I highly recommend getting a copy for your map kit. Topographic Maps, contours, and feature recognition Elevation features are described on maps by use of contour lines. A contour line on a map is the line you would trace out on the terrain if you were to walk along a path of constant elevation. Making the mental translation from contour lines on a map to the terrain around you takes practice, and this article cannot possibly be a substitute for that practice. Hills - closed curves of decreasing size.
Inner curves are at higher elevation than outer curves, and the peak is within the innermost curve.
Saddles - The space between peaks can be recognized by its hourglass shaped contour lines. One might reasonably consider that to be insufficient accuracy. The problem here is in trying to identify a single point on the map to a single point in the world, without considering all the additional shape information that the topo map is providing. When reading a topo map, try not to look at the terrain around you and make quick identifications of peaks. Rather, look at the map and try to reconstruct the vertical shape of the terrain and match that to the things around you.