7.4 — Navigation Without a Phone

A small number of reliable techniques, and one rule that is worth more than all of them.

The rule

Follow water downhill.

Streams join streams. Streams become rivers. Rivers lead to people.

Human settlement follows water almost universally, and has for as long as there has been settlement.

This is what got Juliane Koepcke out of the Amazon after eleven days (1.5) — a single piece of information her father had told her years earlier.

Caveats: it can be slow, the terrain along a watercourse can be difficult, and in some landscapes — deserts, karst, some Arctic terrain — water disappears rather than leading anywhere.

And in steep terrain, follow the valley alongside the stream rather than the streambed itself, which contains waterfalls and gorges.

Direction from the sun

The most useful skill and it works everywhere.

The basics

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Not exactly — it varies through the year and with latitude — and it is close enough for gross navigation.

At local noon, the sun is due south in the northern hemisphere and due north in the southern.

And at noon, shadows point directly away from the sun — so in the northern hemisphere, a shadow at noon points north.

The shadow-stick method

More accurate and it takes about twenty minutes.

Put a stick upright in level, clear ground.

Mark the tip of its shadow with a stone.

Wait fifteen to twenty minutes.

Mark the new tip.

The line between the two marks runs roughly west to east — the first mark is west, the second is east.

Stand with the first mark under your left foot and the second under your right, in the northern hemisphere, and you are facing north.

The watch method

With an analogue watch set to local time.

**Northern hemisphere: point the hour hand at the sun. South is halfway between the hour hand and twelve.

**Southern hemisphere: point twelve at the sun. North is halfway between twelve and the hour hand.

Approximate, affected by daylight saving, and useful.

Direction from the stars

Northern hemisphere: Polaris

The North Star sits almost exactly over the north pole, so it indicates true north and it does not move through the night.

Finding it: locate the Plough, also called the Big Dipper — seven bright stars in a saucepan shape. **The two stars forming the outer edge of the pan's bowl are the pointers. Follow the line they make, away from the bowl's opening, about five times the distance between them, and you arrive at a moderately bright star sitting on its own. That is Polaris.

Its height above the horizon is roughly your latitude, which is a pleasing bonus.

Southern hemisphere: the Southern Cross

Four bright stars in a kite shape, with two bright pointer stars nearby.

Extend the long axis of the cross about four and a half times its own length. **That point is approximately over the south celestial pole. Drop straight down to the horizon and that is south.

Anywhere: the moon

**A crude and useful rule: if the moon rises before the sun sets, its illuminated side faces west. If it rises after midnight, the illuminated side faces east.

What does not work

Because the folklore is wrong and people rely on it.

Moss does not reliably grow on the north side of trees. It grows where it is damp and shaded, which depends on local terrain, prevailing wind and canopy far more than on direction.

Tree rings and branch density are similarly unreliable.

Anthills, snow patterns and church orientation — all local, all unreliable.

Use the sun and the stars. Everything else is a story.

Keeping a straight line

Harder than it sounds, and this is why lost people walk in circles — a documented phenomenon with no reliable landmarks.

The technique: pick three landmarks in a line ahead of you — a distinctive tree, a rock, a ridge.

**Walk to the first. Then pick a new third, keeping the other two in line.

Repeat.

This keeps you straight over long distances without any instrument, and it is what people did before compasses.

Also: look back periodically. The route looks completely different from the other direction, which matters if you may need to return.

Reading terrain

Four things that orient you without a map.

Ridges and valleys run in patterns. In most terrain, drainage systems are consistent — learn which way the water goes and you have a compass.

Slope aspect. **In the northern hemisphere, south-facing slopes are drier, sunnier and have different vegetation; north-facing are damper and cooler. Reversed in the south.

Human traces. **Any track, path, fence, wall, power line, pipeline or cutting leads somewhere. **Follow it. Power lines in particular lead to habitation in both directions.

And sound. **Traffic, machinery, dogs, bells, aircraft. Sound carries much further at night and in the early morning, and stopping to listen at dawn is genuinely useful.

Distance and time

Rough figures for planning.

Walking on a good path: four to five kilometres an hour.

Rough terrain: two to three.

Dense vegetation, steep ground, or with a load: one to two, sometimes less.

And add substantial time for ascent — a common planning rule adds about an hour for every 600 metres of climb.

People consistently overestimate how far they have travelled and underestimate how long the next stretch will take.

Before you go

Five things.

Look at a map, even briefly. Know which way the road is, which river drains the area, and which direction the ridge runs.

Carry a compass and know the basics. A cheap one weighs nothing.

Carry a paper map where it matters.

Note your direction of travel when you set out, and glance at it periodically.

And know one thing about the terrain: what is the biggest linear feature — a road, a river, a coast, a railway — and which direction is it from you?

That single fact converts being lost into a long walk. It is called a handrail or a catching feature, and heading towards a feature you cannot miss is far more reliable than trying to hit a point.

What to do with this page

Follow water downhill. The one rule, and it has saved people repeatedly.

Learn the shadow-stick method. Twenty minutes, works anywhere, needs nothing.

Learn to find Polaris. Two minutes and you have north for life.

Moss does not indicate north.

Line up three landmarks to walk straight.

And know your catching feature before you set out — the big linear thing you cannot miss.

Next: 7.5 — stranded rather than lost: in a city, in a vehicle, or abroad.