I'd agree with most of the above, and would also like to add what might be "simple, yet unrelated concepts" to some, but they might make your navigating technique somewhat easier.
Firstly. Always ensure that your aircraft is trimmed to fly hands-off and ball centered so that you are not constantly required to divert your attention from one task to another. Once you can do this you may notice that your fatigue rate may diminish quite markedly, allowing you to free-up more brain space for your nav technique. You can actually fly the aircraft (usually successfully for up to a minute or so) by just using your feet to lift a wing slightly if required to. You'll also notice that once trimmed properly you'll need much less control forces to actually manipulate the flightpath of the a/c, thus also "saving yourself" a bit. This will allow you to hold your heading much better. Keep an eagle eye on that compass too, and make sure that it is aligned with the DI at all times (part of your CLEAROFF checks).
Once you've got that one sussed....
Quite often one mountain is in the company of others, so the shape and relationship (to other features), of each feature becomes important. HA pointed-out a good and tried and trued way of feature recognition. It works. Sheep Guts is right on the money also. On one of the legs across a desert that my company flies each week on one of it's runs, there are almost no physical features to navigate with for an entire 90 odd minute sector, save for some salt lakes off to one side just after getting airbourne that look nothing like what is depicted on the WAC chart and a small sqiggly creekline (that is about an inch long on the WAC and runs directly across the direct trackline at around the halfway mark), in company with a small saltlake off to one side of track. Accurately being able to hold heading is something that will enable you to dead reckon with more certainty and a much higher degree of precision, thus keeping the heat away from those fragile and easily overloaded brain cells when you need them most. No, I'm not saying you're thick, but it is certainly easy to become overwhelmed when embarking upon your first difficult navs.
Using 6 min markers or 10 mile markers is completely your choice. Try both and make-up your own mind what works for you best. Do keep an open mind about both ways as they both have advantages and disadvantes for someone learning the trade.
Then there is that old favourite...
ML Ctr *** request?
"*** go ahead"
ML Ctr, *** request transponder check.
"*** squawk ident..... identified 12 miles south of....."
Cheatery I know, but worked much better than calling up and saying you are "uncertain of your position"
Regards,
Ops.
Sheepy, Minyeri or the River? Them trees at HDD get a bit close on a hot day in a well loaded 210.