Finding your way using natural signs

[corndog-44]

There are methods for finding your way using natural signs rather than map and compass. The methods range from the usual -- such as stars, the sun and trees -- to less common ones such as the routes of migratory birds or seasonal winds.

This subject is often-neglected but I believe it is important to anyone and everyone. This knowledge would be largely lost or very difficult to find had not the skilled woodsmen taken the time to share this knowledge.

[LadyTrapper]

This is a post of interest for me. I have always wanted to learn about these natural ways. I know and try to practice a little while in the woods, like the prevailing winds of the season, but am looking forward to "sponging" up all the knowledge here. Thanks for posting.

[trax]

Before I can find my way....I need to know where I'm going. Seriously, some times I just go wander around out there, now finding my way back....there's something I should work on LOL

[MCBushbaby]

A coyote never travels west, all those you see west of the Mississippi went the long way.

Birds always sit next to each other aligned north-south.

Never ask a stone what way is east, you'll be there a long time. Alternatively, if you ask for any other direction you may get your answer a bit sooner.

Asia is always straight down a couple thousand miles.

If you've hit tundra, you've gone too far north.

If you're in a tequila bar, you're too far south.

If you're up to your neck in ocean, you're too far east or west.

[SemperParatus]

A coyote never travels west, all those you see west of the Mississippi went the long way.

Birds always sit next to each other aligned north-south.

Never ask a stone what way is east, you'll be there a long time. Alternatively, if you ask for any other direction you may get your answer a bit sooner.

Asia is always straight down a couple thousand miles.

If you've hit tundra, you've gone too far north.

If you're in a tequila bar, you're too far south.

If you're up to your neck in ocean, you're too far east or west.

Nice logic Mitch. Wanna buy a good Indian weather rock?

[trax]

Always face north when tieing your shoes, then you'll know that the bows in your laces are pointing east-west.

[corndog-44]

I think everyone has heard that moss grows on the north side of trees and therefore can be used as a compass. This one's partially true; moss does definitely grows on the north side of trees.The only problem...especially for backwoods navigators is that moss also can and does grow on the east, west and south sides of trees, and/or any point in between, depending on where the tree lives. So moss doesn't make an especially reliable compass. Case in point; moss grows on all 4 apple trees in my backyard and on only one tree does the moss grow on the north side.

Get to know the lay of the land: to see, smell, hear and sense the details of the environment. Learn the direction which hills, ridges or streams tend to run in the area. The ridges in my area tend to run east and west. Streams in my area tend to run from north to south.

Movements of sunrise (east) and sunset (west). The moon is more accurate.

Look for a stump from a logged tree. The growth rings will be wider on the stump that faces south.

Bird migration: Sandhill cranes in my area tend to fly from north-northwest to south-southeast in winter. Canadian geese tends to fly from north to south in winter migration. The local geese flights are lower and either to or from feeding areas and water areas.

Draw your own homemade map and update it as you go and if you know how to use it, bring a compass...just in case you get turned around. But if you blaze your trail you probably won't need it to get back to camp.

[dilligaf2u2]

I always look for the signs that say I 25 North or South or I 40 East or West. It never fails!

I have only had trouble finding north once! Every direction was south. And I also had trouble finding south once. Every direction I turned, that time, was north.

Don

[trax]

I always look for the signs that say I 25 North or South or I 40 East or West. It never fails!

I have only had trouble finding north once! Every direction was south. And I also had trouble finding south once. Every direction I turned, that time, was north.

Don

Were you respectively at the north pole and the south pole?

Watch out for those clever Canada geese if you're in southern Canada this time of year. They don't fly south (well they do eventually, but) before the mass migration they gather and have all kinds of testing and practice flights for young geese to learn how to guide the flock. People think I'm lying when I tell them that, but all you have to do is watch them for awhile. I'm probably lucky in that I'm the kind of person who can sit by a lake and watch them for hours (I believe the appropriate adjective there is lazy) As far as moss goes, I was on an island one time and everything, I mean the entire island was covered in moss, the trees, the rocks...it was kinda creepy.

If you study the treeline, look for what appears to be gaps between rows of trees, like suddenly some are way farther off in the distance, you'll find your way to a water source most times. Eagles are the best I've seen for following a true south line when they're migrating, but they're probably done migrating by the time they get down to where a lot of you folks live, so that might not help. It'll help with north in February when they come back again, I suppose.

[FVR]

Henry Frapp: I thought you got lost again.

Nathan Wyeth: Haven't you ever been lost?

Henry Frapp: Hmmm... been fearsome confused for a month or two, but I ain't never been lost!

[Strider]

I have made sure that if I were forced into somewhere, I would look for signs, as u call them, to figure where i am. First off, the stars... locating Polaris is fairly easy, just find the big dipper and figure from there. If not that time of year, look for Oryan and find Betelgeuse... follow where it points to next brightest star, thats generally mostly south...
Next, look at animals... look where they go freely, where they avoid, and why. Look at the habits of birds, if you notice they fly everyday some direction... all you see means something.
Judging by the sun, if you know the 'stick method', use it to tell the time and directions.
If you have a watch, use it... theres a way to figure directions from this.. i forget tho... lol
Look at everything and figure wat u can get outta it and u will.

[trax]

Henry Frapp: I thought you got lost again.

Nathan Wyeth: Haven't you ever been lost?

Henry Frapp: Hmmm... been fearsome confused for a month or two, but I ain't never been lost!

was that a movie with Charlton Heston and Brian Keith?

[dilligaf2u2]

Yes Trax. I have been to both poles. North in 1974 and south in 1975.

I have put foot on 28 countrys in all.

Some were vacations and some for work. It helps when your Uncle Sam foots the bill.

Don

[sh4d0wm4573ri7]

at night Iam not traveling , but if I were the north star works for me. daytime hm rises in the east sets in the west I'll be pretty close I think

[Beo]

I don't use a compass, and the stars can be clouded over... bread crumbs get eat'n by animals or if I get hungry... but my GPS always works... hey where are my batteries?

[MCBushbaby]

You always have the sun (time/watch direction finding, east/west direction at sunrise/sunset, stick shadow navigation), the moon (though I'm not sure on the techniques involved as I never use it), prevailing winds, moss on trees (though as pointed out before, this is not always accurate... use trees standing alone in a field).

[Beo]

If you're lost. I mean really lost. Standing in the middle of nowhere, and you have no idea where to go. If you are really in trouble, remember two things first of all: stay calm, think rationally, and you can survive a long time without food. What you need is to drink. Further thoughts about extreme survival skills is beyond the scope of this thread. This thread deals with the situation of finding your way, without the aid of a compass. What you have, is the sun, the stars, and the nature around you. This is mainly about the northern hemisphere of the earth, actually north of 23.5 °.The methods described do of course apply to the southern hemisphere as well, but in some places there may be a need to swap north and south to get it right. I hope you are able to figure it out. For a start, it may be a good idea to climb a hill, and get a good look around. Try to see traces of human activity. If you see nothing, you should try to figure out in what direction would be the best to travel. If you haven't got a map, try to draw one if you can of the terrain in front of you, and try to mark off where north is, using the methods below. If you have got a map, try to determine where you are. Remember, you don't want to climb more hills than you have to. Also you should carefully consider not to climb if you are very tired. In that case you should consider staying where you are. Consult other sources for information on how to make it easy for rescuers. Let us start with the most accurate method. This method requires that you have a pretty clear sky, though, and takes a lot of time. One of the advantages is that you don't need any equipment. You would need a straight pole about 1 meter (or a yard) long, two small sticks or rocks, another stick (or rock) that needs to be a little sharp, and something that can act as a string. In the morning, at least before noon, the trick starts. Stick the long pole in the ground, upright. The ground around the pole needs to be horizontal. Now, you can place one of the little sticks in the ground exactly where the shadow of the pole ends, like on the figure. Then tie the string to the base of the pole, and tie the little, sharp stick, to the other end, so that when the string is stretched it reaches exactly the little stick standing there in the soil. Then, scratch half a circle in the soil with your sharp little stick, and wait... wait... and wait until the evening. During the day, the shadow will get shorter and shorter, until noon, when it gets longer again. At noon, when the shadow is at its shortest, you may want to mark the point. The shadow is now pointing north (if you are north of 23.5 ° north). It is however not very easy to see exactly when this is, but it is useful anyway. Finally, the shadow reaches your circle again, and when it does, place your other little stick at the spot where the shadow ends. If you haven't got a string, you could use a pole that has the right length, or try to come up with some other improvised solution. Just make sure what you draw is a circle. Now, the line from the first stick to the second is west-east. Actually, you may want to mark points regularly, because any two points that have exactly the same distance from the base of the pole will give the West-East line. If it is partly cloudy, this may be a good idea. There is a short, fast version of this one as well. This is only approximate, though, and the further away from the equator you get, the more inaccurate is it. You don't need the sharp stick and the string. Just wait 20 minutes between placing each of the sticks, and the line between the two sticks will be approximately west-east, like on the figure. Often, you wouldn't need anything more accurate.
At night, you can navigate after the stars. You should, however, be careful with walking, it is easy to stumble and fall and get injured, and also easy to lose sight of the stars as you go, and you might start going around in circles. Often it will also be more physically and mentally demanding. In the northern hemisphere, there is a star that is almost exactly in the north at all times, the Polaris. It is pretty easy to find, if you know the "Big Dipper". (Everybody knows the Big Dipper (or the Plough)?) Take the two stars at the end of the "Big Dipper", and make an imaginary line "upwards", and extend it five times the distance between the two stars. There you have it - Polaris. That way is always north. In the southern hemisphere, you would have to find the Southern Cross. Because I haven't been south of the equator, I can't help you find it, make someone tell you where it is right now, if you don't know it already. That way is south.
If you have an analog wrist watch, you can use the time to find north. Hold your watch up in front of you, and let the short hand, red on the figure, that indicates hours point at the sun. While holding it like this, cut the angle between the red arrow and 12 o'clock in two, (noonwards if the time is before 6am or after 6pm), that way is south. (The reason you need to cut it in two, is because the clock takes two rotations while the sun takes one around the earth, it is of course the other way around, but never mind.)
Many people wear digital watches these days (I do myself, if I wear one at all). If you do, draw an analog watch face on a piece of paper, and then mark the hour hand on using the digital watch. The rest of the method is identical.
This method can be used even when it is pretty foggy. Although you may not be able to see the sun, it may still cast a shadow. If you take up a straw or a tiny stick, and you may see a shadow. You just have to remember that the shadow points the opposite way from the sun, but the rest of it is quite similar as above.
Want to make your own compass? Sure. You need a needle and a glass of water. A needle can in fact float on the water, or that is, on the surface tension forces if put carefully on the surface. Just put it carefully down on the surface of the water. This demands a lot of patience though. There are three tricks that makes it go easier. One: Put the needle on a piece of paper. If the paper floats too, there is no problem, and if the paper sinks, it'll probably leave the needle. If you put some grease on the needle that isn't water-based, it'll go easier, or if you put it carefully down with a fork or something. Once it has got there, it stays there pretty good.
If the needle is magnetic, it will act as a normal compass and be very accurate. A problem is though, that you don't know north from south. All you know is that it lays north-south. You would have to use one of the other techniques to find out, or make a good guess.
The greatest problem with this is: Not many needles in the middle of nowhere and most are not made of magnetic materials these days.... You can't just use any needle. You may just have to look around to see what you can find, if you want to make a yourself a compass.
What if there is no shadow? Then, there are a few methods based on natural signs. I will deal with the ones I have checked myself.
It is very much about trees. First of all, there will be fewer branches to the north. This is usually easiest to see if you look up along the trunk of the tree. The north face of the tree would be more humid than the south face, which is something most species of lichen (or moss) likes, and consequently, there will be more of it on the north face, also ants likes to build their nests on the south side of a tree. It is also worthwhile to look at how snow melts. In the spring in the mountains, snow will melt faster on the south face of rocks, or in south faced slopes. Also, vegetation and undergrowth will typically be thicker on the South facing slopes, and also fruits ripen earlier on the South facing slopes. And also most rivers flow south.
These methods are not very reliable, I am afraid. Winds may alter the average conditions significantly, and cause deviations. If you use natural signs, you should use as many signs as you can before you draw a conclusion.

[trax]

the highest point of the sun is due south and it's noon if you don't have a watch. If you're out wandering, pay attention to the direction you're traveling when you leave. I used to go hunt in rivers in northern Manitoba and check where I'd been on a map after I got back. There's a lot of waterways up there. If you're crossing water, look over your shoulder once in awhile. You'll remember what it's supposed to look like on your return, pick out interesting landmarks, funny shaped trees or interesting boulders.

The dipper travels around the pole star counterclockwise, so you can choose any direction by that if you have a watch or a good sense of time. The planets that are visible to the naked eye move east to west too, but it's a little more difficult to get used to getting your bearings by them.

[corndog-44]

The full moon at midnight is in the south. The new moon (concavity to the left) is in the west in early morning. The old moon is in the east. The full moon rises in the east and sets in the west.

Many signs have to do with the sun. It is the reason why snow tends to be finer and less grandular on the north sides of ridges and trees and etc. Why poplar trees have their darker sides on the north, why solitary coniferous trees tend to be bushiest on the south, why the age rings of trees that have been growing in the open are ordinarily widest on the southern side, why north slopes are less dense and more easly to travel through than the bushier south sides.

[trax]

Is something I basically suck at, I hate it when someone goes...oh look there's Cassiopeia or whatever, I'm like "Huh?" but the basics will help you get unlost. The sun never shines from the north, just in case anyone's forgotten that one, it helps explain all those little phenomena that corndog was describing. the planets visible to the naked eye are mercury, venus, mars, saturn, and...I forget, whatever comes after saturn (told you I suck at this!)

Stars blink in the sky, planets don't, satellites move too fast to be anything else. If it's blinking blue and red it's an airplane so if you're lost get a big fire going fast.