Interesting study n direction finding in humans

Walks in circles

Interesting. Backpacker magazine posted something to that effect a couple of months ago. Weird!

Ways to compensate:
1. Compass or GPS (duh)
2. As mentioned in the article, using the sun or other celestial objects.
If no celestial objects are visible:
3. Find an object that lies on your direction of travel and start walking to it. En route, periodically watch where you came from. When you arrive at the object, look back at where you came from. Now visualize a line from where you came from that proceeds through and past the object you are now standing at. Pick another object in front of you that lies along that visualized line. Repeat. Accurate? No, but better than nothing.
4. Notice your surroundings, perhaps there are clues. Is one side of a hill more forested than another? Does moss grow on isolated trees more on one side than the other? Is the snow (if any) pack deeper on one side of a hill v. another? Is one side of a hill more lush than another? Assuming you're in the N hemisphere, generally, all of the above indicate North.
5. Even if the sun isn't directly observable, are there any shadows? (you can use the stick and shadow trick that I'm sure many people here are familiar with).
6. Are there any migrating birds? Assuming you know the season, you may be able to get a general clue from migratory birds (fly south for the winter, north for the summer)
7. Observe the wind. Is it coming fairly steadily from a consistent direction? Perhaps you can use it for a (very) rough indication of direction. (this one is pretty dicey)
8. If you're with another person, have that person walk 15m in the direction you intend to travel. Walk to the person. Repeat. If you have three people, leapfrog each other to maintain a straigther line.
9. Alone? Got a rock? (or any unbreakable, expendable object). Throw it in the direction of travel. Walk to it. Repeat. Snowballs are fair game!
10. Even just a slightly brighter patch of sky, depending on the time of the day, may indicate roughly east or west.

That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure you guys can think of a dozen or more in addition.

I bet the average ETS'er could skew the study nicely.

HJ

In mountainous terrain, particularly with a decent map, you can easily maintain orientation by observing the features around you. Typically you are ascending a ridge or descending a canyon. While the topography will not allow you to walk in a straight line, you will definitely not walk in circles. You typically have distant ranges, which when identified, keep you oriented.

It gets interesting in the slot canyons typical of the Colorado Plateau, where you are counting meanders, without too terribly much visible outside the canyon. However, you will not be wandering outside the confines of the canyon that contains you.

My feeling is that orientation by landmarks or celestial objects is more foolproof than a compass. I have seen compass variation of 45 degrees, while the North Star maintained its place. Of course, cloudy nights are another matter.

On the Channel Islands, the wind blows vigorously from the northwest about 95% of the time. It works pretty well to keep you oriented. Of course, you can only get so far off course on an island.....

Hint: most rural, semi-rural areas, many forests have one or more highways near them. The sound of the trucks can be heard for miles.

Florida scrub-pine woods can be dense and the terrain is dead flat. If the sky is overcast it is easy to get turned around if you don't have some reference. But if you wait and listen you can hear the roar of the highway pretty much 24/7.

Similarly it is rare to find a place that doesn't have regular airliner traffic over it. Airliners tend to fly set air corridors. If you know the air corridor and generally where it is in relation to you you have a good clue to your location and which way is north. Over a National Forest I frequent the air corridor is almost due East-West and just north of the forest boundary. If I hear the rumble of an airliner I can tell which way is north and if I can tell roughly how far away it is, how far south of the forest boundary I am.

This same area has a major highway on the East side. Once you know what to look and listen for it becomes pretty hard to get seriously lost.

If you frequent, or fly over, a wilderness area it can be worth the trouble to find out what air corridors are near and the regular flight schedules. Sad that it is virtually impossible to escape the sounds of modern life, I go to get away, but if it's out there it would be a mistake to not take advantage of it in a survival situation.

Good point. I've always heard that given the choice between a map and a compass, take the map. "Terrain association" is a great technique. I've done week long hikes involving cross country travel in the Sierra where I referred often to my map but seldom to my compass. Even when I am using a compass to calculate my position, I always try to do a "reasonableness check" based on terrain association. I don't care how good you're calculations are. If the terrain doesn't match up, it's not the terrain that's wrong!

HJ

You can't necessarily bet your life on migrating birds. Some birds that normally migrate (like geese) don't migrate in some areas where they find winter feed. Here in western WA is one of those places, many of the Canadian geese are here all year long. We see them flying in all directions. The point of the V just points to food or a pond/lake.

Sue

Good point. Thanks, Sue.

HJ