From a Los Angeles Times article on orienteering:

From GPS to MapQuest and the most common way-finding device today, the cellphone, technology has made the world safe for the directionally challenged but at the cost of dwindling geographical awareness.

“I think it’s troublesome that people don’t pull out maps as much anymore,” says Stephen C. Hirtle, a professor of information sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. “They’re losing two senses. One, they’re losing a sense of what’s around them and the notion of connectedness. And they’re also losing some problem-solving skills they used in trying to plan routes.”

The writer says orienteering “combines hiking, trail running, Easter egg hunting and the ability to decode squiggly lines on a topo map while dodging branches and potholes.” I guess it had to happen: a sport made up of flailing through the woods wondering where the hell you’re at.

U.S. Orienteering Federation home page here. Oh, and just for real thrills: check out the International Rogaining Federation (sorry, it has nothing to do with restoring fuzz to your bald spot). Also: an orienteering blog.