I'm 40 and I've been hunting all my life, one thing that I've noticed is that when you realize that you aren't where you thought you were, a sense of un-needed urgency kicks in. You walk faster, you panic to some extent whether you realize it or not. I think your advice to sit down and take a few minutes to compose yourself is definitely sound advice, thinking clearly is step one.
Always look backward as you hike, especially where one geographical feature meets another.(You should be doing this anyways. It’s how I caught a mountain lion stalking me, and it probably saved my life). A WW2 Paratrooper taught me this trick. People think they’ll recognize terrain on their way back, but it’s a completely different view. It’s like looking at multiple faces just one time, and expecting to recognize them the next time you see the backs of their heads. Try to take mental snapshots every time you turn around and look at where you’ve been. I’ve been 20 miles off trail, into the Sierras, and never been lost or questioned myself. It worked when I was 16 and it still works at 45. And never panic.
Now that's eeal good advice! And you never know you could have to head back in a hurry in case of emergency so knowing what the path looks like can make it easier. Or if your going into unfamiliar territory mark the trees but on the back side so you can see them coming back.
I do that but even one better, take some pictures with your phone when you look back. It's amazing how well mountains in the background can help guide you back. For example you see a peak in the distance between a saddle in nearby mountains or hills and it makes getting back easy. Just get to a point where that peak is between the saddle and move forward. I did this to find a hang glider years ago when I landed way out and had to hike to town but I wanted to be able to get my glider back. I didn't have gps options at the time. I'd have never found it without those pictures. I tried for a bit without using them but I was way off.
I will never go camping without 2 different colors of yarn- like orange and yellow. They would make great markers for going into a forest, and it would alert searchers you had been on a particular path. As well as a reminder to me where I had traveled. Yarn is bright, biodegradable, and birds will use it later to line their nests. It’s also very light weight and super easy to pack. I got lost in a small forest I own, but when I saw the yarn I knew I was headed back in the same direction. I’d definitely do this if I stepped off a trail to use the bathroom. Might seem silly, but I know first hand it works.
I was lost for 3 days in the woods of Oregon. As a former Marine I knew the basics of survival and the hardest thing was admitting I was lost. I used my shoe laces and belt to build a lean-to, found some dry wood as it was raining, as a smoker I was able to build a fire with my lighter and was good for the night. I was deep in the canyon by some water and nobody could hear me screaming. The next morning I heard chainsaws and started hiking to the sound of the saws. I finally found a logging road in the process. 4 hours later from hiking I realized I was hearing the echo of the chain saws and they were the other direction. I headed back the other direction but was still hearing an echo and found a place to hang out for the night. The next morning I tried again and finally found the loggers 5 hours later. His truck was open and I was so hungry I ate his lunch and drank almost all of his water. I found them on the hill and they gave me a ride to a camp that was being set up my a sheriff search party. It was a Monday and asked the Sheriff if I could call work to let them know I wouldn't be coming in to work. My employer didn't believe I was lost in the woods until the Sheriff took the phone and explained I was. My new nickname at work was Euell Gibbons...............that natural hippy dude from the 70s that ate bark and grape nuts or something. I still use it to this day.
My dad was a Marine forward observer who was very knowledgeable about map reading. He was my Boy Scout master and started teaching me in the 1950s. But, about 15 years ago I switched to GPS. I found that it was virtually impossible to get lost. However, on one outing three years ago an expected storm came through and the temps dropped to 15 F. When I woke up in the morning, my cell phone and two external batteries had been drained from the cold. From that trip onward I started carrying a compass, map, and Ranger beads. Now I use them as primary tools. It is actually more fun than a cell phone and much more rewarding. Now I pass the knowledge to my grandkids.
I agree. My dad was a green beret, special forces, airborne ranger. I grew up in the woods with him teaching me how to use a compass and breaking branches to navigate. Now, my husband and I are big time backpackers and use a map and a compass. I still snap tee limbs just as a safeguard, and it of habit. It is a good feeling. We do have a Garmin, but like you, it has died on us. We basically carry it for the SOS
My wife’s Grandpa spent many years as a surveyor in northern Canada. He always said the most important thing you could carry was a deck of cards. If you were ever lost you should sit down and deal a hand of solitaire, After a few minutes someone will pop over your shoulder and tell you the red 6 can go on the black 7. And when they do you pack up your cards and follow them out.
Thanks for sharing, it's hilarious but it made me think that a deck of cards would also be a good set of "bread crumbs" when using the method in the video :)
On a grey overcast day my 2 daughters and I were riding in a forest after a big windstorm. To work our way over fallen trees we ended up off trail and so turned around we were lost. I finally said to my youngest daughter to drop her pony's reins and let her free. The pony led us out of the forest and we were able to get back home. Moral: don't get lost without a pony.
I'm not embarrassed to say I have been lost hopelessly lost and more than once . The practice of looking back to gain a perspective of where I have been is the best advice any one can give to prevent disorienting. As I have stated l have no "natural " sense of direction, far to many hits to my head. So for me not getting LOST is a sport in itself. Did I mention I used to literally live in the Woods for years . How I survived baffles me.
My dad was a bit of a freak IMO. He could go out hunting (never use an actual “trail”) in the middle of the night. It would be pitch black with only a flashlight and after you had been in the woods for several hours you could ask him where the truck was and he could not only tell you the direction but also how many miles away it was. And to top it off he could also tell you if you were near a National park etc. He never carried and map or a compass. It was amazing. RIP dad.
A lot of people play piano, but not everyone is a Mozart. I wonder if your dad had a innate almost savant sense of space and direction. His brain ticked a little different than the rest of us. If so, he is the complete opposite of me. I get lost in a grocery store.
My cousin is the same way. You could walk him in the woods blind folded, spin him around in a circle 10 times and he'd still tell you which way is north. It's funny because I refer to him as a freak as well. Haha
My son, who was 5 years old at the time, got himself lost while we were visiting friends at their cabin. The adults were inside chatting and the 6 children were outside playing together. My son started following a butterfly. Because of trees and high grass and shrubs he could see the cabin anymore. He did exactly what you said. We went in one direction then went back to where he was then took another direct. So he kept going back and forth always going back to where he started from. When he went in one of the directions he saw a church steeple. He remembered seeing this church on our way to my friends so he now know which direction to go and he found the cabin. If he would have kept walking in the wrong direction he could have gotten himself lost in a huge forest. I was very proud of him for keeping a level head and figured out what was the best way for him to find his way back. It broke my heart when he said he kept calling out for me but nobody heard him.
You’re so right in your first piece of advice. Gather your composure. I grew up in the country and got lost in the woods behind our house when I was a kid. Still remember it 40 years later. I started to feel that panic but calmed myself down and gathered my wits. Sat there for 10 minutes listening intently and heard a car on a distant road. Headed in that direction and made it out of the woods before dark. I was pretty proud of myself.
@@yannichingaz I wish. I'm not that cool. Before my accident I was a forklift driver/ laborer. Now I do nothing. If I was smart like my husband, I would've been a Dr. Now I sit on youtube 🤣
I feel I need to implement this in my life in general. Try a path and if it doesn’t work come back to the centre start point and try another direction until I find the right way. I hope I find the right one eventually ❤
Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father except by Me.” I just saved you a lot of wasted years, energy, and money. Took me 25 years to finally surrender to Jesus Christ but now that I’m on the right trail, He lights my path and directs my steps and now for the first time I am never alone, and my final destination will be heaven❤
One thing that has helped me so much while traveling through the woods on trails or not, is always turn around and look behind you. It's easy to recognize a trail going one way. But they always look completely different walking the opposite direction. I always just turn and view the trail or path I'm taking from both directions so when I see it again it will look familiar.
Vastly superior to your silly speaker comment. 👍 Looking back often is very simple, but rarely done except by very experienced and savvy hikers and by a few who think outside the box.
I use this technique as well. Also, used this in my younger years living in Boston after losing my locked up bike while drinking and forgetting where I locked it. Or trying to bike from south Boston back to Somerville (pre smart phone era). Now I just do it out of habit.
Before beginning a hike, focus on a landmark, be it a mountain top, large tree, gully, or cabin, and take note where you begin. Another trick is to shave off a bit of bark with a hatchet or knife on the front side of the trees you will pass. Then when you begin your trek back you will notice the "light" spots on the trees where you shaved off a bit of bark.
I was on a hunting trip about 20 years ago and I used a GPS to mark my camp location. I took off looking for a herd of caribou that had passed through the night before and about 3 hours later I decided to return to camp. I checked my GPS to get a bearing on the return route and much to my horror I discovered it was dead. The below-freezing temperature had killed the alkaline batteries in the GPS. I knew I was 3 hours from camp but that's a long way to take a chance walking with no markers or clear trail. So, I ended up warming up the batteries in my pocket, reinstalled them, and the GPS became functional again. I now use lithium batteries in the GPS. This is just another tip from someone who screwed up and learned the hard way.
I think you missed the lesson. You need a non tech method for finding your way. You can use tech to verify but total reliance on tech can get you in trouble.
@@writerconsidered Agreed. While a phone or GPS can get you out of a bind, they aren't foolproof, and definitely can fail on you at the worst possible time. I typically hike in alpine areas, so I always know that if I'm hopelessly lost, I either head straight up until I get to a vantage point, or straight down until I find a river. If I happen across a road in the mean time, bonus! Even if it's a disused dirt track, it means I can probably find my bearings again and get back on course.
“I've never been lost, but I was mighty turned around for three days once.” - Daniel Boone Great video! Thanks for sharing this method. I’ll have to try it next time I get “mighty turned around.” 😀
@acyd burn why I like Hunting.. You get still, you listen, dont move much..dont talk much at all and it goes on like that for several days. Can be hard to do
When we were like 12, we got wicked lost off the Appalachian Trail. This was the early 80's. Had the state troopers looking for the three of us. There was a point where we gave up trying to find the trail, and just started walking to find something that jibed with the trail map we had. We climbed one ridge and saw basically nothing but other ridges. But we spent a good 45 minutes doing the "I think we're here, look at this peak, this peak, and that peak, and the tight lines mean really steep terrain, and that's right over there." We finally agreed on a location, and started walking toward a highway 3 valleys away, and flagged down a trooper. His first words were "We been looking for you, you're 10 miles away from where everyone else thinks you are." We just couldn't find the trail. The trail in that area was a bunch of zig zags following the terrain, and we couldn't pick it back up.
I got lost slightly off the Appalachian trail a few months ago. I was doing a hike in the middle of the night with my new night vision, and even though you can see a lot with night vision, you can't see color and you can only see 40 degrees in front of you. Thankfully I wasn't of the trail by more than about 30yds.
As I'm traveling in strange areas I have a habit of looking behind me to see where I've been. This has helped me numerous times to get back to where I've started out as I have "memorized" the images of what it looks like to go back the other way. This works when walking around big cities too.
Absolutely. In strange surroundings I always do the same. I used to work in Marine Nav Aids engineering. This would often involve visiting small coastal Beacons which were generally in remote locations. Humping heavy equipment and batteries to site over rough ground or rocky foreshores was not always easy but in daylight it was easy to find your way back. However the work also entailed making night observations of the beacons from suitable land points. So you scout the location by day and return after dark. The problem of darkness is you can only see to the range of your flashlight, so any landmarks you unconsciously used in daylight are gone. I would frequently look back to keep a mental image of my way out. It paid off on more than one occasion. Cheers matey.
This saved me today. I always do it on walks. Trail was terribly marked and I had no idea where I was. Just backtracked, relying on key images I remembered while looking behind me on the way in. Saved my ass. Still dunno where that dang lean to is supposed to be though.
Such a good practice not often spoken about...Turn around often look for and talk about the notable features to create a "way home" memory guide make a note if it helps. 👍
I went off the trail with my family a few summers ago. They used the “Get pissed and start screaming at each other” method. Rule of thumb: If it doesn’t work at family holidays, it probably isn’t a good idea in the woods. On the bright side, politics didn’t come up.. I hike with friends now.
@@Hyperplaterine Here as you probably already know it just means becoming very angry. Thank goodness they weren’t drunk, I likely wouldn’t be here to tell this tale :P
Yep .. as a workmate used to say .. "You cannot pick your Family .. you can pick your Friends .. you can pick your Nose .. but don't try and pick your friends nose." That came up close on 50 years ago .. thanks for the reminder 😁
I grew up in the woods of northern PA. The best advice I was ever given in regards to getting lost in the woods came from my father. He always told me to find a creek or a stream and follow it. You'll eventually find people/ civilization.
Where we are, bc coastal mountains. You never follow streams down the mountain. Because they go into mini canyons, with mossy sides. They are very easy to fall into. We follow the ridges down.
@@gregtarris9057 My mistake, never say never. If it is levelling out, not steep at all. Then yes follow the stream. But in the mountains, that's also how out of bound skiers get trapped. In something getting steeper, and they can't climb out of.
Hi Dan, as always thank you for all the tips !!! Also while in the middle of no where watch where the sun is, make mental pictures in your head of your area you're walking in. IF you DO decide to go off a trail, place markers every so often as your hikeing, then that will help you find your way back to the main trail. I spent 17 yrs in the Pine Barrens, in New Jersy, esp. in the National Forests. It's best to STAY ON THE TRAILS or one can get lost very quickly and all you have mostly is sand and Pine trees. IF you go off trail, pay close attention to where your going, do the above and always look behind you from time to time as you want to make sure nothing is following you, esp. hungry animals ! IF CAN let a trusted someone know where your going, what route you'll take and when you'll be back. Call that person (s) when you return safe. That way IF something happens, you don't come back, help will have a good general direction on starting to look for you. USE your rations wisely ! You never know how long your food/water may have to last. Carry a 1st Aide Kit too. Better to have 'it' and not need it then to NEED IT and not have it.
I have worked in the wild for the past 34 years. This is good stuff for eastern woodlands and places with dense forest. Out west, people get lost in mountains and out in the desert. In that case, go downstream if in the mountains until you cross any road. Even an old overgrown logging road. Follow the road until you come to a junction with any other road. Again, it doesn't matter if it is overgrown. At the junction, it will form a giant letter Y. Follow the stem of the Y. This ALWAYS leads to bigger and more active roads. Once you reach an active road, leave bread crumbs. If anyone is looking for you, they will know you are on the road. Then as you move toward civilization, NEVER leave the road. In deserts, find a high point, find any nearby road trace and use the same road following technique. The key is to find a usable road so searchers can find you. I have been teaching this to new crew for decades.
In the 1960s I spent 2 weeks at the Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camp in New Jersey. I completely screwed up a map reading exercise and got lost. I didn't know about the ray method but I did exactly what the Boy Scout Handbook said to do. Once I decided I was lost I stayed put, started building a lean-to type shelter out of dead branches and was starting to work on a fire pit (about 2 hours after deciding to stay put) when I started to hear my name being called and my scout troop found me. Such a great organization. Such a crime that it was ripped apart by vultures.
@@philip6419 Do you believe everything wrong with this country is the democrats fault, if so, I rest my case. The Republican party has gone off the deep end and represent the rich. The Democrats have gone off the deep end and represent the "poor". Here I am, a white middle class, blue collar worker with no one to represent me. We need a third party for the middle class of all persuasions. Good enough for ya?
@@j.dragon651 No. You've been sucked in by the MainStream Media who are an extension of the Democrat party. Basically, THEY cater to the rich while lying that it's the Republicans. Its not that hard.. look at the MSM how they attack everything conservatives do and elevate everything Left. The Left is for BIG government intervention in everyones life, usually through FEAR. Climate change.. the earth is going to burn-up in 5 yrs. or the Virus.. MUST be vaccinated.. Blacks need protection from whites, kids from their parents, LGBT from straight, etc! Give these victims 'free stuff'.. THEN they own you. IF you really want to know what's going on without being gaslighted by the Left, read a true conservative media outlet.. like 'Breitbart News' or 'Townhall'. Don't be a Zombie!
Very useful technique. Two thoughts: 1. It helps to mark your path with a direction (arrow, etc.). I've encountered my own marks and not known whether to go right or left. 2. The biggest problem can be a trail that doesn't look much different from the surrounding terrain. I've crossed the trail without realizing it. Especially true with trails that fork along the way.
Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you will be saved. john 3:16 (share the good news of the gospel around the world!) have a wonderful day/night, may the Lord bless you all, and farewell!,.,,,,,,
A friend and I were riding horses and decided to go off trail. I was so surprised we got lost but we did. The very best advice of this whole video is to NOT PANIC! That certainly helped me. After the initial moment of panic and I was able to think things through I realized there is no way we could be truly lost as these “woods” were surrounded on all sides by roads. So I just picked a direction and tried to keep a straight line and eventually we came to a road and then could navigate our way home by road. Thanks for this video, I love the ray technique!
The most disturbing thing about getting lost is the “180” your head takes. It’s a tough transition to go from internal thoughts of ‘fun, thank god im not at work, this is beautiful’ to suddenly ‘where am i, how much water do i have….’
Exactly! I got lost in the woods once and panicked. I only got out because there was a stream and it just entered into my mind to follow it. Finally got to a point where there was a bridge so I climbed up the hill. Where there is a bridge there is a road. But let me tell you i had one MASSIVE HEADACHE that night because of the stress from being lost
My ex and I went on a hike on a longish trail that basically circumnavigated a large chunk of parkland. We weren't paying enough attention to the time of day so we set off on a 2nd circuit when we should've just stayed put or gone for dinner. It was getting pretty dark and we both had that "oh crap, we're lost" moment when what we saw on the map I was carrying made us believe we should've already been back at the parking lot. It occurred to me that during our first time 'round, two of the small valleys we passed through looked almost identical so I figured we were actually still in the 1st valley and had mistaken it for the 2nd in the twilight (there were 2 or 3 landmarks we needed to tell which valley we'd entered, but in the rapidly failing light couldn't see them because they were a few miles off). We decided to agree that we were actually in the 1st valley -- I was 90% sure, she was 95% not believing me -- and began to alternately jog/walk quickly according to the map. We got back to the parking lot just about the time it became too dark to see more than a few inches ahead. It pays to pay attention to the time of day as much as it does to pay attention to things like landmarks AND the similarities/differences of parts of a trail.
This is great advice and I know this works. Many years ago my wife and I were hiking in the Scottish highlands. In a matter of minutes, the weather changed to les than 10ft visibility. It was early June but still had a foot of snow on the ground. First thing we did was stop and assess the situation. We couldn’t get a baring off any landmarks or reference for the map, so had to try and find our route out. We used a version of this technique to find the route back down the mountain. It didn’t take long but that’s just because we got lucky in finding a set of foot prints in the snow in one of our first few strikes out from centre point. Thanks for sharing.
Before following a set of footprints in the snow, check whether they're your own. If they are, follow them backwards. Otherwise you could wind up going in circles.
A while back when I was in the Marine Corps, we got in the habit when on patrol to turn back and check behind you. There’s more then one reason why, but to my point, it helps with recognizing the terrain in which you came from. It also really helps with your sense of direction, as long as you know what compass bearing you’re walking in the first place. Now I’ve used this method many of times when hunting in new areas, and well i haven’t gotten lost yet, because I always knew where I came from.
I learned Survival Techniques in Boy Scouts, then again in the Army. I used to PRAY to somehow get lost in some HUGE woods where I could use these techniques. The closest I ever came was having to spend 3 days alone in the woods with NO (brought-in) shelter...(no sleepoing bag, no tent, etc) and only one small bag of dried/prepared food. We had to start and maintain a fire, and demonstrate a food-catching trap/snare/fish-cone etc. (This was for the "Order of the Arrow" in the Boy Scouts. ) That sash with the Red Arrow meant a lot more to me than any of the merit badges I'd earned...
@Fido-vm9zi my family and friends ask tell me I should sign up for alone. I would love to, but I have such a insanely high metabolism that I eat a crazy amount of food and have no fat on me. My dad laughs and says that the food would be the only thing stopping me. I hunt, fish, footage, and am really good at identifying plants. But I still don't know if I could make it work. But man it would be fun to try!!!!
The single most important and first thing you should do when lost is estimate how long you've been walking since the last time you were sure you were on the right path. That will tell you how far you have to go in the correct direction (whatever that might be) in order to get back on track. Your entire strategy should be based on this estimate.
I've been in the bush and decided to backtrack over easier terrain than that encountered on the way in. Confident I knew where the trail should be I've set out with no concern, only to find the trail was elusive. Ultimately, by adjusting my heading toward my known prior path, I've ended up near to my hoped for destination. This is on short excursions too. It's taught me that dead reckoning is easily off by 20 to 30 degrees from what you think. Over a long distance this is very significant. Always look back behind you when hiking and find a reference point from that perspective for your return trip. Doesn't work in level terrain, but great in the hills and mountains.
I use Garmin and Sat Nav on my forest explorer adventures…same company we used in the USMC…just keep you batteries up…Love this guys channel…I show it to all my youthful students here at the college I teach..🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Very good. Thank you. I'm 75 and I don't go hiking but you never know. I just wanted to share something my WW2 military father taught me. He said You want to make sure that you're walking in a straight line. So you know you're starting point and you decide to go east. You look for a not too distant tree and you walk towards it. You get there, and look back at the tree you just walked from. So that way you can see what the next tree would be that would line up with those two trees, etc. etc. And, of course, your marking them.
Been hunting and hiking all my life. Only been truly lost once for a few hours. Worst feeling ever until I got lucky and happened onto a road by total random accident. This technique is definitely going to increase your chances of getting "un-lost". Thank you for sharing!
Great system! I’d probably add to it an extra step of marking differently the blaze at which you turn back so that if you have to revisit a ray it’s easy to tell when you’ve reached the farthest point from the last attempt.
Another good trick to remember: look at the shape of a tree. Slowly walk around it. Usually the branches facing South, grow a little longer than the rest, since they get more sunlight throughout the growing season. This way you can determine your compass if you didnt carry one with you. Or shove a stick in the ground and see how the shadow is cast: The direction the shadow grows and becomes longer should be East
@@lespretend That's good information to have, but in areas like Utah, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and the Chihuahuan Desert in general (which would include Northern Mexico), it would be difficult to find running water above ground, let alone moss growing on trees..
@@lespretend Doesn't work if you're in a high humidity / high rainfall location, the moss covers any and all sides of the tree without any recognizable pattern. Especially in dense forest where the canopy provides constant shade down below. If you're in an area where there's enough sunlight getting down to the forest floor, you're better off determining your compass direction by noting the position of the sun and the current time of day. Or jab a stick into the ground, mark where the end of the shadow reaches with a pebble, then wait 30 minutes and mark the new end of the shadow with another pebble. The line formed between the pebbles is east-west.
What's not to love about Dan? The guy makes learning these handy little toolbox videos enjoyable! He has a way in front of the camera and in making you continue to wanna listen & learn what it is he's teaching? Thanks Dan!! It's much appreciated and totally informative!!
Good Tip 👍 .. thanks for sharing. Reminders and Repetition on a Theme are good. Many years back, I read something penned by an experienced Bush Crafter .. "You're never Lost .. you know exactly where you are. Maybe though, not where you should or would like to be." An aside .. here in Switzerland, it is very difficult to get truly Lost. We have plenty forests .. each little town has one. It's just that the forests are not very big .. just pick a bearing, stick to it and you will come out somewhere .. or run into a Swiss Granny walking her dog .. they're Everywhere! 😁. Take care ..
I got really lost in the woods for the first time in my life back in May. It was absolutely petrifying. What was supposed to be just a 1/5 mile hike turned into 5+ hours, ultimately I hurt my knees in the process for I wasn't prepared for that much of a strenuous work out and I had already done a long hike the day before. Even now 7 months later my knees are still not good. I just didn't realize when I started trekking in, that the posts for the route for the hike was going to be pretty much non-existent. There were so many paths and tracks that linked together making it impossible to know which way was the right way. In the end I called 911, it was getting dark w/some rain, I was exhausted and my phone was just about to die. The operator from the 911 call was such a blessing and she totally helped me keep my shit together. Once my knees heal and I can get back to hiking, I will be marking my path as I go, I will never go through that horror again!....
Check out Ben Patrick. He has awesome advice and track record of helping people reverse knee pain without surgery. Book is titled: Knee Ability Zero, Picture Guidebook to Knee Health and Longevity. Hope you heal up soon!
So happy you made this video. As I hike I periodically turn around and take a photo. When reaching a beach I photograph were the trail mouth is. But I still got lost once. Called 911 and S&R tracked my phone so they could come n get me. But thanks to video advice from you and Cpl Shawn I was equipped to wait in relative comfort and could have spent the night.
This is proper navigation. Nice little technique. Thought, what I have done in the past on one of the hikes is to remember which side of your face the sunlight was hitting when you started the trail. Say around 10:30 in the morning you start and the sun was lighting up the right side of your face. (its easy to recall starting time, since your sense are picking up almost everything and you're thinking about the hike rather than other things). Say, by 5:30-6:00 evening you are lost. camp the night and next day, similar time, walk against the sun (sun to the back and chances are... you will find the trail quicker. This might or might not work in rainy conditions. Also, It would be wise to click a snapshot of the trail when you start with your mobile phone. IT will kind of give you the general direction of which side the sun was looking at the shadows of trees and maybe even yourself. You might not have cell service, so you can put the phone on flight-mode to save battery. But you can still click pictures here and there.
My story is different. I took my severe Schizophrenic brother with a few of us canoe camping in Ontario. On one of the portages he stepped off the trial thinking he was an Indian and within a second he was lost in the woods as we could not find him. Night quickly came and we decided to make camp at the end of the portage and figure out how are we going to find him. It would take us 3 days to get back to civilization and get any help. I wasn't sure what I was going to tell my mom & dad who warned me not to take him along. I was scared, so I personally decided to pray to God for a miracle. The woods there cover huge distances and are very thick with lots of vegetation. Late that evening a small group happened to camp on the same lake. I canoed over to them and I asked them to be on a lookout for someone who may not necessarily want to be found, my brother. Late that night, one of the members of the other group were canoe night fishing when they heard a voice on the distant shore. ...I asked my brother, how did he find the shore of the lake in the darkness of the night? He said .."He prayed" and kept walking. PS. he never stepped far from our campsite from then on.
Why on earth would you ever take a "severely schizophrenic" person into that kind of situation? Imagine of you never found him. You'd have yourself to blame.
@@hellywise2542 Why would you to drive your car on a city highway where idiots doing 100 mph tailgating and cutting in front of you can kill you...because you want to enjoy the luxury of driving your own car just like everyone else. My brother wants top enjoy life also and not be locked up forever...you put your trust in your own driving skills to save yourself, I put my trust in a "Living " God to help me get through life.....
You can also prioritize a direction, if you can still tell which direction is which. If you were heading west in the trail and you strayed northbound from it, then you can prioritize a south and east search. You can try to figure it out by looking at the sun or moon and their shadows. If you can't tell which direction the sun/moon is moving, you can always use a sort of azimuth technique to check. Place yourself in some place where you can see the sun with a reference next to it (e.g. a tree branch). Wait a little while and then check again. That'll give you a sense of its direction of movement. If you can see any planets in the sky you can use them too. Planets are shiny stars that don't flicker. Sun, moon, planets, they all rise in the East and set in the West.
I have seen the moon in the west already. By observing lying vanities like Christmas, you are showing the Lord Jesus Christ that he should forsake you and not show you any mercy. Let us observe the commandments of God like keeping the feast of tabernacles so that Christ can show us mercy because we love him. He loved us first and we should love him also. Jeremiah 10:1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. When do people cut a tree out of the forest and deck it? During so called Christmas! Repent.
In 1972 I was following a trail around part of a mountain in northern California, when I realized there was no more trail. It had diminished to a game trail then down to nothing detectable. When I realized this the trail was already GONE. I had NOTHING on me, not even a pocket knife. The sun was going down. I started to feel panic, ran "back" down to he non-existent trail, the back and forth. THEN I calmed myself down, assessed my situation. I was on a heavily wooded and fairly steep mountain slope. To conserve my strength, I proceeded back the general direction from which I had come WHILE CLIMBING HIGHER at a 15° angle or so. If I cut the trail, great, but if I didn't, it would be much easier to alter my angle downward than climb upward after I was already tiring out. I proceeded about 300 to 500 yards that way, then changed to a 15° downward slope in the same general direction. I finally cut the trail. It was an uneventful trek back on the now well defined trail, even in the gathering dusk. My fallback position was to simply spend a cold night there, truck down to the base of the mountain where I knew there was a river, then follow the river to the town where the friends I was visiting lived. In the process TWO very important things happened: 1) I realized I needed at a bare minimum a way to make fire and cutting tool (these have been in my pocket ever since, except during basic military training), and 2) I started studying primitive survival skills, a "lite" version of which is called "bushcraft" these days. I say "lite", because outdoor survival enthusiasts in the 1970s had a different view, not to mention various benchmark tasks, the ultimate of which being the "naked into the wilderness" challenge. They meant that quite literally. It was sort of your doctoral dissertation on survival skills. I don't know too many that actually accomplished that one, but the one I do know of wrote an article with photos. He was dropped off on a mountain, in winter, with a couple of feet to much more of snow, and literally naked - no clothing or shoes/boots... Naked. The car that brought him left, and it would not return for two weeks. This was before wireless phones or GPS, so he was truly ALONE to survive or die in the next two weeks. Just him and his camera. Not many were confident enough to attempt this. I read the article and saw his photos, so I know he survived. The truly interesting part was his choices he made, and his account of challenges and solutions. Standing there in snow well over his ankles (his first photo), watching his ride leave, the first order of business was to get something between his bare feet and the snow. Pine tree bark was harvested as a sole and natural cordage (cambion layer? vine? don't recall) used to lash it to his foot & ankle to create expedient sandals. (His second photo.) Next was shelter, as night was approaching: clothing could wait if a shelter could be fashioned to get him out of the wind. Then a fire. And so it went. Two weeks later he was in pretty good shape when he was picked up. He was fully clothed in animal skins, winter moccasins on his feet, and several necessary tools carried or hung on him. That man had bragging rights! I'm sorry I cannot provide a citation, but it has been too long. Someone see if you find it online. I have the skills just not the time to research it. Read Calvin Rutstrum's _Paradise Below Zero_ for a good old school account of living in cold winter climates. It changed my views on winter hiking and camping. There is also _Bushcraft_ by Richard Graves, (c1972, 2013), which was the first time (mid- to late 1970s) that I encountered the term "Bushcraft", and in a book by an Australian. My "old school" favorites are Bradford Angier's _How to Stay Alive in the Woods_, _How to Eat in the Woods_, _On Your Own in the Wilderness_ (with Townsend Whelen), and/or _Livimg Off the Country: How to Stay Alive in the Woods_. As a reviewer pointed out, after those books, it would be difficult to starve in the wilderness. I agree. My challenges, though not nearly as extreme, were desert trekking and survival. Mountains and forests were not difficult, but I am basically nocturnal, and I have been since childhood. I can tolerate much colder temps than the average person, too. Conversely, heat and strong sunlight are incredibly uncomfortable, even painful to me. So I decided to master desert trekking in my early 20s, and I did. Once away from the "tourist areas", as we used to call prepared campgrounds and maintained hiking trails, the clothes came off and into the backpack. Many of us hiked naked or just in a pair of cutoff blue jean shorts. Hiking boots with good wool socks, of course, as well as a belt with a sheath knife, canteen, and utility pouch (the Vietnam era dual magazine pouch was my preference). I knew one girl, cute blond from the Caribbean, that hiked the Colorado mountains barefoot (feet were tough as leather), topless, and no sleeping bag, just a sort of sarape carried over her shoulder and a large woven purse like a haversack. I'm sure there are still minimalist backwoods trekkers out there, but nothing like those on YT showing off their 75 pounds INCH bags. Being able to resupply almost at will these days has made people soft and inconsiderate of their equipment. If there ever is a lasting wide scale disaster like an EMP attack, deleting electricity for years if not generations, I believe the analysts that project 90% fatality rate in the US. We, myself included these days, are simply not accustom to the rigors of sustained outdoor life. I have the skills, I have the health, but I do not have the legs or the stamina I once had, being 70 and battling Lyme disease for well over a decade. That is thanks to my times trekking and dealing with mosquitoes, chiggers, TICKS, and the occasional reptile. It was bacteria from a tick that changed my life. However, in an ultimate societal meltdown, I would still head for the desert with a pack far lighter than most would believe could sustain a person. Why the desert, when I said it was my least favorite environment? Because the vast majority of people are terrified of heading out into a waterless wasteland, or so they perceive it to be. When I first trekked the Southwest deserts andm badlands, I was surprised at the amount of game sign. There were tracks of birds, deer, coyote, and snakes everywhere. If you follow the concentrations of those trails, and if you are very lucky, it will lead you to water. Just do not randomly cut open a cactus, as some "survival" manuals or experts have suggested. Many are a bit poisonous to humans, since our systems are not designed to deal with them, and even the ones we can tolerate are so much work for so little liquid, that it is a zero sum game. No benefit, except in the a true emergency. Learn to make a solar still and carry the less than 8 ounces of materials to make one. Learn the many other skills needed to survive there, as well. There are a number of books specifically on desert survival. The books I site above will handle the remaining areas of the US. I've studied primitive survival and bushcraft off and on for well over 40 years. It is never too early to start... or too late.
I went to high school in Amherst MA, which is unusual in having a wilderness survival course in the curriculum. Angier's "Survival With Style" was one of the required books. I still remember that 40+ years on.
@@septegram _Survival With Style_ was my all time favorite! I usually cite it, and I probably forgot, since I had the other Angier books on my screen, about to order copies for old time sake. My other favorite was Larry Dean Olson's book _Outdoor Survival Skills_. He taught a survival course at Brigham Young University in Utah. He said he could not find a book he wanted to use in his course (around the early to mid 1970s), so he wrote that book. It was the FIRST survival book I ever found with color photos of the plants he described for foraging and medicine. Still have a copy... somewhere in storage. As the old timers used to say, "Keep your eyes on the skyline and your nose in the wind." Best, Michael from Texas
Thanks for the book list. It’s always good to go anywhere prepared with the “tools” you think you may need. Cause if shit gets ugly, or you break down, or get stuck on the side of a mountain or get into a beef with some city bum, it’s always nice to know you got your “friends” on ya. Just a few things I carry allowed me to sleep the night at 9,000 ft after my motorcycle and I ran out of energy. And in the city at night that strobe light flashlight seemed to detour a couple of wouldbes.... yeah alway be prepared . Save lives protect life’s and come out with your skin and a tale to tell.
@@joebruin2910 Look up "nootropics", i.e. brain boosters. They can help with that cognitive lag, as well as memory. It WAS a bit long winded, but I didn't get lost, and I'm 70 friggin years old.
My husband and I went with a friend to a social event. We very quickly realized the ickyness of the majority of other attendees and decided to leave. But we were deep into a huge multiple neighborhood housing tract..like a maze. It took a couple of hours but we followed the shadows made by the sun to determine direction and made it to a main street and caught a bus home. Whew! That was a close one!
I got lost in the woods in upstate NY when I was 19 or so. I finally found my way back but it was scary, to be sure. It was going to be dark soon enough and I was so relieved when I found my way back.
An important trick not many people know about are Ant Hills, the shape of the hill actually indicates north / south because of the ant's sensitivity to sunlight they build their mounds in specific ways to capture heat in the mornings. With an Ant hill there is always a steeper side, and the most steep angled side is generally always pointing north, where as the less steep side which usual has the entrance is always pointing south.
This a great technique. As a former Scout leader, I used to tell my Scouts that when they were lost and had no idea where they were to just sit down and wait because we would be coming for them. But I also taught them the "triangulation" technique for finding where they were and how to get back to the trail. This required them to have a detailed map of the area as well as a compass, which they all did because I required them to have those items. They simply had to locate two, or preferably three, landmarks on their map and then take the compass readings to those landmarks, plot it on their map, and where the plots intersected, that's where they were. Then they would know the direction that they should go.
something that's good to have is a watch in this scenario, check it when you leave the trail, and when you notice you're lost you can check how much time it will take roughly to get back to the trail. mark the place where you lost yourself with a specific mark and then mark your trail as you try to find your way back, you can keep checking the watch on how far you'll have to go to get back, if you're not back by the rough time estimate, go back to base and repeat the process in another direction, depending how far you've walked will determine for how long you can be possibly lost, if you calculate in how many directions you need to walk from base you can rough out how long you might end up being lost and you can start to prepare yourself for that. but the best alternative would obviously be to try be preventative so you don't get lost in the first place, the usual way would be to take a mental note of landmarks or look at the position of the sun and knowing how the sun travels across the sky and basing your directions off that. there's a couple more ways but i can't remember them, there's a really good one about moss allways growing on the north side of trees i think that can help you atleast giving you some direction.
😮 I am so glad I came across this channel! I think this is one of the most important lesson I have learned in my whole life. As someone who has no sense of direction but loves small hikes this makes me feel more confident in new places. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!! 🙏
This is a good method. I've done similar without the bread crumbs by noting small features but that's sketchy if everything looks similar. This is a much better way to insure success. Getting lost can happen to anyone. The trees all look similar and block your view of outside landmarks, the sun/sky is obscured. Multiple trails that look the same and crisscrossing each other lacking markers. You're tired and possibly dehydrated. Never say never. I hike regularly in such areas with my dog and every once in a while I still get momentarily turned around and ask my Labrador which way to go. She has to take over, lol. Really good advice to stop and calm down. I like this method. 👍👍
Great advice! I would only add another mark to number each ray, and the direction from my starting point, so I don't get them all mixed up. I think I would also draw a little map, to record remarkable features I find along each ray. Thanks!
Good to know, thanks! Would have been handy to know as a kid lol. My parents used to let my little sister and I, ages 9 and 5, roam the woods in National Parks and we got "lost" a few times😂 In Yosemite we ended up in a marshy forest, almost dark, but I knew where the main road was so we picked our way through since we would have truly been lost had I tried to navigate us around it. Got lost in yellowstone, in the dark, in the campground, ran into a black bear and ended up treed on top of a metal sliding board at a playground until it wandered off😆 But that was good since the playground was one of my landmarks. Got "lost" at Gunnison but found the reservoir way down below the cliff we were on so again, landmark. I think you pay better attention to your surroundings when you know nobody is gonna come looking for you and you're on your own. It's a wonder we are both still alive cuz I was no Jim Bridger 😄 Fun times!
I got lost once, but I did remember the orientation of the trail I was on. Fortunately, I was able to find a decent clearing. Then I used the old trick to place sticks tracking the sun. Once I had two sun casts, I knew the perpendicular was South and then knew North as well. I got out fine. You ought to teach that trick with the sticks.
I work in construction, so I take survey stakes with me. When I realize I'm lost I pound a couple in the ground and wait. Sooner, rather than later an operator will be along to knock them over. 🤩
Good advice. Can't state enough the importance of STOPPING when that realisation of being lost kicks in. Stop. Have a breather, sit down, drink water, eat....
If anyone needed this video, it's me. I always thought North was whatever direction I was facing!😆...until my coworkers started laughing at me... I have no sense of direction, I got lost on a hike today, started on Red trail and ended up on Orange... no idea how that happened. Anyway thanks so much for this, this information is worth it's weight in gold. One day I'm want to take a course at coalcrackerbushcraft school!😉
Great advice. Taught this a quite a few decades ago in Northen Ontario. However, I suggest one only briefly makes their "Home Base" and begins doing this immediately and methodically blazing and counting steps upon realizing that one is off course. Do it even if you suspect you're only a wee distance from the trail. It's so easy to start "day-dreaming" or talking and not noting your surroundings when your hiking. By starting it soon, one can get rid of excess adrenalin one has at first.
Growing up and hunting in PA. The one thing my dad taught me was if you get “turned around”. Find a stream and follow it down stream. Eventually it will cross a road. Sit your a - - down and eventually a carv will come by.
Exactly right. If you're ever truly lost or in unknown territory, walk downhill until you find water. Follow the water. It'll eventually lead you to people.
@@jamesb2291 Idk man, aren't woods usually thickest around rivers? Also you could be in a narrow would, which would mean you'd walk for days along the riverbed, which happens to be the only place where the woods are thick, bit could've gotten out in an hour by just walking away from it. It depends on how humid of an area you're in I suppose.
I am never lost while out in the field, I have been “geographically misoriented”. Or while doing military long range land nav, I have been “geographically embarrassed”. Your technique example is a simple but great way to regain your “geographical alignment”. Lol. RLTW/DOL 🇺🇸
@@theeggtimertictic1136 yes. It's on a roll; thin, brightly colored plastic about 1" wide, NOT sticky/adhesive. Usually available in orange, pink, yellow, or green. Just tear off a length and tie it onto whatever you want to mark. Usually found in camping accessories area of sporting goods section of store. Hope this helps.
You can blaze a trail w/o orange tape. Pick a direction, walk 25 paces, lay a branch on the ground in the direction you are heading or use your heel to draw an arrow on the ground. Walk in the same direction another 25 paces, look back at the last mark to ensure your are still heading in a straight line, use your heel or lay a branch and continue. Ray Charles could follow that blaze back to your base camp.
Fantastic walkthrough on using your brain, not panicking, and getting yourself out. The only thing that I would add is that if you have the ability to at the end of any ray, leave something not "natural" at eye level (a part of cloths or T.P.). This will make the search and rescue peoples job easier. They may find your camp, follow your ray trail back to you known location or be able to centralize their search area. I love the outdoors and hate seeing trash left by hikers, but I bet I would hate to find an expired person more. you can always go back and grab your trail markers after you are sure of your location again.
For folks who are not really direction intuitive this is good and helpful strategy and technique. And because it's technique specific it's helping crystallize my intuition.
Not a hunter myself but have done a fair amount of hiking and backpacking. And with all due respect, there's a much simpler way. I read about this somewhere, I've used it and it works. You use a SPIRAL pattern. Start from where you're standing, choose whether you want to go clockwise or counterclockwise, whichever you're more comfortable with and you simply walk in ever-widening circles from where you're standing.. An ever-widening spiral in other words. That way you're covering all the compass points at once and you will hit the trail eventually. Much more efficient and less time-consuming than walking in straight lines and then having to retrace if you choose the wrong direction which is an inherent flaw in the ray technique which otherwise has some logic to it. But the spiral method is much faster. And if if darkness and/or dropping temps are closing in on you really don't want to be messing around. But thanks for the video.
I think that might work if you're not too lost. That can probably work within a few hours. But if you're out there for days, you just might end up making things worse for yourself. Plus, you do not have the advantage of a "camp" as a constant reference point and place of safety.
Don't use a spiral method. Frankly it has zero merit in my opinion. Using a spiral method at no point are you 'not lost'. At least using the method in the video you always have knowledge of your start point and an ability to make rational search decisions based on that knowledge.
@@joeprimal2044 lt is silly, though in a way it could work in reverse, given most people think they're travelling in a straight line when they're going in circles, maybe thinking you're going in widening circles forces you into a straight line. /S
Here is a challenge with the Rays method given here. This is from an experienced hiker. Trails that are deep in the woods can be narrow and overgrown. It is possible to cross the trail and not know it. The key when hiking is to quickly recognize when you are no longer on the trail and then backtrack from that point back to the trail. In some heavily travelled hiking paths, close to the trailhead, you commonly find false paths that tend to quickly lead to nowhere. If you are hiking in the mountains and you are totally lost, if you can find a stream, follow that in the direction of water flow which may bring you out. Or at least travel downhill. If you know directionwise where you need to go, the direction of the sun with the time of day may help.
Great video on an important topic. I've heard that younger kids that get lost in wild places are easier to find than the older kids because the younger ones tend to stay put in one place while the older ones tend to wander further and further from their last known position in the hopes of finding their way home. In reality most of the time the ones that wander just get even more lost and increase the search area needed to find them. Attempting to hike your way out when lost, especially if you are injured, poorly rested, and/or low on food and water, etc., increases the chances that you might accidentally cause a serious injury to your self (turning a bad situation into a truly life threatening one), so it is not something to be attempted lightly, or when in a panicked or agitated state of mind. The ray method described in this video is an excellent way to methodically work toward a self rescue, but I would add that it is very important to clearly mark your base location, and also to mark the particular blaze trail you are exploring when away from your base by placing an arrow of rocks or sticks, and/or a note indicating which direction you are traveling to help those who might be searching for you if they happen to find your base camp while you are away. As time goes on, each trip away from your base location increases the risk of you encountering additional difficulties or suffering a possible injury, so leaving clear clues of where you have gone for those seeking to rescue you is vitally important.
Great idea and very useful, I've been lost for a few hours in a forest in Scotland but know that panic is the last thing, finally after retracing my steps several times I made back to my camp, but without knowing about this technique, thank you.
Amazing advice!!! i got lost in the bush once, started to panic so hard.. Lucky for me i picked the right direction that lead me to the path.. If i watched this video, things would have been so much more fun and calming knowing that eventually, you will find the way you came from.. Bravo
As you walk 'out' you need to keep looking back and orienting yourself, making sure you recognise the 'look of the land' and seeing your blazes from the perspective of the return trip. Of course, a mapping GPS is pretty handy too! ;)
First time I got misplaced was as a teenager, I was with a mate. We stopped pulled out the map realized we must have taken a fork, went back found the main track had become over grown at the fork and we had missed it. The lessons, always have a map and when it looks wrong it probably is - go back, sort it out.
Which is helpful if you know your map is accurate. However it gets tricky when your map differs from the trail head map. Which is the most up to date?? From experience I would take a photo of the map at the trail head so if it starts to look like yours is wrong then you have a fall-back
Thanks for sharing. I don't often get "turned around" because I tend to pay attention to direction, i.e. which side of my shoulder the sun was coming from, landmarks etc. Your "Self Mapping" is a development of something I was taught during map reading in the military.
i like to verify I'm paid up on the iridium before heading out. This video brings me back to being deep in the Sierras for a bear hunt. Was tracking a black bear down a revine, paid more attention to him, and not the distance i had covered. It's big country. Took 48 hours to find/get back to base camp again. But had running streams, rations, and a 30-06. Saved the taxpayers search and rescue expenses. Semper Fi
When you said "ray navigation" I immediately thought you meant making a small smokey fire in a forest where you cant see the sun directly, and using the slanted sun rays to get your compass bearings, as the rays of light will always slant towards the sun. Thus giving you at least some indication where the sun is in the sky to help with directions. In the morning it will point you east and in the evening it would point west but at mid-day when the sun is almost directly above, it would give you your south direction as the sun always (in the northern hemisphere) hangs in the south side of the sky and the rays would be slanted that direction even if slightly. My mistake. Although the version I came up with just now is also a brand new technique like yours is, and could be used in conjunction with yours to maybe fine tune the process of getting out :)
Watched your advice a wiel back .smart . Keep calm, think but most of all dont go ferther stop and enjoy the night if you know ypur out of time .rest get to salving the problems the next day dont panic
I was hiking in the Colorado Rockies and got lost. Somehow I missed the trail. Sheer luck I went backwards and found the trail. It was frightening. I’m glad I watched this video
Thank you for this Video, I will try to remember this in times of need! I am one of those People whose point if references doesn't work very well...I get lost in a building, unless I am able to look out of a window to get my bearings. Yes, I have been lost in my very own 14 acres of woods, and since I do have neighbors on two sides of me it was easy to just look for clearances or roofs of buildings to get to our main road. I have also been lost in other areas before, so NOW I try to use the Sun 🌞 as a reference point. If you know the road goes from East to West, in a clearing make yourself a sundial with anything you have on hand. Then wait a little while and watch the shadow on the ground or the trees AROUND you move in the westerly direction. You then know the direction the road is on. Then you mark the area you are now walking just in case you have to back track. Do this the Moment you realize you are lost, to prevent going deeper into unknown territory. Also look for Moss on trees...they Generally only grow on the north side of trees. If you see Moss in front of you on trees you probably are heading north to northwest. So I found for myself, I deal better with navigation via the Sun 🌞. You have to find what works best for you, for yourself!
This was something that I taught in the marines for land nav, but I also drilled into everyone’s head that nature provides its own compasses, you just need to look for them! The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, moss will grow on the norther side of trees. And such so each individual that knows this should also know about counting ones paces, and that x times the average foot step (30”) equals how many yards or miles traveled. The other thing they should always look out for is line of sight, (rock formations, mountains, large trees and abnormal things) to help maintain direction
When my daughter was little (back in the 1980s) I told her that if she's ever lost in the woods to remember that the polar axis of the satellite dishes always point north. She understood the joke. :)
The one time I got lost in the woods, I got to high ground. Was able to shoot azimuths to landmarks and triangulate my position on my map. One tip for finding direction: moss is typically heaviest on the North side of trees.
I'm 40 and I've been hunting all my life, one thing that I've noticed is that when you realize that you aren't where you thought you were, a sense of un-needed urgency kicks in. You walk faster, you panic to some extent whether you realize it or not. I think your advice to sit down and take a few minutes to compose yourself is definitely sound advice, thinking clearly is step one.
Absolutely. Panic is your enemy. Stay cool and use your brain.
Yep! I was a bit freaked out hunting and ran all around but was never more than 60yards from my truck lol
NEVER panic!
Facts
almost feels like you are being chased as well.
Always look backward as you hike, especially where one geographical feature meets another.(You should be doing this anyways. It’s how I caught a mountain lion stalking me, and it probably saved my life). A WW2 Paratrooper taught me this trick. People think they’ll recognize terrain on their way back, but it’s a completely different view. It’s like looking at multiple faces just one time, and expecting to recognize them the next time you see the backs of their heads. Try to take mental snapshots every time you turn around and look at where you’ve been. I’ve been 20 miles off trail, into the Sierras, and never been lost or questioned myself. It worked when I was 16 and it still works at 45.
And never panic.
Good advice. Plenty of places up and down the Sierra’s to get lost in forever. Been trying but keep finding my way out.
Great advice, thanks for sharing!
Now that's eeal good advice! And you never know you could have to head back in a hurry in case of emergency so knowing what the path looks like can make it easier. Or if your going into unfamiliar territory mark the trees but on the back side so you can see them coming back.
I have the worst sense of direction and followed this advice yesterday navigating a town centre. It worked!
I do that but even one better, take some pictures with your phone when you look back. It's amazing how well mountains in the background can help guide you back. For example you see a peak in the distance between a saddle in nearby mountains or hills and it makes getting back easy. Just get to a point where that peak is between the saddle and move forward. I did this to find a hang glider years ago when I landed way out and had to hike to town but I wanted to be able to get my glider back. I didn't have gps options at the time. I'd have never found it without those pictures. I tried for a bit without using them but I was way off.
I will never go camping without 2 different colors of yarn- like orange and yellow. They would make great markers for going into a forest, and it would alert searchers you had been on a particular path. As well as a reminder to me where I had traveled. Yarn is bright, biodegradable, and birds will use it later to line their nests. It’s also very light weight and super easy to pack. I got lost in a small forest I own, but when I saw the yarn I knew I was headed back in the same direction. I’d definitely do this if I stepped off a trail to use the bathroom. Might seem silly, but I know first hand it works.
And if you are bored you can knit a sweater😊
Cave explorers use a similar thing, rope or string.
I love it when idiot hikers litter the forest with their stupid markers.
I'm assuming it's pure wool yarn? I don't know of many biodegradable yarns, and the dye used usually isn't either.
@@lilygypzyslabs7863Cotton yarn would work well. You could use vegetable/fruit dyes for the environment.
I was lost for 3 days in the woods of Oregon. As a former Marine I knew the basics of survival and the hardest thing was admitting I was lost. I used my shoe laces and belt to build a lean-to, found some dry wood as it was raining, as a smoker I was able to build a fire with my lighter and was good for the night. I was deep in the canyon by some water and nobody could hear me screaming. The next morning I heard chainsaws and started hiking to the sound of the saws. I finally found a logging road in the process. 4 hours later from hiking I realized I was hearing the echo of the chain saws and they were the other direction. I headed back the other direction but was still hearing an echo and found a place to hang out for the night. The next morning I tried again and finally found the loggers 5 hours later. His truck was open and I was so hungry I ate his lunch and drank almost all of his water. I found them on the hill and they gave me a ride to a camp that was being set up my a sheriff search party. It was a Monday and asked the Sheriff if I could call work to let them know I wouldn't be coming in to work. My employer didn't believe I was lost in the woods until the Sheriff took the phone and explained I was. My new nickname at work was Euell Gibbons...............that natural hippy dude from the 70s that ate bark and grape nuts or something. I still use it to this day.
Thanks for sharing
Euell Gibbons! Lmao! You are killing me 😂😂😂
Did the logger who gave you a ride ask "who tf ate my sandwich???"
🤣🤣🤣Just looked up Euell Gibbons, ‘you know the other day I ate some goose poop I found on my lawn’🤣👌
`Euell Gibbins book was 'Stalking the Wild Asparagus". He was into scavenging of wild plants.
My dad was a Marine forward observer who was very knowledgeable about map reading. He was my Boy Scout master and started teaching me in the 1950s. But, about 15 years ago I switched to GPS. I found that it was virtually impossible to get lost. However, on one outing three years ago an expected storm came through and the temps dropped to 15 F. When I woke up in the morning, my cell phone and two external batteries had been drained from the cold. From that trip onward I started carrying a compass, map, and Ranger beads. Now I use them as primary tools. It is actually more fun than a cell phone and much more rewarding. Now I pass the knowledge to my grandkids.
I agree. My dad was a green beret, special forces, airborne ranger. I grew up in the woods with him teaching me how to use a compass and breaking branches to navigate. Now, my husband and I are big time backpackers and use a map and a compass. I still snap tee limbs just as a safeguard, and it of habit. It is a good feeling. We do have a Garmin, but like you, it has died on us. We basically carry it for the SOS
What are Ranger beads?
Green beret and special forces are the same thing dude.
Please explain 'ranger beads??'
@@a.k.7116 Beads strung onto paracord, used to count paces. Just google "ranger beads" for instant photo.
My wife’s Grandpa spent many years as a surveyor in northern Canada. He always said the most important thing you could carry was a deck of cards. If you were ever lost you should sit down and deal a hand of solitaire, After a few minutes someone will pop over your shoulder and tell you the red 6 can go on the black 7. And when they do you pack up your cards and follow them out.
Did he literally do this or did he just say this?
Great story! 😂
Thatd be my method of choice!😁👍
Thanks for sharing, it's hilarious but it made me think that a deck of cards would also be a good set of "bread crumbs" when using the method in the video :)
@@w.harrison7277 LOL
I’ll just take a bottle of Jack with me,my wife always seems to find me when I’m drinking.
🤣🤣
😂🤣😅🤣😂
My morning laugh. Thanks
Oh Yes wives do..
😂😂😂
The moss always grows on the OUTSIDE of the tree. Ergo, if you see moss, you are not IN a tree.
😆😆
haaaaaaaaaaaaa
Spoken like a true O'Toole
that's what I'm talkin about, there are people in our society that just don't get it.
🤣👍
On a grey overcast day my 2 daughters and I were riding in a forest after a big windstorm. To work our way over fallen trees we ended up off trail and so turned around we were lost. I finally said to my youngest daughter to drop her pony's reins and let her free. The pony led us out of the forest and we were able to get back home. Moral: don't get lost without a pony.
All of us experienced hikers know that a pony is the 11th essential. 😋
@@TheToscanaMan My horse could do the same thing. I was lost and let the horse take me back to camp. How can they do that?
Smell
The pony was like, I want to go home, let's do this.
❤🐴
I'm not embarrassed to say I have been lost hopelessly lost and more than once . The practice of looking back to gain a perspective of where I have been is the best advice any one can give to prevent disorienting. As I have stated l have no "natural " sense of direction, far to many hits to my head. So for me not getting LOST is a sport in itself. Did I mention I used to literally live in the Woods for years . How I survived baffles me.
My dad was a bit of a freak IMO. He could go out hunting (never use an actual “trail”) in the middle of the night. It would be pitch black with only a flashlight and after you had been in the woods for several hours you could ask him where the truck was and he could not only tell you the direction but also how many miles away it was. And to top it off he could also tell you if you were near a National park etc. He never carried and map or a compass. It was amazing. RIP dad.
A lot of people play piano, but not everyone is a Mozart. I wonder if your dad had a innate almost savant sense of space and direction. His brain ticked a little different than the rest of us. If so, he is the complete opposite of me. I get lost in a grocery store.
My cousin is the same way. You could walk him in the woods blind folded, spin him around in a circle 10 times and he'd still tell you which way is north. It's funny because I refer to him as a freak as well. Haha
Plot twist.
He died from exposure when lost.
@@pastorofmuppets8834 Dude. Show some respect.
@@DaveyKanabus as if that story is true. Show some respect for yourself.
My son, who was 5 years old at the time, got himself lost while we were visiting friends at their cabin. The adults were inside chatting and the 6 children were outside playing together. My son started following a butterfly. Because of trees and high grass and shrubs he could see the cabin anymore. He did exactly what you said. We went in one direction then went back to where he was then took another direct. So he kept going back and forth always going back to where he started from. When he went in one of the directions he saw a church steeple. He remembered seeing this church on our way to my friends so he now know which direction to go and he found the cabin. If he would have kept walking in the wrong direction he could have gotten himself lost in a huge forest. I was very proud of him for keeping a level head and figured out what was the best way for him to find his way back. It broke my heart when he said he kept calling out for me but nobody heard him.
So glad your son was ok.
Love that. Smart kid
He is lucky indeed. You should watch The Missing 411 series. A lot of people disappear out of the woods with no Trace
@@jamesbowen5573 I'm actually working with someone on collating a database of those cases heh
Man, what a blessing! Glad it worked out.
You’re so right in your first piece of advice. Gather your composure. I grew up in the country and got lost in the woods behind our house when I was a kid. Still remember it 40 years later. I started to feel that panic but calmed myself down and gathered my wits. Sat there for 10 minutes listening intently and heard a car on a distant road. Headed in that direction and made it out of the woods before dark. I was pretty proud of myself.
how old were you at the time?
@@rawr4444 Twas 10 yrs old.
smart!
I’m watching this attentively as if I’m really gonna need this sometime in my life while I lay bedridden as a quadriplegic - this is good information.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 well you haven’t lost your sense of humor 😂😂😂😂🎉
😂 this comment gave me a good laugh. How long have you been a quad par?
@@pinchebruha405 Hell naw; I’m waiting for the zombie apocalypse. Hopefully I’ll get bit and get up again.
@@thisworldhasgonemad 8 years too long. Why, you got a cure? 🤪
@@yannichingaz I wish. I'm not that cool. Before my accident I was a forklift driver/ laborer. Now I do nothing. If I was smart like my husband, I would've been a Dr. Now I sit on youtube 🤣
I feel I need to implement this in my life in general. Try a path and if it doesn’t work come back to the centre start point and try another direction until I find the right way. I hope I find the right one eventually ❤
Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father except by Me.”
I just saved you a lot of wasted years, energy, and money.
Took me 25 years to finally surrender to Jesus Christ but now that I’m on the right trail, He lights my path and directs my steps and now for the first time I am never alone, and my final destination will be heaven❤
I hope you find your happy trail.
@@truthbtold6118 You fought our Lord Jesus for 25 years before surrendering?
Numbers 23:19. Check out Rabbi Tovia Singer if u really wanna know more about jesus. @@truthbtold6118
The absolute optimism.
One thing that has helped me so much while traveling through the woods on trails or not, is always turn around and look behind you. It's easy to recognize a trail going one way. But they always look completely different walking the opposite direction. I always just turn and view the trail or path I'm taking from both directions so when I see it again it will look familiar.
Vastly superior to your silly speaker comment. 👍
Looking back often is very simple, but rarely done except by very experienced and savvy hikers and by a few who think outside the box.
I use this technique as well. Also, used this in my younger years living in Boston after losing my locked up bike while drinking and forgetting where I locked it. Or trying to bike from south Boston back to Somerville (pre smart phone era). Now I just do it out of habit.
Always look back. Even in an urban jungle
Before beginning a hike, focus on a landmark, be it a mountain top, large tree, gully, or cabin, and take note where you begin. Another trick is to shave off a bit of bark with a hatchet or knife on the front side of the trees you will pass. Then when you begin your trek back you will notice the "light" spots on the trees where you shaved off a bit of bark.
@@treebeardtheent2200Puleeze. I used this technique as an elementary school CHILD hiking in the woods of Pennsylvania. Never got lost.
I was on a hunting trip about 20 years ago and I used a GPS to mark my camp location. I took off looking for a herd of caribou that had passed through the night before and about 3 hours later I decided to return to camp. I checked my GPS to get a bearing on the return route and much to my horror I discovered it was dead. The below-freezing temperature had killed the alkaline batteries in the GPS. I knew I was 3 hours from camp but that's a long way to take a chance walking with no markers or clear trail. So, I ended up warming up the batteries in my pocket, reinstalled them, and the GPS became functional again. I now use lithium batteries in the GPS. This is just another tip from someone who screwed up and learned the hard way.
Did you ever get home? Or are you still out there?
@@peedizzle5 😂😂😂😂 It's been a crap day. Thanks for the laugh.
I think you missed the lesson. You need a non tech method for finding your way. You can use tech to verify but total reliance on tech can get you in trouble.
@@writerconsidered Agreed. While a phone or GPS can get you out of a bind, they aren't foolproof, and definitely can fail on you at the worst possible time. I typically hike in alpine areas, so I always know that if I'm hopelessly lost, I either head straight up until I get to a vantage point, or straight down until I find a river. If I happen across a road in the mean time, bonus! Even if it's a disused dirt track, it means I can probably find my bearings again and get back on course.
ALWAYS....ALWAYS have spare batteries. Shouldn't hunt alone for that matter.
“I've never been lost, but I was mighty turned around for three days once.” - Daniel Boone
Great video! Thanks for sharing this method. I’ll have to try it next time I get “mighty turned around.” 😀
If you're a man..you are never lost. You may not know where the fuck you are. But your never lost.
Teehee that's my philosophy, I'm never lost I'm just temporarily unsure of how to get where I'm going😉
Not all who wander are Lost.
@acyd burnone could say that includes religion. Faith comes without sight. 🤔
@acyd burn why I like Hunting..
You get still, you listen, dont move much..dont talk much at all and it goes on like that for several days.
Can be hard to do
You have undoubtedly saved someone from being lost for a long time or worse. Great to have this in the back of my mind. Thank you.
When we were like 12, we got wicked lost off the Appalachian Trail. This was the early 80's. Had the state troopers looking for the three of us. There was a point where we gave up trying to find the trail, and just started walking to find something that jibed with the trail map we had. We climbed one ridge and saw basically nothing but other ridges. But we spent a good 45 minutes doing the "I think we're here, look at this peak, this peak, and that peak, and the tight lines mean really steep terrain, and that's right over there." We finally agreed on a location, and started walking toward a highway 3 valleys away, and flagged down a trooper. His first words were "We been looking for you, you're 10 miles away from where everyone else thinks you are." We just couldn't find the trail. The trail in that area was a bunch of zig zags following the terrain, and we couldn't pick it back up.
I got lost slightly off the Appalachian trail a few months ago. I was doing a hike in the middle of the night with my new night vision, and even though you can see a lot with night vision, you can't see color and you can only see 40 degrees in front of you. Thankfully I wasn't of the trail by more than about 30yds.
As I'm traveling in strange areas I have a habit of looking behind me to see where I've been. This has helped me numerous times to get back to where I've started out as I have "memorized" the images of what it looks like to go back the other way. This works when walking around big cities too.
Absolutely. In strange surroundings I always do the same.
I used to work in Marine Nav Aids engineering. This would often involve visiting small coastal Beacons which were generally in remote locations. Humping heavy equipment and batteries to site over rough ground or rocky foreshores was not always easy but in daylight it was easy to find your way back. However the work also entailed making night observations of the beacons from suitable land points. So you scout the location by day and return after dark. The problem of darkness is you can only see to the range of your flashlight, so any landmarks you unconsciously used in daylight are gone. I would frequently look back to keep a mental image of my way out. It paid off on more than one occasion.
Cheers matey.
@Eugene Thaden. You've nailed it. I'll choose a tree to start from and then pick one to head to, looking back to see the tree from whence I came.
Things look very different going the opposite direction.
This saved me today. I always do it on walks. Trail was terribly marked and I had no idea where I was. Just backtracked, relying on key images I remembered while looking behind me on the way in. Saved my ass. Still dunno where that dang lean to is supposed to be though.
Such a good practice not often spoken about...Turn around often look for and talk about the notable features to create a "way home" memory guide make a note if it helps.
👍
I went off the trail with my family a few summers ago. They used the “Get pissed and start screaming at each other” method. Rule of thumb: If it doesn’t work at family holidays, it probably isn’t a good idea in the woods. On the bright side, politics didn’t come up.. I hike with friends now.
Here in the U.K. 'getting pissed' means getting very drunk. That's usually the British answer to every situation.
@@Hyperplaterine Here as you probably already know it just means becoming very angry. Thank goodness they weren’t drunk, I likely wouldn’t be here to tell this tale :P
I was lost in St. Stanislaus NF for about 2 hours, I was pert scared, alone with nobody to blame but myself. I yelled at myself but that didn't help.
@@unperson5713 you shouldn't have let yourself get away with disrespecting you. You should've sent yourself a very scathing and inflammatory letter. 😊
Yep .. as a workmate used to say ..
"You cannot pick your Family .. you can pick your Friends .. you can pick your Nose .. but don't try and pick your friends nose."
That came up close on 50 years ago .. thanks for the reminder 😁
I grew up in the woods of northern PA. The best advice I was ever given in regards to getting lost in the woods came from my father. He always told me to find a creek or a stream and follow it. You'll eventually find people/ civilization.
Where we are, bc coastal mountains. You never follow streams down the mountain. Because they go into mini canyons, with mossy sides. They are very easy to fall into.
We follow the ridges down.
water runs downhill often to larger streams and rivers and usually civilization
@@billpetersen298 thanks, did not know that. I am on the East Coast so different topography
@@gregtarris9057 My mistake, never say never. If it is levelling out, not steep at all. Then yes follow the stream.
But in the mountains, that's also how out of bound skiers get trapped. In something getting steeper, and they can't climb out of.
So, you know you are safe as soon as you have to fight the alligators!
Hi Dan, as always thank you for all the tips !!!
Also while in the middle of no where watch where the sun is, make mental pictures in your head of your area you're walking in. IF you DO decide to go off a trail, place markers every so often as your hikeing, then that will help you find your way back to the main trail.
I spent 17 yrs in the Pine Barrens, in New Jersy, esp. in the National Forests. It's best to STAY ON THE TRAILS or one can get lost very quickly and all you have mostly is sand and Pine trees.
IF you go off trail, pay close attention to where your going, do the above and always look behind you from time to time as you want to make sure nothing is following you, esp. hungry animals !
IF CAN let a trusted someone know where your going, what route you'll take and when you'll be back. Call that person (s) when you return safe. That way IF something happens, you don't come back, help will have a good general direction on starting to look for you. USE your rations wisely ! You never know how long your food/water may have to last. Carry a 1st Aide Kit too.
Better to have 'it' and not need it then to NEED IT and not have it.
I have worked in the wild for the past 34 years. This is good stuff for eastern woodlands and places with dense forest. Out west, people get lost in mountains and out in the desert. In that case, go downstream if in the mountains until you cross any road. Even an old overgrown logging road. Follow the road until you come to a junction with any other road. Again, it doesn't matter if it is overgrown. At the junction, it will form a giant letter Y. Follow the stem of the Y. This ALWAYS leads to bigger and more active roads. Once you reach an active road, leave bread crumbs. If anyone is looking for you, they will know you are on the road. Then as you move toward civilization, NEVER leave the road. In deserts, find a high point, find any nearby road trace and use the same road following technique. The key is to find a usable road so searchers can find you. I have been teaching this to new crew for decades.
In the 1960s I spent 2 weeks at the Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camp in New Jersey. I completely screwed up a map reading exercise and got lost. I didn't know about the ray method but I did exactly what the Boy Scout Handbook said to do. Once I decided I was lost I stayed put, started building a lean-to type shelter out of dead branches and was starting to work on a fire pit (about 2 hours after deciding to stay put) when I started to hear my name being called and my scout troop found me. Such a great organization. Such a crime that it was ripped apart by vultures.
You mis-spelled vultures.. it's spelled 'Democrats'.
@@philip6419 you sir, are part of the problem with what is wrong with this country. You think all conservatives are just great, don't you?
@@j.dragon651 Make your point, sir.. and be specific.
@@philip6419 Do you believe everything wrong with this country is the democrats fault, if so, I rest my case. The Republican party has gone off the deep end and represent the rich. The Democrats have gone off the deep end and represent the "poor". Here I am, a white middle class, blue collar worker with no one to represent me. We need a third party for the middle class of all persuasions. Good enough for ya?
@@j.dragon651 No. You've been sucked in by the MainStream Media who are an extension of the Democrat party. Basically, THEY cater to the rich while lying that it's the Republicans. Its not that hard.. look at the MSM how they attack everything conservatives do and elevate everything Left. The Left is for BIG government intervention in everyones life, usually through FEAR. Climate change.. the earth is going to burn-up in 5 yrs. or the Virus.. MUST be vaccinated.. Blacks need protection from whites, kids from their parents, LGBT from straight, etc! Give these victims 'free stuff'.. THEN they own you. IF you really want to know what's going on without being gaslighted by the Left, read a true conservative media outlet.. like 'Breitbart News' or 'Townhall'. Don't be a Zombie!
Very useful technique. Two thoughts: 1. It helps to mark your path with a direction (arrow, etc.). I've encountered my own marks and not known whether to go right or left. 2. The biggest problem can be a trail that doesn't look much different from the surrounding terrain. I've crossed the trail without realizing it. Especially true with trails that fork along the way.
Awesome Dan! I learned the “Ray” or “Bearings” method in woodland survival school USMC - early 90s. Never gets old hearing it again. Good job man!
Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you will be saved. john 3:16 (share the good news of the gospel around the world!) have a wonderful day/night, may the Lord bless you all, and farewell!,.,,,,,,
ERRAH, Teufel Hunden.
Patrol maps are always fun as well.
Semper Fi. I'm on planet earth. I cant get lost. Lol.
Really good idea.
Also if you grow exhausted or hurt yourself, your rescuers will find those markers.
Great advice. ❤
A friend and I were riding horses and decided to go off trail. I was so surprised we got lost but we did. The very best advice of this whole video is to NOT PANIC! That certainly helped me. After the initial moment of panic and I was able to think things through I realized there is no way we could be truly lost as these “woods” were surrounded on all sides by roads. So I just picked a direction and tried to keep a straight line and eventually we came to a road and then could navigate our way home by road. Thanks for this video, I love the ray technique!
The most disturbing thing about getting lost is the “180” your head takes. It’s a tough transition to go from internal thoughts of ‘fun, thank god im not at work, this is beautiful’ to suddenly ‘where am i, how much water do i have….’
Exactly! I got lost in the woods once and panicked. I only got out because there was a stream and it just entered into my mind to follow it. Finally got to a point where there was a bridge so I climbed up the hill. Where there is a bridge there is a road. But let me tell you i had one MASSIVE HEADACHE that night because of the stress from being lost
My ex and I went on a hike on a longish trail that basically circumnavigated a large chunk of parkland. We weren't paying enough attention to the time of day so we set off on a 2nd circuit when we should've just stayed put or gone for dinner. It was getting pretty dark and we both had that "oh crap, we're lost" moment when what we saw on the map I was carrying made us believe we should've already been back at the parking lot. It occurred to me that during our first time 'round, two of the small valleys we passed through looked almost identical so I figured we were actually still in the 1st valley and had mistaken it for the 2nd in the twilight (there were 2 or 3 landmarks we needed to tell which valley we'd entered, but in the rapidly failing light couldn't see them because they were a few miles off). We decided to agree that we were actually in the 1st valley -- I was 90% sure, she was 95% not believing me -- and began to alternately jog/walk quickly according to the map. We got back to the parking lot just about the time it became too dark to see more than a few inches ahead. It pays to pay attention to the time of day as much as it does to pay attention to things like landmarks AND the similarities/differences of parts of a trail.
so close to being an interesting MrBallen story ..
This is great advice and I know this works.
Many years ago my wife and I were hiking in the Scottish highlands. In a matter of minutes, the weather changed to les than 10ft visibility. It was early June but still had a foot of snow on the ground. First thing we did was stop and assess the situation. We couldn’t get a baring off any landmarks or reference for the map, so had to try and find our route out.
We used a version of this technique to find the route back down the mountain. It didn’t take long but that’s just because we got lucky in finding a set of foot prints in the snow in one of our first few strikes out from centre point. Thanks for sharing.
Terrifying. It’s eerie as hell up there.
Before following a set of footprints in the snow, check whether they're your own. If they are, follow them backwards. Otherwise you could wind up going in circles.
A while back when I was in the Marine Corps, we got in the habit when on patrol to turn back and check behind you. There’s more then one reason why, but to my point, it helps with recognizing the terrain in which you came from. It also really helps with your sense of direction, as long as you know what compass bearing you’re walking in the first place. Now I’ve used this method many of times when hunting in new areas, and well i haven’t gotten lost yet, because I always knew where I came from.
When I get lost I immediately start to run screaming at the top of my lungs. Not sure why mall security always gets all worked up.
😂😅 😆
Lmao😂
I learned Survival Techniques in Boy Scouts, then again in the Army. I used to PRAY to somehow get lost in some HUGE woods where I could use these techniques. The closest I ever came was having to spend 3 days alone in the woods with NO (brought-in) shelter...(no sleepoing bag, no tent, etc) and only one small bag of dried/prepared food. We had to start and maintain a fire, and demonstrate a food-catching trap/snare/fish-cone etc. (This was for the "Order of the Arrow" in the Boy Scouts. ) That sash with the Red Arrow meant a lot more to me than any of the merit badges I'd earned...
Go ahead & sign up for a show like Naked & Afraid or Alone.
@Fido-vm9zi my family and friends ask tell me I should sign up for alone. I would love to, but I have such a insanely high metabolism that I eat a crazy amount of food and have no fat on me. My dad laughs and says that the food would be the only thing stopping me. I hunt, fish, footage, and am really good at identifying plants. But I still don't know if I could make it work. But man it would be fun to try!!!!
The single most important and first thing you should do when lost is estimate how long you've been walking since the last time you were sure you were on the right path. That will tell you how far you have to go in the correct direction (whatever that might be) in order to get back on track. Your entire strategy should be based on this estimate.
An adult can walk a mile in twenty minutes on even ground. That should give a rough estimate on distance traveled.
What happens if your kinda walking in a circle. Your not walking further our but you are walking for a while
Take a compass with you and check it regularly. @@NativePride4051
I've been in the bush and decided to backtrack over easier terrain than that encountered on the way in. Confident I knew where the trail should be I've set out with no concern, only to find the trail was elusive. Ultimately, by adjusting my heading toward my known prior path, I've ended up near to my hoped for destination. This is on short excursions too. It's taught me that dead reckoning is easily off by 20 to 30 degrees from what you think. Over a long distance this is very significant. Always look back behind you when hiking and find a reference point from that perspective for your return trip. Doesn't work in level terrain, but great in the hills and mountains.
I use Garmin and Sat Nav on my forest explorer adventures…same company we used in the USMC…just keep you batteries up…Love this guys channel…I show it to all my youthful students here at the college I teach..🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Very good. Thank you. I'm 75 and I don't go hiking but you never know. I just wanted to share something my WW2 military father taught me. He said You want to make sure that you're walking in a straight line. So you know you're starting point and you decide to go east. You look for a not too distant tree and you walk towards it. You get there, and look back at the tree you just walked from. So that way you can see what the next tree would be that would line up with those two trees, etc. etc. And, of course, your marking them.
Been hunting and hiking all my life. Only been truly lost once for a few hours. Worst feeling ever until I got lucky and happened onto a road by total random accident. This technique is definitely going to increase your chances of getting "un-lost". Thank you for sharing!
Great system! I’d probably add to it an extra step of marking differently the blaze at which you turn back so that if you have to revisit a ray it’s easy to tell when you’ve reached the farthest point from the last attempt.
And that's a key factor for sure; to be comfortable systemizing a way out.
I've used forester's flagging tape, with an extra knot tied on the end.
Another good trick to remember: look at the shape of a tree. Slowly walk around it. Usually the branches facing South, grow a little longer than the rest, since they get more sunlight throughout the growing season. This way you can determine your compass if you didnt carry one with you.
Or shove a stick in the ground and see how the shadow is cast: The direction the shadow grows and becomes longer should be East
Spanish Moss I believe also tends to grow more prominantly on the north side of trees
@@lespretend That's good information to have, but in areas like Utah, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and the Chihuahuan Desert in general (which would include Northern Mexico), it would be difficult to find running water above ground, let alone moss growing on trees..
@@lespretend Doesn't work if you're in a high humidity / high rainfall location, the moss covers any and all sides of the tree without any recognizable pattern. Especially in dense forest where the canopy provides constant shade down below.
If you're in an area where there's enough sunlight getting down to the forest floor, you're better off determining your compass direction by noting the position of the sun and the current time of day. Or jab a stick into the ground, mark where the end of the shadow reaches with a pebble, then wait 30 minutes and mark the new end of the shadow with another pebble. The line formed between the pebbles is east-west.
That doesn’t work if you get lost in the Disney World parking lot.
Depends on if you are in the southern or in the northern hemisphere. If someone from Australia goes by this he is going the wrong way tho
What's not to love about Dan? The guy makes learning these handy little toolbox videos enjoyable! He has a way in front of the camera and in making you continue to wanna listen & learn what it is he's teaching? Thanks Dan!! It's much appreciated and totally informative!!
Good Tip 👍 .. thanks for sharing. Reminders and Repetition on a Theme are good.
Many years back, I read something penned by an experienced Bush Crafter .. "You're never Lost .. you know exactly where you are. Maybe though, not where you should or would like to be."
An aside .. here in Switzerland, it is very difficult to get truly Lost. We have plenty forests .. each little town has one. It's just that the forests are not very big .. just pick a bearing, stick to it and you will come out somewhere .. or run into a Swiss Granny walking her dog .. they're Everywhere! 😁.
Take care ..
I got really lost in the woods for the first time in my life back in May. It was absolutely petrifying. What was supposed to be just a 1/5 mile hike turned into 5+ hours, ultimately I hurt my knees in the process for I wasn't prepared for that much of a strenuous work out and I had already done a long hike the day before. Even now 7 months later my knees are still not good. I just didn't realize when I started trekking in, that the posts for the route for the hike was going to be pretty much non-existent. There were so many paths and tracks that linked together making it impossible to know which way was the right way. In the end I called 911, it was getting dark w/some rain, I was exhausted and my phone was just about to die. The operator from the 911 call was such a blessing and she totally helped me keep my shit together. Once my knees heal and I can get back to hiking, I will be marking my path as I go, I will never go through that horror again!....
A valuable lesson to us all. Hope your knees heal up soon!
Check out Ben Patrick. He has awesome advice and track record of helping people reverse knee pain without surgery. Book is titled: Knee Ability Zero, Picture Guidebook to Knee Health and Longevity. Hope you heal up soon!
I carry a roll of blaze orange surveyors tape in my survival day pack just for this kind of thing (marking trails, waypoints, turns, etc.) 🍺
Damn good idea. I believe I'll start doing the same. Thanks.
I do as well. I also make sure to never leave it if it is a one time use kind of thing.
Where do you get that tape?
@@wms72 Various colors available at most hardware stores. It is not really tape. Not sticky. Just a roll of about 3/4 inch plastic ribbon.
Thank you!!!
So happy you made this video. As I hike I periodically turn around and take a photo. When reaching a beach I photograph were the trail mouth is. But I still got lost once. Called 911 and S&R tracked my phone so they could come n get me. But thanks to video advice from you and Cpl Shawn I was equipped to wait in relative comfort and could have spent the night.
The key is the ability to return to your camp! Really makes excellent sense!
This is proper navigation. Nice little technique. Thought, what I have done in the past on one of the hikes is to remember which side of your face the sunlight was hitting when you started the trail. Say around 10:30 in the morning you start and the sun was lighting up the right side of your face. (its easy to recall starting time, since your sense are picking up almost everything and you're thinking about the hike rather than other things). Say, by 5:30-6:00 evening you are lost. camp the night and next day, similar time, walk against the sun (sun to the back and chances are... you will find the trail quicker.
This might or might not work in rainy conditions. Also, It would be wise to click a snapshot of the trail when you start with your mobile phone. IT will kind of give you the general direction of which side the sun was looking at the shadows of trees and maybe even yourself. You might not have cell service, so you can put the phone on flight-mode to save battery. But you can still click pictures here and there.
My story is different. I took my severe Schizophrenic brother with a few of us canoe camping in Ontario. On one of the portages he stepped off the trial thinking he was an Indian and within a second he was lost in the woods as we could not find him. Night quickly came and we decided to make camp at the end of the portage and figure out how are we going to find him. It would take us 3 days to get back to civilization and get any help. I wasn't sure what I was going to tell my mom & dad who warned me not to take him along. I was scared, so I personally decided to pray to God for a miracle. The woods there cover huge distances and are very thick with lots of vegetation. Late that evening a small group happened to camp on the same lake. I canoed over to them and I asked them to be on a lookout for someone who may not necessarily want to be found, my brother. Late that night, one of the members of the other group were canoe night fishing when they heard a voice on the distant shore. ...I asked my brother, how did he find the shore of the lake in the darkness of the night? He said .."He prayed" and kept walking. PS. he never stepped far from our campsite from then on.
Why on earth would you ever take a "severely schizophrenic" person into that kind of situation? Imagine of you never found him. You'd have yourself to blame.
@@hellywise2542 Why would you to drive your car on a city highway where idiots doing 100 mph tailgating and cutting in front of you can kill you...because you want to enjoy the luxury of driving your own car just like everyone else. My brother wants top enjoy life also and not be locked up forever...you put your trust in your own driving skills to save yourself, I put my trust in a "Living " God to help me get through life.....
@@carpenterabcGood answer brother.
You can also prioritize a direction, if you can still tell which direction is which. If you were heading west in the trail and you strayed northbound from it, then you can prioritize a south and east search. You can try to figure it out by looking at the sun or moon and their shadows.
If you can't tell which direction the sun/moon is moving, you can always use a sort of azimuth technique to check. Place yourself in some place where you can see the sun with a reference next to it (e.g. a tree branch). Wait a little while and then check again. That'll give you a sense of its direction of movement.
If you can see any planets in the sky you can use them too. Planets are shiny stars that don't flicker. Sun, moon, planets, they all rise in the East and set in the West.
I have seen the moon in the west already. By observing lying vanities like Christmas, you are showing the Lord Jesus Christ that he should forsake you and not show you any mercy. Let us observe the commandments of God like keeping the feast of tabernacles so that Christ can show us mercy because we love him. He loved us first and we should love him also.
Jeremiah 10:1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
When do people cut a tree out of the forest and deck it? During so called Christmas! Repent.
That is a brilliant yet simple concept that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. This is life saving advice so Thankyou for making the video!
"You aren't lost. You are misoriented." US Army survival training instructor.
@@billcarson1971 XD
In the Australian Army we called it geographically embarrassed.
@@ozzmanzz lol A blush in the brush, I guess.
"Not all who wonder are lost, except LT, he's lost as shit"
@@russellcontreras394 lmao Great one! Two most dangerous things in the Army - an LT with a map and a company CO with a plan.
In 1972 I was following a trail around part of a mountain in northern California, when I realized there was no more trail. It had diminished to a game trail then down to nothing detectable. When I realized this the trail was already GONE. I had NOTHING on me, not even a pocket knife. The sun was going down. I started to feel panic, ran "back" down to he non-existent trail, the back and forth. THEN I calmed myself down, assessed my situation. I was on a heavily wooded and fairly steep mountain slope. To conserve my strength, I proceeded back the general direction from which I had come WHILE CLIMBING HIGHER at a 15° angle or so. If I cut the trail, great, but if I didn't, it would be much easier to alter my angle downward than climb upward after I was already tiring out.
I proceeded about 300 to 500 yards that way, then changed to a 15° downward slope in the same general direction. I finally cut the trail. It was an uneventful trek back on the now well defined trail, even in the gathering dusk. My fallback position was to simply spend a cold night there, truck down to the base of the mountain where I knew there was a river, then follow the river to the town where the friends I was visiting lived.
In the process TWO very important things happened: 1) I realized I needed at a bare minimum a way to make fire and cutting tool (these have been in my pocket ever since, except during basic military training), and 2) I started studying primitive survival skills, a "lite" version of which is called "bushcraft" these days. I say "lite", because outdoor survival enthusiasts in the 1970s had a different view, not to mention various benchmark tasks, the ultimate of which being the "naked into the wilderness" challenge. They meant that quite literally. It was sort of your doctoral dissertation on survival skills. I don't know too many that actually accomplished that one, but the one I do know of wrote an article with photos. He was dropped off on a mountain, in winter, with a couple of feet to much more of snow, and literally naked - no clothing or shoes/boots... Naked. The car that brought him left, and it would not return for two weeks. This was before wireless phones or GPS, so he was truly ALONE to survive or die in the next two weeks. Just him and his camera. Not many were confident enough to attempt this.
I read the article and saw his photos, so I know he survived. The truly interesting part was his choices he made, and his account of challenges and solutions. Standing there in snow well over his ankles (his first photo), watching his ride leave, the first order of business was to get something between his bare feet and the snow. Pine tree bark was harvested as a sole and natural cordage (cambion layer? vine? don't recall) used to lash it to his foot & ankle to create expedient sandals. (His second photo.) Next was shelter, as night was approaching: clothing could wait if a shelter could be fashioned to get him out of the wind. Then a fire. And so it went. Two weeks later he was in pretty good shape when he was picked up. He was fully clothed in animal skins, winter moccasins on his feet, and several necessary tools carried or hung on him. That man had bragging rights! I'm sorry I cannot provide a citation, but it has been too long. Someone see if you find it online. I have the skills just not the time to research it.
Read Calvin Rutstrum's _Paradise Below Zero_ for a good old school account of living in cold winter climates. It changed my views on winter hiking and camping. There is also _Bushcraft_ by Richard Graves, (c1972, 2013), which was the first time (mid- to late 1970s) that I encountered the term "Bushcraft", and in a book by an Australian. My "old school" favorites are Bradford Angier's _How to Stay Alive in the Woods_, _How to Eat in the Woods_, _On Your Own in the Wilderness_ (with Townsend Whelen), and/or _Livimg Off the Country: How to Stay Alive in the Woods_. As a reviewer pointed out, after those books, it would be difficult to starve in the wilderness. I agree. My challenges, though not nearly as extreme, were desert trekking and survival. Mountains and forests were not difficult, but I am basically nocturnal, and I have been since childhood. I can tolerate much colder temps than the average person, too. Conversely, heat and strong sunlight are incredibly uncomfortable, even painful to me. So I decided to master desert trekking in my early 20s, and I did. Once away from the "tourist areas", as we used to call prepared campgrounds and maintained hiking trails, the clothes came off and into the backpack. Many of us hiked naked or just in a pair of cutoff blue jean shorts. Hiking boots with good wool socks, of course, as well as a belt with a sheath knife, canteen, and utility pouch (the Vietnam era dual magazine pouch was my preference). I knew one girl, cute blond from the Caribbean, that hiked the Colorado mountains barefoot (feet were tough as leather), topless, and no sleeping bag, just a sort of sarape carried over her shoulder and a large woven purse like a haversack. I'm sure there are still minimalist backwoods trekkers out there, but nothing like those on YT showing off their 75 pounds INCH bags. Being able to resupply almost at will these days has made people soft and inconsiderate of their equipment.
If there ever is a lasting wide scale disaster like an EMP attack, deleting electricity for years if not generations, I believe the analysts that project 90% fatality rate in the US. We, myself included these days, are simply not accustom to the rigors of sustained outdoor life. I have the skills, I have the health, but I do not have the legs or the stamina I once had, being 70 and battling Lyme disease for well over a decade. That is thanks to my times trekking and dealing with mosquitoes, chiggers, TICKS, and the occasional reptile. It was bacteria from a tick that changed my life. However, in an ultimate societal meltdown, I would still head for the desert with a pack far lighter than most would believe could sustain a person. Why the desert, when I said it was my least favorite environment? Because the vast majority of people are terrified of heading out into a waterless wasteland, or so they perceive it to be. When I first trekked the Southwest deserts andm badlands, I was surprised at the amount of game sign. There were tracks of birds, deer, coyote, and snakes everywhere. If you follow the concentrations of those trails, and if you are very lucky, it will lead you to water. Just do not randomly cut open a cactus, as some "survival" manuals or experts have suggested. Many are a bit poisonous to humans, since our systems are not designed to deal with them, and even the ones we can tolerate are so much work for so little liquid, that it is a zero sum game. No benefit, except in the a true emergency. Learn to make a solar still and carry the less than 8 ounces of materials to make one. Learn the many other skills needed to survive there, as well. There are a number of books specifically on desert survival. The books I site above will handle the remaining areas of the US. I've studied primitive survival and bushcraft off and on for well over 40 years. It is never too early to start... or too late.
I went to high school in Amherst MA, which is unusual in having a wilderness survival course in the curriculum. Angier's "Survival With Style" was one of the required books. I still remember that 40+ years on.
@@septegram _Survival With Style_ was my all time favorite! I usually cite it, and I probably forgot, since I had the other Angier books on my screen, about to order copies for old time sake.
My other favorite was Larry Dean Olson's book _Outdoor Survival Skills_. He taught a survival course at Brigham Young University in Utah. He said he could not find a book he wanted to use in his course (around the early to mid 1970s), so he wrote that book. It was the FIRST survival book I ever found with color photos of the plants he described for foraging and medicine. Still have a copy... somewhere in storage.
As the old timers used to say, "Keep your eyes on the skyline and your nose in the wind."
Best, Michael from Texas
Thanks for the book list. It’s always good to go anywhere prepared with the “tools” you think you may need. Cause if shit gets ugly, or you break down, or get stuck on the side of a mountain or get into a beef with some city bum, it’s always nice to know you got your “friends” on ya. Just a few things I carry allowed me to sleep the night at 9,000 ft after my motorcycle and I ran out of energy. And in the city at night that strobe light flashlight seemed to detour a couple of wouldbes.... yeah alway be prepared . Save lives protect life’s and come out with your skin and a tale to tell.
Too long. I got confused and lost
@@joebruin2910 Look up "nootropics", i.e. brain boosters. They can help with that cognitive lag, as well as memory.
It WAS a bit long winded, but I didn't get lost, and I'm 70 friggin years old.
My husband and I went with a friend to a social event. We very quickly realized the ickyness of the majority of other attendees and decided to leave. But we were deep into a huge multiple neighborhood housing tract..like a maze. It took a couple of hours but we followed the shadows made by the sun to determine direction and made it to a main street and caught a bus home. Whew! That was a close one!
What the heck are you talking about? Lol
I got lost in the woods in upstate NY when I was 19 or so.
I finally found my way back but it was scary, to be sure.
It was going to be dark soon enough and I was so relieved when I found my way back.
I don't know why this was suggested, I'm scared of the woods but I will keep this is mind. Very sensible!
An important trick not many people know about are Ant Hills, the shape of the hill actually indicates north / south because of the ant's sensitivity to sunlight they build their mounds in specific ways to capture heat in the mornings. With an Ant hill there is always a steeper side, and the most steep angled side is generally always pointing north, where as the less steep side which usual has the entrance is always pointing south.
Interesting
Will have to look into that...
Can't you just notice where the sun rises and sets? That would be east and west.
This a great technique. As a former Scout leader, I used to tell my Scouts that when they were lost and had no idea where they were to just sit down and wait because we would be coming for them. But I also taught them the "triangulation" technique for finding where they were and how to get back to the trail. This required them to have a detailed map of the area as well as a compass, which they all did because I required them to have those items. They simply had to locate two, or preferably three, landmarks on their map and then take the compass readings to those landmarks, plot it on their map, and where the plots intersected, that's where they were. Then they would know the direction that they should go.
Triangulation is great, but doesn't work well in woods, as normally there are no landmarks to identify.
something that's good to have is a watch in this scenario, check it when you leave the trail, and when you notice you're lost you can check how much time it will take roughly to get back to the trail.
mark the place where you lost yourself with a specific mark and then mark your trail as you try to find your way back, you can keep checking the watch on how far you'll have to go to get back, if you're not back by the rough time estimate, go back to base and repeat the process in another direction, depending how far you've walked will determine for how long you can be possibly lost, if you calculate in how many directions you need to walk from base you can rough out how long you might end up being lost and you can start to prepare yourself for that.
but the best alternative would obviously be to try be preventative so you don't get lost in the first place, the usual way would be to take a mental note of landmarks or look at the position of the sun and knowing how the sun travels across the sky and basing your directions off that.
there's a couple more ways but i can't remember them, there's a really good one about moss allways growing on the north side of trees i think that can help you atleast giving you some direction.
The moss thing is only helpful in some areas. If you're in Washington or Oregon, the moss grows on all sides of the trees!
@Do no harm true and you get access to drinkable water which can become an issue if it becomes a prolonged situation, so that can be really helpful.
This is what I would do
😮 I am so glad I came across this channel! I think this is one of the most important lesson I have learned in my whole life. As someone who has no sense of direction but loves small hikes this makes me feel more confident in new places. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!! 🙏
This is a good method. I've done similar without the bread crumbs by noting small features but that's sketchy if everything looks similar. This is a much better way to insure success. Getting lost can happen to anyone. The trees all look similar and block your view of outside landmarks, the sun/sky is obscured. Multiple trails that look the same and crisscrossing each other lacking markers. You're tired and possibly dehydrated. Never say never. I hike regularly in such areas with my dog and every once in a while I still get momentarily turned around and ask my Labrador which way to go. She has to take over, lol.
Really good advice to stop and calm down. I like this method. 👍👍
I can’t speak for anyone else, but this “guy” loves your humor!
Girl here, & yes his humor is appreciated!!~*
Girl #2 here. I sub'd just off his joke.
Great advice! I would only add another mark to number each ray, and the direction from my starting point, so I don't get them all mixed up. I think I would also draw a little map, to record remarkable features I find along each ray. Thanks!
Good to know, thanks! Would have been handy to know as a kid lol. My parents used to let my little sister and I, ages 9 and 5, roam the woods in National Parks and we got "lost" a few times😂 In Yosemite we ended up in a marshy forest, almost dark, but I knew where the main road was so we picked our way through since we would have truly been lost had I tried to navigate us around it. Got lost in yellowstone, in the dark, in the campground, ran into a black bear and ended up treed on top of a metal sliding board at a playground until it wandered off😆 But that was good since the playground was one of my landmarks. Got "lost" at Gunnison but found the reservoir way down below the cliff we were on so again, landmark. I think you pay better attention to your surroundings when you know nobody is gonna come looking for you and you're on your own. It's a wonder we are both still alive cuz I was no Jim Bridger 😄 Fun times!
Very educational video for these young people nowadays there's a perfect thing to do
I got lost once, but I did remember the orientation of the trail I was on. Fortunately, I was able to find a decent clearing. Then I used the old trick to place sticks tracking the sun. Once I had two sun casts, I knew the perpendicular was South and then knew North as well. I got out fine. You ought to teach that trick with the sticks.
I work in construction, so I take survey stakes with me. When I realize I'm lost I pound a couple in the ground and wait. Sooner, rather than later an operator will be along to knock them over. 🤩
Good advice. Can't state enough the importance of STOPPING when that realisation of being lost kicks in. Stop. Have a breather, sit down, drink water, eat....
If anyone needed this video, it's me. I always thought North was whatever direction I was facing!😆...until my coworkers started laughing at me... I have no sense of direction, I got lost on a hike today, started on Red trail and ended up on Orange... no idea how that happened. Anyway thanks so much for this, this information is worth it's weight in gold. One day I'm want to take a course at coalcrackerbushcraft school!😉
Great advice. Taught this a quite a few decades ago in Northen Ontario. However, I suggest one only briefly makes their "Home Base" and begins doing this immediately and methodically blazing and counting steps upon realizing that one is off course. Do it even if you suspect you're only a wee distance from the trail. It's so easy to start "day-dreaming" or talking and not noting your surroundings when your hiking. By starting it soon, one can get rid of excess adrenalin one has at first.
Growing up and hunting in PA. The one thing my dad taught me was if you get “turned around”. Find a stream and follow it down stream. Eventually it will cross a road. Sit your a - - down and eventually a carv will come by.
Exactly right. If you're ever truly lost or in unknown territory, walk downhill until you find water. Follow the water. It'll eventually lead you to people.
@@jamesb2291 Idk man, aren't woods usually thickest around rivers? Also you could be in a narrow would, which would mean you'd walk for days along the riverbed, which happens to be the only place where the woods are thick, bit could've gotten out in an hour by just walking away from it. It depends on how humid of an area you're in I suppose.
I am never lost while out in the field, I have been “geographically misoriented”. Or while doing military long range land nav, I have been “geographically embarrassed”. Your technique example is a simple but great way to regain your “geographical alignment”. Lol. RLTW/DOL 🇺🇸
Very helpful. Makes the bulk/weight of carrying a roll of trail marking tape totally justifiable.
As someone who just stumbled upon this video I was wondering how to mark the trees. So you buy special tape to mark then with?
@@theeggtimertictic1136 yes. It's on a roll; thin, brightly colored plastic about 1" wide, NOT sticky/adhesive. Usually available in orange, pink, yellow, or green. Just tear off a length and tie it onto whatever you want to mark. Usually found in camping accessories area of sporting goods section of store. Hope this helps.
@@FidoHouse Yes thanks I've just Googled it ... handy to have 👍
@@theeggtimertictic1136 or toilet paper.
You can blaze a trail w/o orange tape. Pick a direction, walk 25 paces, lay a branch on the ground in the direction you are heading or use your heel to draw an arrow on the ground. Walk in the same direction another 25 paces, look back at the last mark to ensure your are still heading in a straight line, use your heel or lay a branch and continue. Ray Charles could follow that blaze back to your base camp.
Fantastic walkthrough on using your brain, not panicking, and getting yourself out. The only thing that I would add is that if you have the ability to at the end of any ray, leave something not "natural" at eye level (a part of cloths or T.P.). This will make the search and rescue peoples job easier. They may find your camp, follow your ray trail back to you known location or be able to centralize their search area. I love the outdoors and hate seeing trash left by hikers, but I bet I would hate to find an expired person more. you can always go back and grab your trail markers after you are sure of your location again.
For folks who are not really direction intuitive this is good and helpful strategy and technique. And because it's technique specific it's helping crystallize my intuition.
Not a hunter myself but have done a fair amount of hiking and backpacking. And with all due respect, there's a much simpler way. I read about this somewhere, I've used it and it works. You use a SPIRAL pattern. Start from where you're standing, choose whether you want to go clockwise or counterclockwise, whichever you're more comfortable with and you simply walk in ever-widening circles from where you're standing.. An ever-widening spiral in other words. That way you're covering all the compass points at once and you will hit the trail eventually. Much more efficient and less time-consuming than walking in straight lines and then having to retrace if you choose the wrong direction which is an inherent flaw in the ray technique which otherwise has some logic to it. But the spiral method is much faster. And if if darkness and/or dropping temps are closing in on you really don't want to be messing around. But thanks for the video.
I think that might work if you're not too lost. That can probably work within a few hours. But if you're out there for days, you just might end up making things worse for yourself. Plus, you do not have the advantage of a "camp" as a constant reference point and place of safety.
Don't use a spiral method. Frankly it has zero merit in my opinion. Using a spiral method at no point are you 'not lost'. At least using the method in the video you always have knowledge of your start point and an ability to make rational search decisions based on that knowledge.
@@grahampalmer I agree. And if you’re in the woods or on uneven terrain, there’s no way to know if you’re going in a spiral or not. Silly idea.
@@joeprimal2044 lt is silly, though in a way it could work in reverse, given most people think they're travelling in a straight line when they're going in circles, maybe thinking you're going in widening circles forces you into a straight line. /S
@@Bearwithme560 🤔 In that case some tequila might help. 😂
Here is a challenge with the Rays method given here. This is from an experienced hiker. Trails that are deep in the woods can be narrow and overgrown. It is possible to cross the trail and not know it. The key when hiking is to quickly recognize when you are no longer on the trail and then backtrack from that point back to the trail. In some heavily travelled hiking paths, close to the trailhead, you commonly find false paths that tend to quickly lead to nowhere.
If you are hiking in the mountains and you are totally lost, if you can find a stream, follow that in the direction of water flow which may bring you out. Or at least travel downhill. If you know directionwise where you need to go, the direction of the sun with the time of day may help.
Great video on an important topic. I've heard that younger kids that get lost in wild places are easier to find than the older kids because the younger ones tend to stay put in one place while the older ones tend to wander further and further from their last known position in the hopes of finding their way home. In reality most of the time the ones that wander just get even more lost and increase the search area needed to find them. Attempting to hike your way out when lost, especially if you are injured, poorly rested, and/or low on food and water, etc., increases the chances that you might accidentally cause a serious injury to your self (turning a bad situation into a truly life threatening one), so it is not something to be attempted lightly, or when in a panicked or agitated state of mind. The ray method described in this video is an excellent way to methodically work toward a self rescue, but I would add that it is very important to clearly mark your base location, and also to mark the particular blaze trail you are exploring when away from your base by placing an arrow of rocks or sticks, and/or a note indicating which direction you are traveling to help those who might be searching for you if they happen to find your base camp while you are away. As time goes on, each trip away from your base location increases the risk of you encountering additional difficulties or suffering a possible injury, so leaving clear clues of where you have gone for those seeking to rescue you is vitally important.
Great idea and very useful, I've been lost for a few hours in a forest in Scotland but know that panic is the last thing, finally after retracing my steps several times I made back to my camp, but without knowing about this technique, thank you.
Amazing advice!!! i got lost in the bush once, started to panic so hard.. Lucky for me i picked the right direction that lead me to the path..
If i watched this video, things would have been so much more fun and calming knowing that eventually, you will find the way you came from.. Bravo
As you walk 'out' you need to keep looking back and orienting yourself, making sure you recognise the 'look of the land' and seeing your blazes from the perspective of the return trip. Of course, a mapping GPS is pretty handy too! ;)
He never said how to make the blazes.
First time I got misplaced was as a teenager, I was with a mate. We stopped pulled out the map realized we must have taken a fork, went back found the main track had become over grown at the fork and we had missed it. The lessons, always have a map and when it looks wrong it probably is - go back, sort it out.
Which is helpful if you know your map is accurate. However it gets tricky when your map differs from the trail head map. Which is the most up to date?? From experience I would take a photo of the map at the trail head so if it starts to look like yours is wrong then you have a fall-back
@@susie9893 that's a good idea, we all carry phones with cameras now.
Video starts at 1:26
Definitely a great tool to keep in your pocket. We taught a very similar strategy to our younger recon groups
Thanks for sharing. I don't often get "turned around" because I tend to pay attention to direction, i.e. which side of my shoulder the sun was coming from, landmarks etc. Your "Self Mapping" is a development of something I was taught during map reading in the military.
Dan'l Boone was once asked if he'd ever been lost. He answered no, but he was once a might bewildered for three days.
i like to verify I'm paid up on the iridium before heading out.
This video brings me back to being deep in the Sierras for a bear hunt. Was tracking a black bear down a revine, paid more attention to him, and not the distance i had covered. It's big country. Took 48 hours to find/get back to base camp again. But had running streams, rations, and a 30-06. Saved the taxpayers search and rescue expenses. Semper Fi
Cypher, is that you?
Good Point!!! Always study a map or bring your compass.
A great method. Honestly, one of the fastest ways to find your way back. Thank you for sharing!!
This vid just clicked in my mind. I already knew orienteering and tracking but this was so similar to casting that it made perfect sence to me. Thanks
You're going to save lives with this. Maybe a 5 minute videos on good blazes vs stupid blazes. Don't ask me how I know.
When you said "ray navigation" I immediately thought you meant making a small smokey fire in a forest where you cant see the sun directly, and using the slanted sun rays to get your compass bearings, as the rays of light will always slant towards the sun. Thus giving you at least some indication where the sun is in the sky to help with directions. In the morning it will point you east and in the evening it would point west but at mid-day when the sun is almost directly above, it would give you your south direction as the sun always (in the northern hemisphere) hangs in the south side of the sky and the rays would be slanted that direction even if slightly.
My mistake.
Although the version I came up with just now is also a brand new technique like yours is, and could be used in conjunction with yours to maybe fine tune the process of getting out :)
Yes, great thinking. Or you could get a Viking sunstone and do the same thing.
I thought the same thing!
Watched your advice a wiel back .smart . Keep calm, think but most of all dont go ferther stop and enjoy the night if you know ypur out of time .rest get to salving the problems the next day dont panic
I was hiking in the Colorado Rockies and got lost. Somehow I missed the trail. Sheer luck I went backwards and found the trail. It was frightening. I’m glad I watched this video
This is a good method. I've never seen it before. Thank you for posting. God bless you and your loved ones...
Thank you for this Video, I will try to remember this in times of need!
I am one of those People whose point if references doesn't work very well...I get lost in a building, unless I am able to look out of a window to get my bearings.
Yes, I have been lost in my very own 14 acres of woods, and since I do have neighbors on two sides of me it was easy to just look for clearances or roofs of buildings to get to our main road.
I have also been lost in other areas before, so NOW I try to use the Sun 🌞 as a reference point.
If you know the road goes from East to West, in a clearing make yourself a sundial with anything you have on hand.
Then wait a little while and watch the shadow on the ground or the trees AROUND you move in the westerly direction.
You then know the direction the road is on.
Then you mark the area you are now walking just in case you have to back track.
Do this the Moment you realize you are lost, to prevent going deeper into unknown territory.
Also look for Moss on trees...they Generally only grow on the north side of trees.
If you see Moss in front of you on trees you probably are heading north to northwest.
So I found for myself, I deal better with navigation via the Sun 🌞.
You have to find what works best for you, for yourself!
This was something that I taught in the marines for land nav, but I also drilled into everyone’s head that nature provides its own compasses, you just need to look for them! The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, moss will grow on the norther side of trees. And such so each individual that knows this should also know about counting ones paces, and that x times the average foot step (30”) equals how many yards or miles traveled. The other thing they should always look out for is line of sight, (rock formations, mountains, large trees and abnormal things) to help maintain direction
When my daughter was little (back in the 1980s) I told her that if she's ever lost in the woods to remember that the polar axis of the satellite dishes always point north. She understood the joke. :)
The one time I got lost in the woods, I got to high ground. Was able to shoot azimuths to landmarks and triangulate my position on my map. One tip for finding direction: moss is typically heaviest on the North side of trees.