Well, it is only dark maybe half of the time (unless you are way north, in which case a compass may be problematic even then), but it can be overcast without breaks for days on end, at least where I am from. What I was talking about is if you don't have a compass, you have other limitations about orienteering. Eventually (I would hope anyways) you will get daylight enough to make out landmarks. When that happens, you can then use the compass to get some sort of relative idea where you are to where the landmarks are. I may not be able to measure feet or yards exactly, but more or less my pace is the same in the woods, or wherever. So I can tell how many paces I am away from something by taking a few quick bearings and doing the sine calcs using the angles. It is not a difficult or time consuming thing, and if you can't get to the GPS for some reason, or worse still it won't work, you can still come up with a good estimate of where you are and which way to go. Now this assumes you have id'd your landmarks relative to some previously known location, so that the information you develop using the law of sines has some use, otherwise the only thing you will find out is how much further you are lost from where you started being lost.

My chem teacher always counseled that, while technology makes our life more comfortable, it is also a trap. Being able to solve the problem using just your mental skills and a few rudimentary tools, well, isn't that the essence of survival?

Now, the nice thing about deserts is that you seldom have cloud cover continuously. In this case, a sextant and a compass would get you out of trouble, again using a few rudimentary tools and a little education, still without relying on much technology. In that respect, finding my way through the desert may be even easier than in the forests back home. Ah, there is a time and place for everything isn't there.

Now, if I go to the trouble of learning how to make good use of all that knowledge, guess what. Yep, the first thing I will reach for in my survival bag of goodies for navigation will always be my GPS, a brunton in this case, complete with built in maps. Ain't technology simply marvelous?

One of the first things I figured out as an electronics technician was how to build a crystal radio. Sure is nice not to have to rely on a power source. Really, I am not biased against GPS, I think it is a great new tool for us to enjoy, but it is not free, and it does rely on ideal conditions for operation, and it is not easily replicatible should the technology fail us. More than one time I've seen hunters and hikers slapping the side of their Magellan staring at an "acquiring signal" screen prompt walking down some path.

I mean, come on, there certainly was no GPS system 500 years ago, and definitely no landmarks out in the ocean, when people were really just starting to explore the world. We have to be at least a little more intelligent than that by now, don't we? One thing is to make use of new technologies, while still mastering the tried and true.