Getting lost?

[fair-chase]

That is at the extreme end as it doesn't take into account course corrections along the way, knowledge of your destination, or a little common sense.

Which, if none of these are implemented could be a recipe for a bad situation. 

Correct.   

[kentrek]

Only time I get turned around is when visibility is short....crazy fog...snowstorms....super flat & thick forests

Ever since I put a small compass on my chest strap of my pack about 5 years ago I've been good

[Tbob]

Very interesting guys! Thanks so much! I'm pretty good with my compass, I guess it's the "unknown" of actually doing it the first few times is what makes me nervous I guess.. I'll get out there this summer and give it a go.. I think the more I do it the less nervous it will make me.. I was going to ask though if I'm hunting some timber company land on the west side, where does one find a map? I looked for green trails maps in my hunting area, but can't seem to locate any maps.. Thanks again for all the great info on this thread!!

[deltaops]

I carry a GPS with me but only use it to mark certain way points. I always have a map and study it days before and up until I am headed out scouting or hunting. Land Navigation in the Military was one of my strong points. I have never been lost nor will I ever be lost. You can only go half way into the woods before you are coming out. 

When I was younger I would go off and explore the woods with no map, never gave a care in the world where I ended up, cause I always ended up back where I started, (home)......

[beastmodebowhunter]

i get lost walking 50 yards into the woods from the road... my whole family makes jokes of it... i always end up finding my way back havent had to spend the night yet but it works out to my benefit getting lost thats where the big boys are haha. i just always keep a couple dehydrated meals in my pack and some fire starter.. just got a gps a couple years ago seems to work good.. need to play with it more to really figure it out. never actually got lost deep in the backcountry though i would have to take a little more time and care thats a little more serious than a mile or 2

[Fl0und3rz]

Try to use the topography as much as you can. Study the map and make a plan and have a mental map of the slopes and other features you're traveling over and check that against what you see with your eyes.

A map and compass never lie. Your eyes will, and your GPS might go along with it. Have a map and useful compass at a minimum.

The way I use them is that I primarily navigate by map and compass.  I primarily use the GPS to mark interesting areas to check before going afield and to note interesting features when out in the field for later review.  I almost never use the track/backtrack feature.


1. Always start by knowing where you are on your map.  Knowing how to use your compass to orient your map, using your compass to get bearings on land features (roads, streams, bearings to peaks, etc.), triangulation - using map and compass to determine position on the map by taking bearing to major landmarks, etc., are all invaluable skills to have, even if you primarily rely on your GPS.  (I have lost count of the times driving mountain roads that I have been turned around when using the GPS, only to break out the map and compass to determine where I was really located.)

"Wilderness Navigation" is a good resource to learn map and compass skills and what to look for in a useful compass.  If yours does not have declination or an easy way to take bearings, then I would invest in another.

http://www.amazon.com/Wilderness-Navigation-Finding-Altimeter-Mountaineers/dp/0898869536

REI has classes (last I saw) that use this as a teaching tool (free or low cost).  But I found the above to be a quick and easy read that, in conjunction with practice in the field was sufficient.


2. Use the GPS in conjunction with your map to determine position on the map and/or bearing to next waypoint, then use the compass to keep true to that bearing as close as possible. 

If you are not using UTM coordinate system on your GPS in conjunction with your map (also marked with UTM coordinate information), then you are doing yourself a disservice.  Point is that you can get UTM coordinates directly on your GPS and easily find your map position, or set a GPS waypoint from an easily map-determined UTM coordinate.

Navigation Skills: The UTM Coordinate System

I thought about getting a UTM grid tool such as referenced in the video, but I have not found it necessary; calibrated eyeball or compass measurement works pretty well. 

https://www.maptools.com/utm_tools

3. When you get to a clearing (an area with adequate GPS reception), after navigating by bearing to next waypoint with your compass, you can check your work (location on map and proximity to intended waypoint) on the GPS and update your bearing to intended waypoint.

4. By checking your known/suspected position periodically (orienting your map to true north, looking around where you are to determine land features and that they make sense with your suspected map position, and then verifying your suspected position on the map with the GPS) you should be able to trustfully navigate even the deepest darkest timber-covered GPS-blocking holes without too much anxiety over getting lost.  That way, even if you go off on a tangent after some game, some sign, a noise, or some interesting feature that you did not mark as a waypoint, you should always have a recent reference of where you were without too much time in between unknown locations.

One of the only times I have been worried is up in SE AK (cold, wet, limited visibility due to rapid fog onset, turned around and separated from the hunting partner I was following, without a map, and with only my compass and a GPS waypoint back to the truck). (The other was in white out conditions.)  I could feel panic start to set in, so I stopped, gathered my wits, and thought calmly about things before just proceeding rashly.  (I probably could have stayed overnight, if necessary, but it would not have been a fun one.)

If you have measured confidence in your system (including navigation tools and knowledge to use them as well as planning for an emergency overnight), then you should be able to enjoy your time in the woods off-trail without fear of getting lost.

Don't forget to leave your intended starting point/destination/return time with a trusted friend.  Also, the point about a wide backstop is a good backup plan.

[ICEMAN]

I feel that GPS sets guys up for getting lost.

I learned the woods with no map and a crummy dry compass that rattled. Later upgraded to a liquid filled. Then maps years later. I have never been lost, turned around for a while (fog sucks) but never lost.

Not sure how, but I feel I have an internal compass or something, an uncanny ability to bust through territory I have never set foot in and still pop out where I wanted. Other things I am bad at, navigating the woods not bad at.

You are only lost as far as you have walked in before feeling lost. You hiked in an hour, and feel lost, you are only 1 hour lost. Go back.

[KFhunter]

I feel that GPS sets guys up for getting lost.

I learned the woods with no map and a crummy dry compass that rattled. Later upgraded to a liquid filled. Then maps years later. I have never been lost, turned around for a while (fog sucks) but never lost.

Not sure how, but I feel I have an internal compass or something, an uncanny ability to bust through territory I have never set foot in and still pop out where I wanted. Other things I am bad at, navigating the woods not bad at.

You are only lost as far as you have walked in before feeling lost. You hiked in an hour, and feel lost, you are only 1 hour lost. Go back.

I gotta agree


I've had more head scratchers with a GPS than without,  but then with a GPS I'll blaze through the deepest crap in the middle of the night where I didn't really do that before 

So I compromise and keep the GPS in the pack and only pull it out to check bearings then put it away again.

[kentrek]

I feel that GPS sets guys up for getting lost.

While the old rhinos has help me out a couple times I did enjoy up in Canada on an elk hunt in idaho.... lucky I wasnt needgin it for navigation that day

Another time while walking through some very impressive fog down a razor back ridge i called in a couple bulls an played that game for a bit...then walked back up to the top of the ridge an continued on my way..next thing you know everything was wrong..started play in with the gps an I couldnt bring my self to trust it....even after looking at my compass I knew that dang thing was broken too...woulda been along walk if I hadn't ran into my cuzn...can't believe how stubborn I was being that day

[hike2hunt]

A lot of great information has been passed. Here is the one thing I will add.

When doing your map study with your google earth or such; remember that the contour interval on map can disguise some pretty nasty cliffs. As we are taught that the closer the interval the stepper the terrain, but a 30 foot remote rock cliff can easily hide in a 40 foot interval on your map.

[jackmaster]

one huge thing to remember here is first learn how to be comfortable to navigate with nothing, my dad made me learn how to go to and from with nothing, all are travels were cross country and always hours before light and headed to the truck after it was dark, i was seriously a kid when learning this, and on the wetside here as many know, you cant see to far when in the brush, i think its real important to learn without the aid of anything, when you rely on something,and it gets lost or forgotton then you feel naked, almost like leaving your binos at home, and then panic sets in because you rely on something you no longer have and your not confident in your own abilities to navigate with nothing, before compasses and gps and google earth and back trac and whatever else is on the market! what did people use instinct, its a feeling in the gut that tells you right from left, and right from wrong, learn to pay attention and you will find you are way more intune with your surroundings than you can ever imagine good luck and stay safe out there......

[Pacific]

That's pretty much the way my dad taught me, too. And he was a stickler for taking a look behind you every so often, too, to what it looks like where you came from...as well as those sneaky old Blacktails will hunker down and let you walk right by, then get up and sneak off....have got a couple that way...studying my backtrail and what do you know! Anyway, we always carried a compass....usually only looked at it when we left the truck to see what general direction we were going to go.....so we would know what general direction the truck was at the end of the day.

I also seem to have a pretty good internal compass.....out in the woods.....get me in the city, now that is when I get lost as all get-out 

[Andrew]

I moved out here from Michigan and I will be honest I was quite intimidated with the vastness of the wilderness out here even though I've spent years backpacking various national parks.  Which personally I think was my undoing...I became reliant on trails.  You follow that warn path and you're good...stray from warn path and you're in trouble. 

Getting into turkey hunting out here did wonders for me and my confidence, and maybe a little bit of digital courage from my GPS.  I upgraded my GPS to a rhino series and ironically I currently hardly use the unit for navigation, but more so for communication with my hunting partner while out in the boonies during the high hunt. 

I believe the single most important aspect that helped me is observation/awareness.  Two elements rarely focused on by hikers and backpackers...at least I wasn't.  I spent more time plodding one foot in front of the other, worried about time/pace and getting from A-B.  I've yet to get 'lost', but merely sidetracked, however, I did momentarily loose my backpack once when I set it down against a stump and started screwing with a grouse only to go back to the spot I thought was where I left my pack to find just a charred stump...

My advice is to follows every ones since it is all good.  Never rely on one device, have backup, know your area, and most importantly pay attention.

[Stein]

I was elk hunting and decided to take a short cut through a patch of viney maples.  I was about a mile from the truck and after walking at least two miles I whipped out the old gps as I was sure I passed it and had no idea which way to go.  I was 45 yards from the truck and barely could point up, much less north or the truck.  WA can have some pretty thick woods.

So, I don't go into viney maples any more.

Like was mentioned, there usually is something to bracket you in - road, ridge, creek, fence, something.  Once I hit that I know where I am.

[Crook]

get a good map and become intimately familiar with it, as long as you have a map and compass and have practiced with them then you are never lost, just temporarily misguided. Orienteering society have great groups to learn with and events to get practice.