First thing to remember in flat lands or where you cant see landmarks and the like is that you HAVE to start keeping track of where you are from someplace that you KNOW you are, as it was already stated, it is very hard to figure out where you are at after you may need it.

I was lucky enough to have grown up in a family that had regular use, and later owned, a sailboat. While we did not do much in the way of sailing that called for navigation useing charts (mostly from Long Beach to Catalina Island and back) I was taught to do some basic navigation on chart and compass before I was taught orienteering in the BSA. Knowing how to do this kind of charting helps me a lot in flat Florida.

I bought two pedometers, one set for long stride and the other for short stride, I average them for the distance travled. I carry some of the navigation equipment from the boat that I saved when my family sold it to help me plot the courses, it Just makes it easier. I have two compasses, one for reading on the map and general orienteering as I learned in the BSA, its mostly used as a straight edge though, and the other is a nice marine bearing compass that you can look down the length of and read the bearing in a little mirror or look down apon and use as a normal compass that I use to keep my heading while walking. If I don't want to pull out the map and mark it down at every turn I just take mark the distance and bearing down in a notepad and keep going, then just stop and plot the lines every once and a while starting with the last point I had marked. The tools just make it easir to mesure and mark the map at this point. This system, while I've not used it anywhere off trail, has kept me pretty close to where I was on the trail when I practice with it.

I know, GPS would make all this a whole lot easier. I don't have one yet. I don't know when I'll be able to pick one up in the near future. Until then this is the best I can do, and its not a bad way to know how to do.

Stay Found. If you get lost it may take you quite a while to find anything you can take a bearing off of.