Do you know how to make your own compass and read it? Or which stars in the night sky can help you find your way home?
Most people have been out in the woods or wilderness for camping, hiking, or perhaps a leisurely stroll. Have you ever considered what you’d do if you got lost while out in the wild? It’s a prospect no one really wants to dwell on for too long.

With all the modern comforts about nowadays, it’s easy to say you’d just grab your cellphone, find your location using gps, and then pick a good route out. But what if there’s no cell signal to call for help? Or worse, what if your battery is dead and you’re in an unfamiliar location? It’s around about then that you realise you’re on the corner of No and Where… completely alone.

Even if you don’t foresee this ever happening to you, the tips below may come in handy at some point or another. Please note that all tips are written for those of us who live in the Southern Hemisphere.

Four Corners – Two ways
The first thing to do once you realise you’re lost, is to get out your compass. You did bring one right? If you didn’t bring yours, then the below may save your bacon.

Just so we’re all clear on how to read a compass: There are four cardinal points; North, East, South and West. Most store-bought compasses include inter-cardinal points, NE, SE, SW, NW, along with secondary inter-cardinal points, but these aren’t necessary for simple navigation.

The pointer on a store-bought compass is usually a different colour, indicating north. Wherever that needle points, is north, regardless if it’s over the East or Western cardinal. Just rotate the compass till the N lines up with the needle. Always follow the pointer!

Compass
For those who didn’t bring their compass here is the solution. Find a needle, paper clip, or pin and a piece of silk or wool (clothing made from this material will work).

Rub the material against the needle in only ONE direction about thirty times to magnetise it. Find a leaf once the needle is magnetised, and place the needle onto the leaf. Then, find a still pool of water – a cup or tree stump filled with dew works just as well – and place the leaf in it.

The needle will rotate the leaf, and turn it to magnetic north (whichever end of the needle is pointing closest to the shadows, will be north). You can repeat this process as many times as you need while travelling, as the needle will demagnetise over time.

Tick-tock
There is a quicker way to navigate during sunlit daylight hours, provided you have an analogue watch. Line up the sun with the 12:00 point and find where the hour hand is. Draw a line between the ‘sunlit’ hour and 12:00 position on the clock using the ‘left’ side of the watch. This line points north for those of us in the Southern hemisphere.
If you don’t have a watch, then making a simple sundial may work for you. However, you will need to know the exact hour for this to work.

Starlight Pointers
The stars in the sky can help you figure out where true South is. The quickest way to do this is to find the Southern Cross, also known as The Crux.

The Crux of finding the Cross
Be careful if you have no idea which constellation the Southern Cross is, as there are actually three crosses in the sky. One is the Diamond Cross, which is both longer and thinner than the southern. The other cross is the False Cross, which is incredibly similar to the real Southern Cross and is also located very close to it.

The differences between these two constellations are that the false crosses two ‘pointer’ stars are on the eastern side and point west. The stars that make up the false cross are dimmer than the real Crux’s ones, and lastly the false cross is slightly larger and shaped more like a diamond than a cross.

The true Southern cross has two pointer stars on the west side, which point east. The four stars which make up the Southern Cross are also much brighter than the false cross, which can be found about twenty degrees to the right.

Due South
Now that you know what the Southern Cross looks like you can find and use the two pointer stars, found below and to the west. Draw an imaginary line down the middle between the pointer stars and remember it. Next, look at the Southern Cross and use the top and bottom points to draw a long imaginary line down them.

You now have two imaginary lines running down and where these lines intersect is the South Celestial Pole. Trace a straight line from that point straight down to the horizon and you have found South. Mark the direction on the ground clearly so you can head out in the morning or use it as a reference later. The other alternative is to wait until sunrise, as the sun always rises in the East. From there, you can figure out where North is.

Other schools of thought:
Some say that you can use a sundial to navigate at any time of day. This is incorrect, due to seasons and varying lengths of daylight, unless you take the reading before midday. This method requires only a stick, and a stone, or three, to mark the points. Place the stick into the ground, and mark where the end of its shadow falls. Wait a little while, and make another mark where the shadow’s end has moved to. The line going between those two points should run approximately east–west. However, in my mind, you may as well use the clock method described above, provided you know the exact hour.

Some swear by using moss to navigate. The thought here is that in the southern hemisphere the moss, which likes cold and damp areas, should grow on the southern side of the tree as the sun should always be on the north side of the tree. This can work, provided that the moss hasn’t covered the entire tree base, although it’s not very precise. If the moss has covered the entire tree base, then the ‘thicker’ mossy section will likely be south.

Personally, I like the watch method best. It’s quick and easy and relatively accurate – but does require that you are wearing a watch. My father showed me and my brother this method during hiking trips.

So this is our round up of alternative navigation in the great outdoors using objects you may have, or be able to find around you. Let us know what items or methods you’ve used to navigate before, or stories you’ve heard about what to do if you’re lost.

Main image credited to Jo Guldi (Flickr)