British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest hold many lifetimes worth of wilderness to explore, but what happens when you get lost? Getting lost happens to the best outdoors people so everyone needs to be prepared when heading into the back country.
The best advice about being lost, is – DON’T get Lost! And the best way to keep from getting lost is to stay on the path and follow a map. However, eventually even a well prepared and careful hiker will get lost, even if for a short time.
How to Act When Lost
If you realize you do not know where you are anymore, here are some things to do:
- Don’t panic. Panicking stops you from thinking clearly. Take a deep breath, relax and collect your thoughts. First figure out if you are actually lost or just a little disoriented.
- Pray. You may not know where you are, but God does, so talk to Him.
- Consider staying where you are. It is a lot easier for someone to find you if you stay put. If you must move, mark your path so you can backtrack or searchers can track you.
- Listen carefully for the sounds of other campers, traffic (it may be infrequent), waterfalls, rivers, airplanes or anything that might help you find your way back.
- Look around carefully and systematically – maybe you’ll recognize something that can guide you back to civilization.
- If you have a whistle, blow on it. If you don’t have a whistle, yell loudly. Someone in
your party or another party might hear you. Repeat this every 15 minutes or so and be sure to listen after each sounding. Three of anything is universally recognized as a call for help – three whistle blasts, or three shouts or three honks etc.
- If you have a map and compass, try to locate your position by looking for hills valleys or streams that match the map. Streams go downhill leading to rivers which lead to civilization. Consider following a stream downhill.
- You can try to relocate the trail, but you do not want to get any further away from your last known location. Mark your location with something – a backpack, hat, or a large rock – but make sure it’s something unmistakable. Then venture 10 meters out, and circle your marker, all the while looking about to see if you recognize the trail or a landmark, and always keeping your marker in view. If you do not see anything you recognize, widen the circle by another 10 meters and repeat. Continue circling your marker at ever wider intervals, but stop when continuing would cause you to lose sight of the marker.
- Climb a tree or hillside if you can do it safely. A higher vantage point might reveal a landmark you missed from a lower elevation and if you get out on a rock outcropping you are easier to spot from trails, roads, and the air.
- If it’s an hour or less until sunset, stop moving and prepare to spend a comfortable evening. Make a shelter, and light a fire. Things will look better in the morning, and your fire may attract a rescuer. Consider using a signal fire that throws a lot of smoke (wet leaves).
- If in a group, stay together. It is much safer. Only if someone is hurt very badly and needs medical attention and you are fairly sure you can get to help, should you consider splitting up.
Overcoming fear when lost
Many unprepared people are overcome by fear when they are in a situation they do not know how to handle. Studying the appropriate response to an emergency (like being lost in the woods) will help you overcome fear. If you can control your fear, you can concentrate on doing the right things to solve your problem rather than on your fear.
Also, try breathing deeply and deliberately. You can talk to your companions (if applicable) and calm each other down. You can also try prayer.
Ways to Signal for Help
Call for help with a cell phone: Assuming you have a signal, this is the most effective method of signaling for help. Voice communication is a very effective method of communicating with others. If you are in an area with a weak signal and voice communication is spotty, try text messaging. Texting can be successful even when voice communications fail because the phone will keep trying to send the message until it gets through.
Blow a whistle: A person can blow a whistle much louder than they can yell. Furthermore, they can blow on a whistle repeatedly over a long period of time without getting a sore throat. Three blasts close together mean HELP or SOS!
Make a SOS distress signal: Make a distress signal on the ground by piling rocks, branches, other debris or your gear to form large letters spelling “S.O.S.” This is the universally recognized signal for help. Try to use materials that contrast with the surrounding environment. If snow is present, try stomping SOS into the snow. Try to make the SOS letters read from east to west so that the shadows catch the letters better.
Light three fires: You may also light three fires to signal for help. Build them either in a line or in a triangle, and get them good and hot. When you see a rescue plane during daylight hours, add green plant matter to the flames to cause thick smoke. Be careful to not to overdue the green material and extinguish the fire.
Signaling mirror: The emergency signaling mirror is approximately 3 by 5 inches and consists of an aluminized reflecting glass mirror, a back cover glass, and a sighting device. It is used to attract the attention of passing aircraft or ships by reflection, either in sunlight or in hazy weather. The reflections of this shatterproof mirror can be seen at a distance of 30 miles at an altitude of 10,000 feet. Though less effective, and with possible shorter range, mirror flashes can also be seen on cloudy days with limited visibility. To use the mirror, proceed as follows:
- Punch a cross-hole in its center.
- Hold the mirror about 3 inches in front of your face and sight through the cross at the ship or aircraft. The spot of light shining through the hole onto your face will be seen in the cross-hole.
- While keeping a sight on the ship or aircraft, adjust the mirror until the spot of light on your face disappears in the hole. The bright spot, seen through the sight, will then be aimed directly at the search ship or aircraft.
If you do not have an official signal mirror, any mirror is better than nothing.
- Regain Sense of Direction
Compass: If you a compass you can quickly reorient, but what about if you don’t carry a compass? Check you car – many cars have built in compasses. Next check your smart phone, as many modern smart phones include a compass somewhere in the apps.
North Star: In the northern hemisphere on a clear night you can determine which direction is north by finding Polaris (the North Star). You can find Polaris by following the two “pointer stars” in the Big Dipper. Unfortunately, this method is only effective on clear nights.
Using a Watch You can use an analog watch to figure out which way is south during the day. To do this, it is easiest if you remove the watch from your wrist first. Hold the watch so that the face is pointing upwards. Then rotate it until the hour hand points to the sun. You can use a blade of grass to cast a shadow on the watch face to make this easier – just line the hour hand up with the shadow. Once the hour hand is pointing towards the sun, you can find south by bisecting the angle between the hour hand and the 12 o’clock position. In other words, if it is 4:00pm, south will lie in the 2:00 o’clock direction (because 2:00 is halfway between 4:00 and 12:00). At 7:00 am, south will lie in the 9:30 direction (because 9:30 is halfway between 7:00 and 12:00).
Using a shadow: Find a straight stick at least 12 inches long (30 cm) and drive it into the ground such that it points directly at the sun. You can tell the stick is pointing directly at the sun because its shadow will disappear. Then wait until the earth rotates enough so that you can see the shadow. The shadow will point directly east. Of course we know the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so if you know approximately what time of day it is, you can figure out approximately which way is south.
Look for landmarks: If you are in the North Shore mountains and you can see Vancouver (or the lights of the city) you know which way is south. If you can see a river you are familiar with, a mountain you recognize, or other features you can orient yourself fairly quickly. Knowing which way a valley opens helps. You can also check for moss on trees (grows heaver on the North side) but that is pretty unreliable, especially in our wet climate.
