Advanced Land Navigation

Move beyond simply following a bearing and learn to navigate with confidence through unfamiliar terrain. Rather than relying solely on your compass, you'll learn to use terrain features to guide your movement, evaluate route options, and make sound navigation decisions in real-world conditions.

Advanced Land Navigation builds upon the fundamentals by teaching you how to interpret the landscape, plan effective routes, locate points, and move efficiently in challenging terrain. Designed for those who already understand the basics, this course helps develop the judgment and decision-making skills needed to navigate confidently with greater speed and accuracy.

While certain components are taught as a group, you’ll have time to move solo between checkpoint sets — at your pace and skill level — with personalized coaching along the way to accelerate improvement and build confidence. Whether you're pushing your backcountry capabilities to the next level, seeking greater self-reliance in the outdoors, or preparing for an upcoming assessment, this training sharpens practical navigation skills under realistic conditions.

Our training stands apart because we only run small classes to maximize your training experience. With more opportunities for observation and feedback, you'll develop the skills, knowledge, and judgment to navigate with confidence.

You'll train with highly experienced instructors who routinely teach this same skill set to members of the U.S. military and special operations community. They bring that same structured, high-standard approach into a welcoming learning environment focused on building genuine competence, sound decision-making, and lasting confidence in the field.

Highlights

Advanced Land Navigation is the natural next step after Basic Land Navigation. Many clients complete both in a single weekend — transforming foundational knowledge into confident, independent execution.

This course is also appropriate for members of the U.S. military preparing for upcoming selection courses and leadership assessments. After all, land navigation is land navigation. However, military personnel and enlistment candidates seeking more advanced or assessment-specific training may prefer to consider our dedicated Mil-Nav Program offerings.

We'll supply all of the key gear and materials. We'll provide compasses, maps, map cases, and protractors.

What Prior Clients Have Said

• Erik and Terry are excellent instructors … I cannot recommend their course enough if you have no prior knowledge in land navigation and want to become proficient enough to feel confident with the skill. They teach a well paced course with individual attention and care.” — TJ
• “I spent the weekend with Erik completing both the Basic and Advanced Land Navigation courses. Absolute hell of a time that I will not forget. Erik is a highly effective educator … He was clearly concerned that we were retaining what he was teaching. I learned a lot in two days … I will likely take one of his other courses in the future. Thanks again Erik.” – Charles
• “I went from zero knowledge of how to use a map and compass … to knowing how to plot UTM coordinates and use them to plot a route, navigate to an area, and find a specific point using basic search patterns. Erik was a very knowledgeable instructor and I look forward to learning more from him and the future.” — Kenneth
• “My training in the Army Reserves spent little time on land nav... but after this weekend I not only have a great foundation, but now I can practice this skillset on my own time as well.” — Tom
• “Our instructor was incredible … great job taking you from knowing nothing to feeling quite comfortable navigating on your own. I highly recommend True North!” — Ahron

Related

The physical difficulty of this course is Moderate. This course involves walking over varying distances at a steady pace over varying terrain that will include off-trail sections, rough spots, unexpected obstacles, and low to steep inclines and declines. This course is conducted in varying weather conditions, including hot, cold, humid, rain, wind, and snow, or a mixed combination. This course is best suited for those in generally good physical condition. It's typically an active day, but since you'll be spending most of it solo, you can set your own pace.

This course is run as a one day session. You will begin at 9:00 am and finish by 4:00 pm.

Once you book a slot, then one of our staff will follow up personally with an email. It will include three short forms for you to complete and return to us. We will also send you the course information sheet, which will contain all of the details that you will need to prepare and arrive (like required and optional gear; exact rally point; general driving directions; and overnight recommendations).

The only prerequisite to take this course is that you have prior land navigation training and recent, ongoing practice. So, you should be able to find your location on a topographic map, set an appropriate bearing between two points, and have the ability to dead-reckon to your objective. While your instructor will happily refresh certain skills in an effort to fine-tune your ability, this course is not intended to be a dedicated “refresher course.” If you recently completed our Basic Land Navigation course, then you are all set.

This course is often run as a private one to better meet the specific needs and schedule of our clients. Please contact Erik to learn more (412.913.6000 or erik@exploretruenorth.com).

We typically reply to emails and telephone calls within 1-2 hours. Please note, however, that it may be as long as 24 hours if we are away teaching.

Children 15-17 years old are welcome when accompanied by a parent or guardian. In our private courses, there is no set age requirement as it depends on the specific group’s needs and goals.