Even experienced woods roamers can get turned around on
occasion. Perhaps they are busy
following a set of animal tracks or maybe preoccupied trying to identify a bird
or simply hiking along a twisting trail.
And then they spot a set of footprints and realize those prints belong
to…Me! There is always a moment of thinking, No way...This can’t be me. But just as quickly reality sinks in and the
wanderer realizes that she or he has walked in circles. It’s at this point that people can go from
being turned around to getting lost.
What you do in those few moments after discovering that you are turned
around will determine whether or not you calmly readjust your internal
calibrations or go straight to being utterly lost. It’s a weird feeling realizing you are not
where you thought you should be. It’s even
more bizarre if you begin thinking that you are suddenly helpless. But allow me to make a comparison: If you are
in a city trying to get from one place to another and you take the wrong road
and get turned around you generally don’t panic or even feel particularly
lost. You are perhaps accustomed to
these temporary episodes of navigational disorientation and you simply
recalculate. If you are carrying one of
those GPS devices that talk to you the voice may indeed say,
“Recalculating.” So you wait a second
and sure enough the voice comes back and tells you which way to go. But in the woods (assuming you’re not
carrying a GPS device) you may not be aware of your navigational error. By the way, I knew a fellow who went hunting
in Montana and he got lost. He had opted
to buy a high-tech direction-finding gadget.
Only problem was that he dropped the device into a gully and when he
studied his compass he still wasn’t able to find his way out. He panicked and had it not been for two hunters
who happened by he would probably have spent a night or two listening to owls
and chattering teeth. Years ago I found
a man (or what was left of him) who had gotten lost and he too was carrying a
compass. But though compasses are handy
they only tell you direction. They
provide no information about terrain nor do they come with any sort of
tranquilizing materials to soothe frayed nerves. That, my friends, is something you must learn
to control on your own. You should also
learn to find your directions without the aid of an artificial device. Lose the device and you are sunk.
When turned around in a city you might look off and see a
large building you’re familiar with and use that as a direction guide. You can also pay attention to street
signs. In the woods you can study the
sun’s movement or if near sundown find your general directions via the setting
sun. Remember, however, that during the
winter the sun sets further south in North America and in mid-summer the sun
sets further north. But please note the
underlying requirement in either of the above two suggestions. You must stand still and not do
anything. Please take that advice
literally. If you find that you are
turned around then don’t move. Don’t
wander off because you will gain nothing by the endeavor. Just stand where you are and start
recalculating. Here are some tips:
Listen for noises that might help you determine
direction. For example, if you have
heard vehicle sounds or maybe a pump or any other sort of mechanical device then
orient on that to help you understand where you are in relation to the
noise. If the noise was north of you and
now it comes from behind you then north is to your back. This might get confusing if you are in the
mountains where sounds echo and can be deceptive. Nonetheless, aberrant noises can help you to
find your direction.
As in the city take note of large land masses or in some
cases artificial structures like radio towers or even contrails from
established airline routes. A fellow I
know told me about getting lost years ago in Nevada. Night came and he was still lost in the
desert. He rounded a knoll and in the
distance saw a pulsating radio tower that he knew was near a town he was
familiar with. On the ground he marked
out an arrow indicating the direction of that faraway blinking red light. The next morning he took note of the arrow in
the dirt and although the direction felt all wrong to him he decided to follow
it. He made note of boulders and hills
in the distance and went from point A to point B and after a few hours he
reached a dirt road.
The key to all of this is remaining calm. Panic will in this case, harm you. By the way, panic in nearly all other cases
does nothing to you. Don’t fear
panic. In fact, revel in its occurrence
and it will have less of an effect on you afterwards. Only when you fear panic are you at its
mercy. When you decide that it will
not control you nor interrupt your life it will begin to abate. Everyone, or nearly everyone, experiences
panic at one time or another in their life. But remember that panic is never going to hurt
you but with one exception and that’s when you are suddenly turned around in
the woods. At that moment you must force
yourself to sit down and do nothing. If
you are afraid then think of the time you were at the beach and the waves began
brushing against you. A wave would come
and build and build and then suddenly it was gone. That is all that panic in the woods can do. It will build like a wave and then be
gone. Sit still and recalculate. If you are carrying a compass then study
it. But also study the direction the
clouds are moving and as well the movements of the sun. In some areas the prevailing winds are an
excellent indicator of direction. In
South Texas, for example, winds usually come from the southeast off the Gulf of
Mexico. Stop and feel the wind. Face the wind and you are facing
southeast. In your part of the world
there are similar phenomena. Learn about
them and study them and always remain alert to your surroundings. And the next time you are turned around you
will do nothing more than smile and, in fact, you might even relish the
experience. You will realize that you
are simply human and were so engaged in enjoying the woods you failed to note
that you were going in circles. Stop and
recalculate. Nature is beautiful.
