route that will avoid the worst of the brush if there is any. This is an area where experience helps.

Most folks know that the green areas on a map signify vegetation. But on Alaska maps it doesn't always mean a lot. I have seen areas that looked like heavy brush on the map that turned out to be no big deal. Other areas may show no green at all and turn out to be the bushwhack from hell.

And it all looks good from the inside of a Super Cub at 800 feet and 150 miles an hour. Likewise the brush down in the valley might not look so bad from high on a ridge. You need to learn how to "read" brush from a distance. Different types of brush have very different color and texture. Look at the vegetation down in the valley then look around you at the brush close at hand. In this way you can tell a lot about the type and density of brush that is far away and plan accordingly.

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Many times even a brushy valley will have islands of clear ground. If you can string together these areas you can greatly reduce the bushwhacking needed. But to do this requires careful attention to creating a mental map based on landmarks. That's where it gets tricky. I have successfully used clumps of vegetation to serve as a landmark but it needs to be distinctive. When you're down in the thick of it everything looks the same if you haven't really burned-in the route.

Up, Down and Across: Valleys

Routes in the Alaskan backcountry are all about drainages - up one and down another. The drainages become the guiding structures of your route. So you need to learn about how valleys work and how to navigate up, down and across them.

Every valley is a bit different but there are a few generalizations. The floors of valleys are tempting as they are the flattest terrain around but they can also be the brushiest. Heading up the side of a valley can keep you above the brush. But what appears on the map to be an easy traverse can turn out to be a constant struggle over boulder fields and steep gullies. Remember, those 100 foot contour intervals may not show any indication at all of an 80 feet deep ravine with sides too steep to negotiate.

Often it's a matter of finding the balance: high enough to stay above the brush but low enough to avoid the worst of the rocks.