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The art, science,
& craft of land
navigation

 

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What's Peregrine all about?

  We have three areas of focus:
  1. Build navigation skills in special courses from 1/2 to 3 days in length on a variety of topics (GPS, navigation for kids, general wilderness navigation, special topics, etc.)
  2. Research and development of  data, publications, video, internet pages and other resources of interest to outdoor travellers.
  3. Training for educators to teach wayfinding to their students through courses, as well as written and video resources.
At some level, all of us face navigational tasks every day simply finding a new store or restaurant or getting to a new place in town, but at some point the outdoor traveller may face a navigational challenge that can directly affect their comfort and safety. Malking good decisions in these circumstances can be critical and important. Recreationalists want to get serious about their skills and enhance the safety of their outings. Rescue personnel need to be able to evaluate search terrain and move through it quickly and safely. People who are "directionally challenged" need to enhance their basic survival skills. Getting around is important!

There is a shared language used by adventure programs, earth-scientists, cartographers, GIS analysts, the military, competive orienteers, boat pilots, hunters and hundreds of others and the best of each can be brought to bear on your needs.

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Why are navigation courses so popular?

Survival skills: Getting yourself lost could be anything from a minor inconvenience to a life and death situation. Everyone needs good common sense, but a few basic navigation skills can keep even the most directionally challenged out of trouble and safely home at the end of the day.

Recreation users: The skills are useful for mountaineers, backpackers, day hikers, hunters, field professionals, cross country skiers and all outdoor travelers at many different levels. The skills you can learn in a few hours can be applied on your next trip, will contribute to your safety, are practical for predicting and planning, and are fun no matter what you are doing. Longer courses go into more detail and build on the basics. From the basics of staying "un-lost", to learning the power of global positioning systems and altimeters, courses can be designed for all levels from beginner to advanced.

  • Backcountry skiers and snowboarders must avoid avalanche terrain. Proper planning and map reading can save lives.
  • Desert travelers must be able to reach water if they cannot carry all of their supplies.
  • Off-trail hunters and weed-whackin' backpackers need to evaluate their progress even if they can't see landmarks.
    • Experiential Education Applications: Navigation is built into the curricula of many youth and adult programs. Many of the benefits of teaching navigation to your students include: an enhanced awareness of the enivronment, self-reliance and skill mastery, as well as group cooperation and communication skills development. The ability of a teacher to match the spatial abilities of the students with the learning opportunity is a vital link toward success with this powerful educational and therapeutic element of outdoor education.

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    How did Peregrine get started?

    Peregrine Navigation was started by Nick Beer as a way to integrate professional map-making skills with Geographic Information Systems, a long teaching career and solid interest in outdoor adventure.

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    Who are we?

    Nick Beer has 23 years experience teaching in the outdoors and is an avid mountaineer, back-country skier, and expeditionary sailor. He has worked with Wilderness Medical Seminars, Oregon Health Sciences University, Outdoor Learning (Seattle, WA), Pacific Crest Outward Bound School, the Environmental Protection Agency, Lakeside School (Seattle, WA), Hyla Middle School and Team Builders in Washington, as well as Backpacker, Climbing, and Sports Etc. magazines. "It all started with ice climbing in bitter New England winters. Being able to get safely off the mountain before nightfall was as important as doing the climb."

    He is comitted to developing state-of-the-art training tools for helping people travel in the mountains. "Everyone has the potential to get lost. A mis-match of observations and intuition will torment you into self doubt and might lead to mistakes. People don't realize that they can navigate with very subtle clues from the environment and basic tools. Navigation is about a relationship with the land."