I learned navigation two ways. One was hiking, and included everything from reading a map and compass to "dead reckoning" miles walked by estimating speed and keeping track of time.

I still do both of those when we are hiking.

I also learned celestial and coastal navigation as a sailor. And I am happy to say that I never ended up in Hawaii by mistake.

The answer to your second question? If the waypoints are .10 mile apart, and I DON'T have a backpack on, then I am estimating something like 25 minutes to hike that half mile. It's pretty steep and I don't know if there is a trail, or what kind of trail, or just rough terrain. That makes a huge difference.

And now for some navigation humor--this from my grandmother, who pass away some forty years ago. It was one of her favorite jokes.

THE HUNGARIAN MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS

It turns out the the four Hungarian mountain climbers had been very successful, and found themselves on top of a towering peak in the Alps. And yet, there was some disagreement about the name of the peak. Some believed that it was called one thing, and others insisted that it was really called something else.

After some heated discussion, the group decided to request their navigator settle the argument. He pulled out his map and compass, and carefully studied them both. He took a sighting of the sun, and checked his map again against the surrounding peaks.

At last he came to a decision.

He pointed to a tall peak on the horizon, soaring high into the sky. "Do you see Mt. Blanc over there?" he asked all of his companions. They all agreed that they could see it.

"Well," concluded the navigator with great certainty. "We are right on top of it!"


Ahhh. Czech humor!