Depth Perception in the Mountains
I'm not from the mountains.
Every time I go into the mountains I lose all depth perception. I can't tell by looking if a peak is 100 meters or a 1,000 meters above me. I have to stare hard and look for context clues (usually trees).
This has led to some hilarious problems.
- If I spend enough time in the mountains, will my depth perception improve?
- Are people who are born and raised in the mountains better at perceiving distances in the mountains?
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/5726. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
3 answers
Yes, and yes.
According to people I've talked to who work at the Grand Canyon, visitors from the western United States (especially the rural parts of the Mountain West) find the canyon more impressive than those from the east (especially the urban east). The prevailing theory is that they've learned to see long distances.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/5729. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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The difference between someone who knows the elevation of a peak and someone who doesn't is a map. Always bring a map with you, learn to read it well, and keep it dry. You'll live longer.
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Unless you're talking way above treeline, you can get some idea by what the vegetation looks like at the top or how far the peak seems to be above the treeline. This works reasonably well in the White Mountains of NH where treeline is about 5000 feet and the tallest mountains a bit over 6000 feet. Below 4000 feet, this method isn't much good because you can't see the differences between a 4000 foot and a 2000 foot forest from a distance.
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