Navigations Tips and What to Do if You Get Lost In the Woods
If you spend enough time hiking new trails, you are likely to get lost in the woods at some time. Usually, it is easy to find your way back to the trail, but there are times when a trail is not well marked or is overgrown and you can find yourself completely lost. Don’t Panic! Let’s instead learn the tips and techniques for you to safely find your way back to the trail and civilization should you get lost in the woods.
These tips could save your life!
Many of you are familiar with the disappearance of Gerry Largay, trail name Inchworm. In 2013, Gerry went missing near Stratton, Maine on her thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. After Maine’s most extensive search in their history, she was not found. In fact, it wasn’t until more than two years later that a surveyor found her remains. Gerry’s story was chronicled in the popular book by D. Dauphnie, When You Find My Body.
So while you may be familiar with the story as it made international news, you probably don’t know that Gerry was my good friend and hiking buddy.
Gerry stepped off the trail to go to the bathroom, and then got disoriented. Once she found herself lost in the woods, she didn’t know what to do. Today, if you’ll spare me a few minutes, I’ll teach you what you are supposed to do if YOU get lost in the woods. This episode is in honor of my friend, Geradine Largay.
Gerry Largay aka ‘Inchworm’
This is the last photo ever taken of Gerry alive. It was taken by Dottie Rust, a fellow thru hiker at the AT shelter, as Gerry was getting ready to head out hiking for the day. Inchworm was Gerry’s Appalachian Trail name (it is typical that thru hikers get a trail name. Gerry was a slow hiker, and thus her name).
I hope when it’s my time to go that I look as happy as Gerry did. I’m grateful to Dottie Rust for sharing her photo with us.
Rest in peace my friend. You are missed.
If You are Lost in the Woods, First Try the STOP Method
“S” Stay Put and Stay Calm : For a few minutes to give yourself time to catch your breath and and avoid getting further afield. Take some deep breaths and calm yourself down, and try to relax your mind. If you wander further in panic, it is only going to be harder for you to find you way back and for searchers to find you. An exception is if you are in a dangerous area, then move to safer ground and then stay put.
- “T” Think: Now that you’ve got your breathing under control, think back on where you just were. Try to recall what the trail looked like: was it straight or did you make some turns. Do you remember any streams, stand out features or people? What direction were you heading in: north, south, east or west. Did you come to any decision points like a fork in the road?
- “O” Observe: Can you figure out which way is north? Assess your food and water situation: how long will it last? Are you able to see your footprints so that you can follow them back? Are there any landmarks you can see? Are there any clues that might help you find your way back from where you came? How ling has it been since you know you were on the right path? If you have a cell phone, see if your map app can give you an idea of which way you need to go. Put your phone in airplane mode so you don’t use up your battery as quickly, especially if you are in a remote towerless area.
- “P” Plan: Now you need to be strategic and using whatever materials you have on hand like rocks and sticks. Mark where you are now is a way that you can see from your height, such as breaking off a branch (tie it with survey tape – see list below). Make it really obvious and easy to find again. Let’s call that BASE. If you are still on a trail, but you haven’t seen a blaze in awhile, you can backtrack until you find a blaze. Make sure to make marks on/along the trail at any decision points like forks and bends. If that doesn’t work, go back to BASE and then fan out VERY CAREFULLY, marking your way, again with sticks, rocks, bent branches or survey tape, going from your Base, out and back like you are spokes on a wheel. You can track your progress by seeing your notations on the trees and ground. If the terrain is dangerous or you are injured, you are probably better off staying put.
Hopefully, the STOP method will get you back to the trail,
but if it doesn’t, here are some other options:
- Stop and Listen (and Whistle): Every once in a while, stop to see if you can hear any signs of people like traffic, church bells, a river. This might give you more clues. Blow your whistle every 10-15 minutes. The universal sign of distress is three blasts.
- Follow the River: If there is water closeby, follow the stream to a river to a town. This has the added advantage that you will have a source of hydration. Remember, you still need to make marks so that you can find your way back to BASE. If you come to a treacherous area, don’t risk getting hurt. Return to BASE. Be careful around boggy areas as well. If you are lost at night, remember that many animals come to the water at night, so stay at least 200’ away, especially if there are large mammals in your area.
- Seek Higher Ground: Particularly if you are in the forest, you might have a better opportunity to see landmarks from a higher elevation. You also might be able to use your compass and map to triangulate where you are and how to get to where you want to be. There is also a better chance of getting cell service. Again, make sure you can re-find BASE.
- Open Clearing: If none of the above works, try to find an open clearing so that you’ll be easier to spot from above. Use a mirror to flag a pilot. They can signal your location to authorities. Also:Provided you can do so without expending all of your energy (HUNGRY) make an SOS out of rocks or branches. Your markings to re-find BASE can also help searchers find YOU.
VIDEO – How to Triangulate Your Location with your Compass and Map:
Learn navigation skills with this important video
Other Self Rescue Tips
Rest when you are tired. You can make some really bad judgments if you continue on exhausted.
Stay hydrated. Hopefully you have packed a Lifestraw or portable water purifier EP XXX, but if not, you can strain out debris using a bandana or your shirt. You can live for weeks without eating but you can’t go for more than a few days without fluids. It’s better to risk getting sick over dying.
Don’t ignore the little problems: Stop and treat hot spots, rest if you are ill; in other words don’t ignore what your body is telling you it need or your problems can go from little to large.
Battling the Weather : If you follow ATA and ATSP advice, you never go into the woods without the things you might need to make it through the night. Chances are you will be battling the heat or the cold or the rain. Avoid any unnecessary sweating which makes your body wet and therefore can make you cold. Make a shelter.
Make an SOS out of rocks or branches that can be seen from the air. Do this only if you can do so without using up all of your energy if you don’t have food.
Signal an airplane by flashing a mirror at the pilot three times to signal distress. The pilot can jot down the coordinates to report to authorities that someone is in distress.
If water is scarce, avoid the 10am-4pm hours and stay in the shade. Hike at a pace where you don’t sweat from exertion. Breathing through your nose helps you stay hydrated longer.
HOW TO FIND WATER SOURCES:
- Listen for brooks and streams
- Collect from indentations on rocks
- Melt snow before drinking – will make you too cold otherwise
- Listen for birds : they collect near water
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:
Hiker’s Guide to Portable Water Treatment
Safety Tips for Hiking in Bear Country
When You Find My Body – The story of Gerry’s disappearance
Be sure to check out the Active Travel Adventures podcast, too! You’ll learn about cool adventure travel vacations from around the world! Here’s a link to the Directory page, or you can listen from any podcast app, the website directly or from your smart speaker!
How to Prevent Getting Lost in the First Place
- Before you set out, review your path and make mental notes of the direction you are supposed to be heading and what landmarks you should be passing. Make particular note of any forks in the trail and which direction you take when you intersect other paths. Tell someone where you plan to go, when you expect to be back and when they should sound an alarm. This could save your life.
- Always bring a map and a compass and know how to use them. A real compass, not one of those thumb-sized trinkets that come with a thermometer and clips on your backpack. Those are useless.
- Bring along a whistle, mirror, pocket knife and surveyor’s tape — as part of your Emergency Kit (EP 002). They can come in handy not only to help you mark your way back to the trail but also to help searchers find you. Consider a satellite based SPOT GPS which can send out an SOS if you get in trouble and can email loved ones when you are safe.
- Everytime you come to a decision point, especially if it is not clearly blazed, make a mark in the soil or with stones to indicate which path you took and from where. I sometimes just take a stick and mark the two sides of the “Y” that I’m using. This way if you backtrack, you can always find your way back to your starting point.
- Also, at every decision point, turn around to see what the junction looks like from that perspective. It usually looks completely different, and you want your brain to register this vantage point.
- Periodically take out your map to review your progress and make sure that it jives with the map.
- Create habits, such as only go to the bathroom on the right side of the trail, so you always know which direction you need to head. Or point your sticks in a certain way.
If you want to learn more about Gerry, her story and advice on woodscraft, Dee Dauphinee has just released a book, “When You Find My Body”. The title comes from a journal Gerry kept that included this letter to whomever should discover her remains, and asked how to reach her family.
I hope you never get lost in the woods, but if you do, I hope that the information we covered today will be of help to you. Please share this episode with all of your outdoor loving friends. You might help save their life.
In this episode, I haven’t gone into detail about how to built an emergency shelter (see video below) or how to test plants to see if they are edible or poisonous. If you would like me to cover these types of topics, please write me.
Wilderness Skills Videos
Watch these important Wilderness Skills videos on how to use a compass and how to make an emergency shelter with your bare hands. In addition, make sure you know how to start a fire
Please share this important post with your hiking friends!
Get a FREE Initial Phone Consultation with my affiliate, Trailblazer Wellness. PLUS, get 10% OFF on any customized online training program as an ATA listener!
(C) Active Travel Adventures, LLC – All Rights Reserved