Posted: 4/28/2010 5:26:15 PM EDT
| I do a lot of hiking. Last week I was in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The location was Luce County. I run with Topo Maps and a compass. I had layed out my course at the beginning of my day, and estimated arrival times at some predetermined way points. About half way into the trip I was following the edge of a flooded out swamp due to beavers. I was checking my compass every 500 to 600 yds to keep on track. That is my usual protocol for "detours". About midway through my detour the compass started acting strange. I would pull the compass out and it would have a hard time finding north. At one point I watched the compass spin around in a circle twice. Fortunately I had my Topo map with me and could guess approximately were I was. As I moved away from the "trouble spot" I had, my compass started reacting like it's old self and in no time was pointing true north without any problems. So did I stumble on to some iron ore or magnetite close to the surface? Also my compass is not anything special but has been good to me for years. I have relied on it many times to get me out of the thickest cedar swamps. Recommend a good replacement compass. |
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"So did I stumble on to some iron ore or magnetite close to the surface?"
Maybe, or maybe something man made. Meteorite, probably not as something with that effect on your compass would have made a pretty deep hole to bury itself. It would be interesting to go back and do a careful survey with your compass. |
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Quoted:
I do a lot of hiking. Last week I was in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The location was Luce County. I run with Topo Maps and a compass. I had layed out my course at the beginning of my day, and estimated arrival times at some predetermined way points. About half way into the trip I was following the edge of a flooded out swamp due to beavers. I was checking my compass every 500 to 600 yds to keep on track. That is my usual protocol for "detours". About midway through my detour the compass started acting strange. I would pull the compass out and it would have a hard time finding north. At one point I watched the compass spin around in a circle twice. Fortunately I had my Topo map with me and could guess approximately were I was. As I moved away from the "trouble spot" I had, my compass started reacting like it's old self and in no time was pointing true north without any problems. So did I stumble on to some iron ore or magnetite close to the surface? Also my compass is not anything special but has been good to me for years. I have relied on it many times to get me out of the thickest cedar swamps. Recommend a good replacement compass. GPS? The Iron Riches of Michigan's Upper Peninsula - Background Reading The Iron Riches of Michigan's Upper Peninsula By Donna L. Stiffler Of the six principal iron ranges, or areas, in the United States, three are located primarily in Michigan: the Marquette Range, all of which is found within the state, and the Menominee and Gogebic ranges which are located in both Michigan and Wisconsin. Approximately forty miles long and three to ten miles wide, the Marquette Range stretches across the Upper Peninsula from the city of Marquette to a few miles south of L'Anse on the Keweenaw Bay. The Gogebic Range lies partly in Michigan and partly in Wisconsin. It is divided by the Montreal River, a short stream that flows into Lake Superior about twenty-five miles east of Ashland, Wisconsin. This range extends almost eighty miles between Atkins Lake in Wisconsin and Lake Gogebic in Michigan; the Michigan section is approximately twenty-five miles long and stretches from the state boundary at Ironwood to a point slightly west of Lake Gogebic. The greater portion of the Menominee Range lies in the state of Michigan and includes the towns of Iron Mountain, Norway, and Vulcan. Main iron deposits in this range extend in an east and west direction, north of Iron Mountain. |
| Even the most expensive compass in the world will still act funny around ferrous deposits. We get that in places in the Adirondak Mountains. When demand was high they mined iron in the area (Civil War, WWI and WWII periods). Other than that it's not cost effective I guess. |
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There is a buttload of taconite and hematite (iron ores) in that area and just because a band might not be commercially viable doesn't mean it's not there. You might be able to prospect and follow the vein using your compass.
They'll screw a compass reading, especially in an area that is already in a magnetically weak area, the closer you get to the pole the more susceptible a compass gets to interference. |
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Quoted:
I do a lot of hiking. Last week I was in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The location was Luce County. I run with Topo Maps and a compass. I had layed out my course at the beginning of my day, and estimated arrival times at some predetermined way points. About half way into the trip I was following the edge of a flooded out swamp due to beavers. I was checking my compass every 500 to 600 yds to keep on track. That is my usual protocol for "detours". About midway through my detour the compass started acting strange. I would pull the compass out and it would have a hard time finding north. At one point I watched the compass spin around in a circle twice. Fortunately I had my Topo map with me and could guess approximately were I was. As I moved away from the "trouble spot" I had, my compass started reacting like it's old self and in no time was pointing true north without any problems. So did I stumble on to some iron ore or magnetite close to the surface? Also my compass is not anything special but has been good to me for years. I have relied on it many times to get me out of the thickest cedar swamps. Recommend a good replacement compass. no compass ever points to true north - unless you are on the "0" declination scale. i thought that ran through minnesota. more likely than not, you were near a iron ore deposit. cammenga compass, map and plotter. |