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How to Find North on the Hiking Trip
If you’re out hiking at night, or in an unknown area, while on a hiking or camping trip, it will be important to keep your bearings. This is especially true if you’re camping in a place you’ve never been before, where almost every location will look new and consequently, a little confusing. But if you always know how to find north and have the resources to do it effectively, you’ll be in better shape. Here are some ways to find north while you’re hiking.
Bring the right equipment:
Most of your problems will be eliminated if you bring a GPS device or a compass with you – or both. Of course, not every one of us has access to these once we’re out in the woods, so you don’t want to rely on technology alone. That’s why having other ways of determining direction will be extremely valuable. If you are informed and bring the right technology with you, you’ll have no trouble determining your direction.
On a clear night, use the stars.
Navigating by the stars has been important for seafaring civilizations for hundreds – maybe thousands – of years. On a clear night out in the woods, you should have an excellent view of the right stars to help point out where north is. In the northern hemisphere, locate the Big Dipper. At the “spoon” end of the dipper (not the handle end), the two end stars point toward the North Star.
Click here for an illustration. Note: in the southern hemisphere, you can use a similar technique with the Summer Cross. Research this more to learn how it’s done.
During daylight, use the presence of the sun.
If you know what time it is, you should have a good idea of where the sun is. In the northern hemisphere, the sun will be due south at noon – this won’t help as much the closer to the equator you are. It will rise in the east and set in the west, although you don’t want to use the sun’s rising or setting to indicate exact directions east and west.
Most importantly, in a situation where you need to use navigation like this, try to keep calm. Staying relaxed will help you to remember tips and tricks like this, so keeping your wits might be the most important tip of all.
Photo Credits: cwalker71
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Five Tips for Safe Desert Hiking
Desert hiking? Yeah, you heard me. When most people think about hiking, they think about thickly-forrested hills with trails cutting gently up the slopes, or canyoneering through northern Arizona with some spectacular views. But some people don’t have access to a whole lot of country side except…desert. And if you’re a desert hiker, that’s just fine by you.
Of course, desert hiking does come with a few risks. If you want to hike safely in the questionable terrain, here are a few tips that should help you on your way.
1. Plan a hike in advance. Don’t just know where you’re leaving on your hike, know where you’re going, what you’re bringing, who’s coming with you, and how to get to your destination. Without a plan, you’ll be far more susceptible to the potential dangers that come with desert hiking. Is every desert hike very dangerous? No, but being prepared will minimize your chances of something bad happening.
2. Remember water and electrolytes. If you’re going on an extended desert hike, you have to remember that water is crucial. Even if you think you can handle a certain amount of exercise, remember that hot air and the sun can also contribute to dehydration – and you often don’t know it until it’s too late.3. Protect your skin as much as you can. Remember to use light white fabrics that wick away sweat and protect your skin from the sun. White reflects more sunlight back to the sun, while black absorbs it. Dress in a lot of white and bring plenty of sunscreen so that the exposed parts of your skin still have some protection. You don’t only want to avoid sunburn, but you want to avoid your skin baking up and losing a lot of hydration.
4. Don’t go alone. It can be tempting to throw caution to the wind and go of adventuring by yourself, but if you bring a hiking partner, you’ll have a lot better chances of finding where you need to go, and making sure that you’ll stay safe.
5. Tell someone else about your plans. If you’re going to be gone a good while – or even going to be gone at all – make sure that someone relatively close to you knows where you headed and when you headed out.
Photo Credits: heatkernel
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Three Essential Survival Tips for the Lost Backpacker
So you’re enjoying another fresh summer day in your extended backpacking trip, well used to the sounds of trees whistling in the wind and the sound of leaves and branches under your feet. You’re both a backpacker and a hiker these days, enjoying the feeling of the sun on your neck and having little else to worry about. Until you reach a strange new spot, look at the ground under the feet, and realize that you’ve lost the path.
What do you do now?
Here are three tips to remember if you ever get yourself into a situation in which you feel like you’re lost.
1. Get seen.
It’s tempting to continue on with your backpacking trip like you aren’t lost, as if following the woods you were walking through will somehow lead you back to the path you were on. But you need to get seen, especially if you’re in an area that has a relatively high level of human activity. You want to get seen not only to be seen but to see – many times by getting in a clearing or on a higher elevation, you’ll be able to scope out your exact situation. Sometimes, simply “getting seen” at a good vantage point can give you a reference that leads you back to where you were headed.
2. Don’t panic.
If you’re lost for the first time in your life, you might not be sure how to handle it. So the body reverts to its old fallback option: panicking. You want to avoid this. Why? The more calm, assertive, and relaxed you are, the better you’ll be able to function. As soon as you start playing doomsday scenarios in your head, you’re beginning to find ways to make those scenarios happen. So cut them off right away and ask yourself empowering questions like “okay, what’s my next step? Where can I go?” Just taking that first step can clear your mind and get you feeling calm again.
3. Believe in survival.
Survival experts across the world point to your mental attitude as being one of the most crucial elements to any survival situation. After you’ve stopped yourself from panicking, you need to take an empowering attitude that opens up your mind to the right possibilities. Do you believe you’re going to get home? If you don’t, there won’t be much sense in trying – at least to your mind. But if you do believe it, you’ll work for it, you’ll persist, and you’ll eventually find a way to make it happen. Make sure that you do – and believe that you can.
Photo Credits: andrew.petro
