SWDR

Every time you go out into the wild you should always take note of which direction you are going/coming from, If you don’t, you may not make it back if you get lost. Try to envision the physical map, did you drive below the city or above?

Once you figure out which direction you need to go to make it back to civilization, now you need to find that direction. There is a really simple way to do this if you have an analog watch or at least know what time it is.

With an analog watch:

1. Find the sun, point the hour hand of the watch at it, not up, just in the direction of the sun.

2. Find 12 noon on the watch face, bisect the two points (hour and noon), the imaginary line between them should point you directly south if you are in the northern hemisphere, opposite if you are reading this from Australia…

3. Success, turn around for north.

Without the watch:

As long as you know what time it is, if you have a cell phone or digital watch, just draw the analog watch face out on the ground, hour hand pointing towards the sun.

At exactly noon the sun will be due south, for us here in the northern hemisphere.

If you don’t happen to have the time.

Most places you can get lost in will have indications as to where north is, one excellent way is on hillsides with snow, there will always be more snow or deeper snow on the northern side, as the sun will be more prominent on the southern side.

Another thing you can look for would be moss on rocks or trees, the sun will tend to dry out the southern side more often so the moss will be more likely to grow on the northen side of the object.

Whenever you are looking for clues from nature be sure and look for several examples before you make your decision, as there can be a little variety.

If it is nighttime, we will always see the north star on a clear night. Orienteering by starlight is a whole new subject though! I recommend making shelter and starting again at first light.

Or, bring a compass!

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