Basic & Intermediate Land Navigation

Event Overview: Two separate classes! Take the class best suited to your needs or sign up for both to save a bit of money. FREE FOR KIDS WITH A PAYING ADULT!!! 

Basic Land Navigation – Introduction to Orienteering: 

On Saturday we’ll spend a few hours in the classroom covering the basics of land navigation and orienteering: how to read a map and use a compass to find your way, plus a whole bunch of background information on the history of cartography, navigating and alternative methods to avoid getting lost!

After lunch we’ll head out to a local park and use our newly learned skills to find several pre-positioned items. It’ll be a fun, family-friendly scavenger hunt to instill confidence and reinforce analog methods of getting around.

Intermediate Land Navigation – Advantageous Use of Terrain for the Marksman:

Sunday’s Intermediate class will focus on applying military fundamentals to the world around us. We’ll dive deeper into analyzing maps and references available to civilians through open sources. Morning classroom instruction followed by a strategic planning exercise.

After lunch, attendees will participate in a guided walkthrough of a hilly and wooded local park doing tactical terrain identification and analysis.

Required Equipment: Please plan to bring the following:

• Clothing appropriate for the weather and comfortable shoes or boots
• Pen/Pencil

Optional Equipment: The following equipment is not required but may come in handy at the event:

• Compass (If you have a compass, bring it! But don’t feel like you have to buy one for class.)
• Maps (Feel free to bring maps from your area to compare & discuss!)
• Map Case, Folder/Binder, Gallon-size Plastic Zipper Bags (To keep maps dry.)
• Protractor
• Ruler or Tape Measure
• Pencil, Grease Pencil, Colored Pencils, Markers (Fine tip preferred.)
• Sunscreen and/or Bug spray
• Change of clothing/footwear. Towel. Rain gear if needed.
• Snacks/Drinks (A way to replace electrolytes… what plants crave!)

Each attendee will receive a map & compass. Please bring your own if you have one (or more!) and we’ll cover how to use it. Do not feel like you have to buy new equipment for this class but if you’ve been wanting to get something for a while, now’s the time! 

Topics of Instruction:

• Maps: history, types, how they work
• Compasses: history, types, how they work
• Rulers/Protractors/Strings & Straight Edges: how to use these tools to aid in navigation
• Finding points on a map and locating them in the field
• Navigating from point to point
• Determining your location using a map & compass
• Pace count
• Navigating around hazards, in the dark and during inclement weather

Event Location:

Both events take place in historic downtown Lebanon, Ohio, a charming little town located midway between Cincinnati & Dayton, and not too far from Columbus. Lebanon is described as, “historic charm, reimagined.”

We’ll be meeting each morning at 9:ooam at The Lebanon Brewing Company, located at 20 West Silver St., Lebanon, Ohio 45036 for the classroom portion. Parks are located just a few blocks away and we’ll be walking to them each afternoon. Free parking is available in the bank parking lot behind the brewery (ignore the no parking signs, it’s the weekend!) and in public lots throughout Lebanon.

Lunch is available for purchase on site each day at The LBC’s Ladder 41 Kitchen or attendees may leave to enjoy lunch elsewhere. Class will reconvene at 1:00pm for the field exercises.

Lebanon is home to several boutiques, antique shops and ice cream purveyors right downtown as well as Ohio’s oldest continually operated inn, The Golden Lamb.

Accommodations and attractions abound in this area of southwestern Ohio. Please “make a weekend of it” with family and friends while attending this event! Lebanon is appx. 15min from King’s Island, one of the premier amusement parks in the nation. Right next door is Great Wolf Lodge, a giant indoor water park with hundreds of hotel rooms. There’s no excuse not to have fun this weekend!

For more information or to ask any questions:

Contact the Event Director listed below.