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![]() direction by instinct
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People enter the wilderness all of the time without the aid of a compass, or even a good working knowledge of the area,
relying only on a trail or road to follow. This kind of adventure as a general rule is safe, as most inexperienced people
don’t go into the deep wilderness, and usually keep on the trail or near their car while visiting a state park, or campground.
In the smaller parks it’s more of an inconvenience to get lost than a crisis, if you walk a short distance in any direction
you will usually come out on a trail, a road, or somebody’s back yard, unless you’re unlucky enough to have walked
in a circle all day. However, if the average person were to step off of the main trail while hiking deep into a national forest,
that person might be facing one of the most terrifying experiences of his life, spending an unplanned night or longer in the
real wilderness. Finding your way in the woods can prove to be a challenge for the inexperienced woods person even with a compass. You could
be walking in the right direction and be a few degrees off and come out in the next county, if you come out at all. Trails
can disappear right in front of you and one tree can look like another.
Would you know which way to go? Throughout history, experienced woodsmen and native people around the world have had the ability to travel considerable
distances through the wilderness without a compass and not only avoided getting lost, but walked right up to the very place
they set out to visit. This is not a magic trick or a bunch of folklore for a campfire story, but a real ability that humans
have and don‘t have a conscious realization of it. With the right kind of training most people can develop this instinctual
navigation skill. Animals have a perfectly tuned compass built into their brains, and they demonstrate what it can do for them all the time.
A dog for example, can run for miles in thick woods and as soon as he‘s ready to come back, he does so without any trouble
whatsoever. If you take a cat several miles from home, and let him go, in a few days, he will be back home. I used to think
that animals followed their own scent trail back home, until I noticed that my dog never returned the same way that he left,
but he always made it back, even if it were his first time in that area. Animals have a homing instinct that never fails them,
they know how to tap in to this hidden ability and humans too can tap this skill.
Obstacles may get in the way. Just count your steps to
clear it and return on the other side — again counting. Now it’s time for field training, and I do not mean a big grassy area where you play frisbee. Find a wilderness area
that has established hiking trails, bring along a friend and a good lunch and make a day of it. Pick a trail that makes a
big loop, or does not go too far, and take a compass reading at the head of the trail and start hiking. As you walk along
enjoying the scenery, see if you know what direction you are walking without looking at the compass, of course you must periodically
check with your compass to see if you‘re right. This gets harder to do if the trail has many curves in it, however that
makes the whole experience more challenging. Pay attention to each curve and try to keep track in your mind of any direction
change, check your compass to verify. Eventually you won‘t need to check your compass as often, you will just know.
This kind of exercise must be done many times before you will notice any progress. When you feel as if you are getting the
hang of it, try to get disoriented and sense which direction to go, then check your compass to verify. Do not forget that
there is a big difference between walking down a trail in a park and hiking cross country while navigating on instinct. And,
do not be in too big of a hurry to hit the open woods and try this. Before entering the woods make sure you have a basic survival kit with you. This should include a first aid and snake bite
kit, an emergency transmitter (and make sure you know what channel you should be on), along with plenty of water, and a knife
and some fire making tools, just in case. If you are an outdoor person, I highly recommend that you take a basic first aid
course, and learn about outdoor emergencies; after all, nothing feels as bad as being injured, or seeing someone close to
you injured, and you do not have a clue as to what you should do. A life may hang in the balance. The Red Cross offers an
outstanding first aid class, and many other types of training. So, now you are ready for the big leap. Find a very large wooded area that you‘re sure has a road a couple of miles
straight ahead that runs from left to right so even if you don’t walk a straight line, you will still come out on the
road somewhere. Make sure that you wear hunter‘s orange to avoid any misunderstanding with a hunter, and don‘t
trespass. Take a compass reading at the starting point and don‘t look again. Walk a straight line for ten minutes, then
make a 180 degree turn, and walk for ten minutes back towards the starting point. After ten minutes, if you have not reached
your starting point, you went off course, consult your compass and continue walking, you should come out of the woods down
the road a ways from where you went in. The farther you come out from your starting point, the more bend you had in your attempted
straight line hike. After several tries you should get a better understanding of what is going on and start walking in straighter
lines. Pay attention to how it feels to walk in a straight line, and teach your subconscious mind to alert you when you start
to stray off course. This may manifest itself as an uncomfortable feeling about the direction you‘re about to walk.
Check your compass and make a mental note of the experience. If every thing goes according to plan you should be ready for
the long hike now. Set out on a straight line cross country hiking and see if you can find the road that you know is out there
ahead of you somewhere, when you find it, do a 180 degree turn, and return to your starting point. You can score yourself
by determining how close to the actual point of entry you are when you come out. Obstacles may get in the way now and then such as a lake or ravine. Simply make a right angle turn and count how many steps
you take to clear the obstacle. Make another right angle, turn and walk until you have cleared the obstacle, then another
right angle, turn and recount the steps you took to get around and continue on your way. This is not fool proof, but it usually
works well enough to get you pretty close to where you want to go, and the more you practice, the more accurate you’ll
become. I have spent my whole life stomping around the woods, and as far back as I can remember, I could sense my direction. I
have never met a true woodsman that did not have this skill. There are times when all bets are off and nobody can use this
skill. If you are inclined to partake in smoking while visiting mother nature, or getting a good buzz, you will walk in circles.
I have watched people try, and I have never seen it fail, even when using a compass, you are likely to still get lost, or
show up a long way off, and a long time later.
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