Navigating is a use-it-or-lose-it skill and one that few hikers, cyclists or walkers employ anymore because of their increased dependence on GPS units, Garmin computers, Google Earth and similar technologies.
That heavy reliance on devices can give people a false sense of security.
Nobody knows how many U.S. hikers get lost each year, according to Robert J. Koester, an instructor for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and the chief executive of dbS Productions, which conducts search-and-rescue training and publishes related information.
For some hikers, the wrong turn proves deadly.
Preventing such tragedies is one reason that Stacy Boone teaches land navigation classes through her company, Step Outdoors, which works in southwest Colorado and northern New Mexico. Boone organizes wilderness trips to teach inexperienced hikers and backpackers how to use a map and compass. She says that knowing how to follow a map while traversing a trail, how to orient a map north and how to set a bearing are critical skills that have helped her in forests, mountains, canyons, fields and deserts, no matter how many twists and turns she has taken.
People tend to panic when they’re lost or think they’re lost, Boone said. And panic leads to irrational behavior. Her first rule? Just stop. Drink water. Eat a snack. Doing so will help you calm down. It will also help you slow down.
“The classic behavior when you get lost is to speed up,” said Jamie O’Donnell, a field instructor with the National Outdoor Leadership School, a nonprofit based in Wyoming. “People think, ‘Oh, I need to work hard to get myself out of this.’ In doing that, they often make the situation worse by hiking fast. They quit paying attention to terrain features.”
Once you’ve stopped and replenished your body, you can think more clearly.
“Then and only then, pull out your map,” Boone said.
That is, if you know how to use it. A map is nothing to dread or fear. A map is simply a bird’s-eye-view representation, drawn to scale, of a particular area. Topographic maps, which hikers use, typically show major highways, trails, waterways, vegetation (such as forests and meadows) and contour lines that depict elevation. It’s a low-tech version of what so many have come to depend on electronically.
Although many trail users frequently rely on electronic prompts to provide a sense of direction, a GPS device is not a magic box, O’Donnell said.
“The GPS won’t tell you there is a mountain in the way or there is a huge river that won’t be safe to cross, but a map will,” he said. GPS units break. Batteries go dead. Phones get dropped in streams.
To become a better navigator, pay attention to clues. Is the ground flat or sloped? Note the position of the sun in the sky. Keep an eye out for “handrails,” landmarks that parallel your course, such as a creek to one side. And remember: “Everything looks different when you spin your body and look backward,” O’Donnell said.
“If you step off a trail to use the bathroom, turn back around and pick out some identifying markers, like a big oak tree that splits near the bottom.”
Visual clues can also help you stay safe and oriented on the trail. Some hikers set their trekking poles outside their tent at night pointing in the direction they’re supposed to go the next morning, Boone said. Some go so far as to place their pack on the side of the trail, tie a string to it and carry the string with them when going off to use the bathroom.
Hikers should always make a plan.
“Let someone know you’re going out and when you’ll be back,” said Brian Schachter, an instructor at the Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School.
Using technology
Nine of 10 smartphone owners use their device to get directions or for other location-based services, up from 74 percent in 2013, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey.