Part II.
To travel in a straight line by compass, and to keep your bearings
regardless of how or where you go, is easy, if the rules I have given
are followed; but people do not always know these rules, or for one
reason or another they do not observe them. As a result they get
lost. What to do in such a case I can't tell; but one thing that
should not be done is to get frightened and travel desperately first
in one direction, then in another, always more or less in circles, as
men do when they wander aimlessly.
I am a firm believer in that "ounce of prevention" adage, for
prevention is better than cure every time. This policy has carried me
through hundreds of miles of wilderness without once getting lost. I
have never been lost, although many times I have lost my bearings for
awhile when traveling in company with somebody who was leading the
way, or when trying to travel in unfamiliar country without using the
methods I have been describing. I have never gone astray when using a
compass, or when traveling by any of the other ways I have mentioned.
A short time ago I was talking about bush travel with a friend and
after he had listened to my chatter for awhile he asked, "What would
you do if you were to get lost?" "I wouldn't get lost," I answered,
"for the rules I have been explaining to you are to prevent that and
will always do so if followed. I always follow them." "That sounds
all right," he argued, "but you know people do get lost sometimes and
I want to know what a man should do if he gets lost. You say that you
first get acquainted with the country near camp, then explore
farther, etc., but here now is something different. I go into the
woods to hunt deer, with a few fellows. We know nothing of the
country and are dependent on our guides. They have led us into camp
and we scarcely know how we came. Well, the next day, I set out to
look for game, alone, intending to hunt close to camp. I go first
this way and then that way, looking at the likely places, and after
awhile it dawns on me that I don't know which direction to go to
reach camp. In other words, I am lost. Now what should I do?" I will
confess that the question was too much for me. Having never been
lost, I had no experience of this kind from which to draw. I recalled
stories of people who were lost but couldn't think of anything that
would help a lost man find his way. There are many ways to find the
compass points, but when a man doesn't know what direction he wants
to travel, what good is there in knowing which is north and east?
I suggested to my friend that a man would surely always have some
point in mind with which he was acquainted and would know
approximately which direction this place lay. "If he does he isn't
lost," he replied. "And even if he knows that the railroad runs north
and that he is east of it, the railroad may be fifty or a hundred
miles away, while he may be only a mile or two from camp."
The only practical thing I could suggest was this: When a man
suddenly discovers that he has lost his bearings and doesn't know
which way to go to reach camp or familiar ground, he should above all
things avoid getting excited and "losing his head." It is not at all
a serious matter and if he will keep cool and use judgment he will
come out all right. First let him note carefully his surroundings so
he will know the place when he sees it again. Then he can set out in
what seems to be the most probable direction to familiar ground, but
he must travel in a straight line by the method I described in the
last chapter. After traveling a reasonable distance, if no familiar
ground is reached he should return to the starting point and try
another direction. If all this fails, the various points of the
compass having been tried, he should come back to the starting point
and camp there until his friends find him. I am presuming that he has
lost his bearings under the conditions named by my friend and that he
has companions some where not many miles distant. The campfire may
help his friends find him and if he fires his gun it may also do some
good. It is a very good plan to agree on some sort of a signal to use
in case some member of the party loses his way but I know this is
seldom done, for nobody cares to let his friends know that he feels
the remotest possibility of getting lost. I never leave camp without
having with me a good quantity of matches. I always carry a light ax
and if the weather is cold I put a blanket in my packsack. Thus, if
anything happens to prevent my getting back to camp I am reasonably
outfitted for camping out a night.
In my talk about travel by compass I have spoken of keeping direction
by the sun and thus doing away to a great extent with frequent
reference to the compass. Doubtless the reader has been wondering
what he should do on days when the sun is invisible. Fortunately
there are few such days unless it is during a rain when of course
very little traveling is done. But there are days when fog or clouds
obscure the sun for hours and then travel is slow because one must
make frequent reference to the compass. The only safe way is to
select some conspicuous object in the line of travel each time a
compass bearing is taken and to take a new bearing when this object
is reached. A dense fog is the worst possible condition for then not
only is the sun invisible but one cannot see far enough to choose
objective points. I seldom attempt to travel under such conditions
but when I do, if I make a half or three-quarters of a mile an hour,
providing I have no stream, lake shore or trail to follow, I consider
that I am getting along very well. Blinding rain or snow storms also
make travel very difficult. I have traveled in a heavy snowstorm by
making use of the wind as a guide, in conjunction with the compass.
The wind seldom changes during a steady rain or snow storm, and
anyway the compass would apprise the wayfarer of a change in the wind
before he had gone far out of his course.
[Illustration: THE WATCH AS A COMPASS.]
There are ways of learning the directions without a compass which may
be used in case of emergency. First there is the sun. In theory it
rises in the east and sets in the west; but in reality it only
behaves so on or very near the equator. As we are in the northern
hemisphere the sun is of course south of the east and west line all
the time, and in winter it is farther south than in summer, because
the earth wabbles back and forth throughout the seasons and the
northern portion leans away from the path of the sun in winter. As a
consequence the sun rises somewhat south of the east in summer and
sets a little south of west. In winter it rises still farther south
and its path across the sky is always to the south of us. At noon it
is straight south. Thus it will be seen that if one knows
approximately the time of day he can easily figure out the compass
points. Directions by the sun can be learned with much greater
accuracy if one has a watch, for knowing the time of day exactly he
should know just how far the sun is from the zenith at that time and
thus easily locate the true south. Having found it he has but to face
in that direction and the north will then be behind him, the east on
his left and the west on his right side.
But there is a much better way of getting the compass directions by
means of a watch and it is done in this way. Holding the watch so
that the hour hand points to a line perpendicular to the sun, count
half way from this hour to twelve and this will be south; in other
words half way between the hour hand and the figure twelve is south.
Count forward from the hour hand to twelve in the forenoon, but in
the afternoon the south is half way between the hour hand and twelve,
counting back towards twelve. While I may not have made my point
clear I believe that the drawing will convey the idea more
distinctly. The time shown is 8 p. m. and with the hour hand pointed
towards the sun, south would be midway between 8 and 12 or in line
with the figure 10.
When the sun is invisible and no compass or other ordinary means of
locating directions is available it is advisable to stay in camp if
possible. But it is well to know means of finding directions under
such conditions for one never knows what may happen and a little
knowledge along this line can do no harm even if it is never used. We
sometimes read or hear from woodsmen of such means and usually they
are given as safe and reliable methods. But they should never be
taken too seriously. For instance we are told that moss grows only on
the north side of trees, while the larger branches are on the south
side. This is true in a general way but conditions have their effect
and the shelter of the other trees or nearby hills may reverse the
order more or less. But the fact that the sun's rays never directly
reach the north side of a tree encourages the growth of moss on that
side, while the almost constant sunshine by day, on the south side,
causes the sap to flow there more vigorously and thus gives a greater
growth to the branches on the south side. In prairie country the
prevailing wind, usually from the north, will give a permanent
incline to the grass, which may help one to locate directions.
It is seldom necessary to travel at night unless in the north when
the snow is soft during the day and travel is better at night. But
then the traveler usually has a snowshoe trail to follow or he will
have some other way of keeping his directions. If not he can travel
by the north star in the same way that he keeps his bearings by the
sun during the day. The difference is that the north star does not
move across the sky as does the sun, and it is always in the north.
To find this star first locate the group which constitute what is
commonly known as the dipper. The two stars forming the side of the
bowl farthest from the handle are in line with the north star and it
is above the open side or top of the dipper bowl.
[Illustration: THE STAR THAT MARKS THE TRUE NORTH.]
I have remarked that a man traveling without guidance of any kind
always moves in a circle and I think the readers are all well
acquainted with this fact. I don't know why we do so, but one theory
is that one leg is longer than the other and naturally takes a longer
step. Others think the trouble is caused by one leg being stronger
than the other. But whatever the cause it is a fact that a man
wandering aimlessly in the woods will in a short time cross his own
trail. This fact was never brought home to me so forcibly as one time
when I tried to travel without a compass on a cloudy day. It was
early spring and I was traveling on snowshoes, so there was no danger
of getting lost, for I had my trail to follow back to camp. I was
trying to travel south and was setting a line of traps. I had
traveled quite a distance straight south as I supposed when I saw
before me a fresh snowshoe trail. I thought at once that some Indian
trapper must have invaded my trapping ground. I stepped into the
trail and was surprised to find that my snowshoes fitted perfectly
into the tracks; then the truth dawned upon me--I had been traveling
in a circle. Feeling very foolish I started forward again, resolved
to keep a straight course. I found the place where I had made the
first turn to the right and here I left the trail and started south
again. After traveling perhaps a half mile I again saw a fresh trail
ahead and knew at once that I had made another circle. Once more I
attempted to strike a straight course south and I traveled the
remainder of the way without completing a circle. When the time came
to return to camp I had just one trap left and I set it at the end of
the trail in a ravine which led down from a hillside. A few days
later when I went to look at the traps I climbed to the top of the
hill where I had set the last trap, a distance of about 100 yards,
and was very much surprised to see below me the lake on which my camp
was situated, and the cabin itself not more than a mile away.
To travel straight by that questionable sense known as instinct is
absolutely impossible, notwithstanding the stories we hear of
Indians, foresters and others who habitually travel this way.
Instinct is a very unreliable guide and something more tangible is
needed. So when you hear stories of a man who can go anywhere and
find his way without failure from one part of the woods to another,
it may be wise to pretend credulity, but you may be sure that the
story teller is either elaborating or his hero has a very thorough
knowledge of the woods and a very reliable, altogether scientific
method of keeping his bearings.
The surest way to get lost is to try to travel on strange ground
without any guidance whatever, and this is perhaps most easily
accomplished by letting some other person lead the way until you have
completely lost your bearings. It is a strange fact that few people
pay any attention to where they are going if somebody else leads the
way and this probably results in more cases of people losing their
bearings than all other things combined. I have lost all sense of
direction in a very short time by letting some other person lead the
way, and this in a farming community. Another easy way to get lost is
to follow a game trail, for in such cases the trail and the
probability of sighting the game so interests and completely fill
one's thoughts that he seldom gives any thought to directions or
distance traveled.
To sum up the whole matter of bush travel, one thing stands out as
being of the utmost importance and that is to keep the compass points
constantly in mind and at the same time have familiar ground from
which to start operations. With these two essentials there will be no
worry about getting lost to mar one's pleasure and he can travel
anywhere he chooses in the big woods.