How To Navigate Without A Compass
Reading Time: 8 minutes What if you went out for a walk and forgot your compass at home or your GPS tracker battery ran out, knowing that the nearest smartphone signal allows access to mapping applications only about 20 miles away from the nearest city.
What should I do in this case?
Getting lost in the wild is scary, getting lost is not that fun, but we have prepared a list of the best alternative ways to use the compass while losing it or forgetting it, so let’s learn about the best ways that you can use instead of the compass.
Ways To Navigate Without A Compass
Use The Sun To Find North
It is one of the most important skills that you must learn, and it is a basic skill in navigation, which is how to know to find the north without using a compass or any other devices. It is easy for you to know the location of the east by looking at the position of the sun.
This technique depends on some factors. Depending on which hemisphere you are on, and how close you are to the equator, here are 3 ways to find out the north.
Find North In The Northern Hemisphere:
If you are in the northern hemisphere, the highest point of the sun every day is directly south. The sun rises in the sky during summer compared to winter. But the highest point of the sun in its curve will be exactly in the south.
For that, you have to practice watching the sun’s journey for a few days in order to understand and determine the point at which the sun is at the top of the sky, and then you will become proficient in knowing the directions of the sun.
Find North In The Southern Hemisphere:
But if you are in the southern middle of the globe, you will do the same process as above, but in reverse. In this case, the highest point of the sun every day will be the north and what distinguishes this region is that this method works in all seasons of the year regardless of any day of the days of the year. It is a reliable way to know the north.
Find North At The Equator:
But if you are near the equator, the highest point of the sun is directly above your head, so you have to use a different technique in order to find out the direction of the north.
In this case, you will have to observe the periods of sunrise and sunset in order to determine the direction of east and west, and then you will determine the directions correctly.
Find North With The Stars
You can find the north easily at night by observing the stars, you have to start locating the great diver and you may have seen this group of stars before, and it is called the great diver because it looks like a big ladle, and this group is considered a large group that is not difficult find it.
And notice the Big Dipper, which is located on the right side, and you can also see the Little Bear with the North Star at the end of the handle, the North Star does not move much, with every rotation on another constellation, it moves a little, and you can easily know the direction from this star. Also, the Small Diver, which is much smaller than the Big Diver, is a good way to make sure you’re heading in the right direction.
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Learn To Read Topographical Maps
It is good to determine the north correctly, but this is not enough alone. Determining the north is only the first step in determining the path that you will take. Determining the north does not mean that you have become a professional navigator, you still need some things, and the most important thing is the ability to read Land and area knowledge.
Here you will need the topographic maps, and the topographic maps contain a lot of information about the area in which you are located in order to help you navigate in case you forgot your compass or forgot the GPS device.
If you learn to read these maps well, you will be able to imagine the map as a 3D model of this place. We highly recommend you to learn to read and buy maps in case you want to go out for a camping trip in the wild, and some maps also include landmarks that you can visit.
With a little practice in reading maps, you will become skilled in reading them and knowing where you are accurately and comparing these places with where they are on the map.
Follow The Edges of Water
One of the best ways to know the places is to know the water features in the area you want to camp in. You can use the maps if they exist instead of using the compass, and following the edges of the water is very similar to the idea of using the landmarks.
If you live in a place with a lot of streams, rivers and water sources, the best way for you to know your right path is to know these sources and their names well, and flowing water can be seen from long distances and is easy to find unlike other methods and unlike using a compass as well.
How to Navigate Without a Compass With An Analogue Watch
If you don’t have a good GPS watch on your wrist but do have an old school analogue variant then you will be able to use your watch for navigation.
Contrasting between solar and standard time is a not very accurate way of navigating without a compass, but it can help you find more vertical effects. You can use this method when you’re in trouble and don’t have any other options.
In this method, use your analogue watch through these steps:
- Turn your watch back for up to an hour if you set the watch to daylight saving time.
- Remove the watch and place it in front of you by holding it in the palm of your hand, as you must make it flat on the ground.
- Point the long hand of the clock in the direction of the sun.
- Use a pen or use a pencil and then draw a line towards the outside of the midpoint so that it is between the hour hand and it is 12:00 and from the side opposite the hour For example: If it is 6 am, you must extend a line from 3 on one side One of the o’clock and 9 on the other side.
- This line will help you determine the north-south line and thus will represent the north, i.e. it is in the northern hemisphere and it is on the side that points away from the sun.
How to Navigate Without a Compass by Creating Your Sundial
You can determine the direction of the north if the days are sunny, and it is considered one of the simplest ways to affect the north by creating your sundial by using a stick and a pair of stones with some patience.
This method is done through these steps:
- Get a straight stick that is about 2 to 3 feet long.
- Insert the stick into the ground so that it is at a sufficient depth and should be upright, meaning that it does not need to be fixed in its place and that it does not fall if it is exposed to the wind, and you must insert it on a piece of land that is clear and level.
- Use your first stone to locate the tip of the shadow by using the stick.
- Wait for half an hour.
- Put the second stone in the new point in order for the shadow cast by the stick to fall, and there must be a movement of the shadow so that it is long or short.
- Draw a line between the two stones, and this line will give you an axis between east and west, as the first stone will indicate the west and the second stone will indicate the east.
- Stand facing your east-west axis so that the sun is behind you and your first stone is on the left as the direction you will face is north.
The General Awareness Method
There are a lot of people who lay in the woods as a result of their lack of attention.
Most people navigate through the woods by having their eyes focused directly on the ground 5 or 6 feet before where they are going to walk.
Most of the time they stop to look around while noticing some types of trees and distinctive features that are part of the landscape and therefore they do not look behind them in order to know where they came from.
People have bad awareness habits in the forest, so you must develop your mobility instincts, which is to be intentional about your general awareness whenever you go out.
While you are walking on a trail, things will be very different depending on the direction you will take.
You can walk two minutes away from the lane and if you make a sudden turn, you won’t remember where you came from.
You can avoid these things by following the method of staying out of your head and using your senses.
The steps of this method are:
- Pause frequently as you look around.
- You should examine all four directions while looking at the features of this scene.
- You have to be careful if you are trending up or down.
- Preferably make a sign to the road.
- You must point confidently to the last place to stop, and if you do not, you are not paying close attention.
Note: If you maintain your level of consciousness, you will be able to deviate from the path. You will never be lost.
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