Have you been LOST? (In the woods-lost in city doesn't count)

[TheNatureBoy]

Once, and I did not like it! Once I calmed down and remembered that there was a paved road nearby I was ok. I picked up the faint sound of a vehicle driving by and followed it out.

[Husqvarna]

yup, we were doing a 5 man drive in thick snow up to my waist, i started to veer of and actually walked in a circle like the myth, I thought it seemed longer than the hunt-leader said. made a 30 minute walk into a 2 hour, had sporadic cell coverage and it isn't like it was way out in the wilderness but I was lost

Also gotten lost in a cross country ski-track, how you wonder the tracks will always lead somewhere but no. we didn't see the turn because it had snowed over so we were skiing a loop of a couple of miles and didn't realize it until the third pass

[jmr40]

Anyone who has never been lost hasn't really been anywhere

[Doyle]

The absolute best "lost" story I've ever heard happend to a friend of mine. He is a realtor down here in FL and was hunting on public land in KY. He got lost and happened to wonder onto some private land. The foreman of the farm found him and was going to give him a ride back to camp but they wound up going to the land-owners main house. They all started sitting around talking, produced a bottle of liquor, and my friend actually had the balls to ask the owner if he could borrow his shower (deer camp had been primitive).

After his shower, they talked more and he found that the owner (a seriously wealthy guy) had been thinking about buying a waterfront vacation spot in FL. Remember I said my friend was a realtor? He wound up selling the wealthy owner a multi-million dollar waterfront house down here.

The rich guy has actually moved down here and they remain tight friends.

[Gunplummer]

I can relate to Art Eatman's post. I was hunting The Eastern Shore (Maryland) salt swamps. They are flat as a board and the reed banks are over your head at most places, and then the areas with bayberry bushes. I looked at the sun going in and moved right along. What I did not know was that it rains almost every day and gets huge fog banks. There is one road cutting through tens of thousands of acres. I figure I walked parallel to that road about 3-4 hours before I heard a car go by. I would never go in there again without a compass and map. It sounds stupid, but a compass does you no good if you don't know where you are.

[ZeroJunk]

I guess I am just too cautious. But, I have mistaken one drainage for another and ended up walking a few extra miles.

You really have to watch what you are doing in flat coastal plains. Paper company land that looks the same for miles.

I have spend a lot of time hunting on the continental divide. It is not a straight line by any means and often the direction it eventually takes doesn't jump out at you. And, if you get a little turned around the drainage you think will take you down to the river and camp may put you on another on the wrong side.

[cslinger]

I got lost in a Bass Pro once, does that count?

Seriously though I have been lost in the woods twice. Once was a relatively large state park where worst case you keep walking eventually you will pop out in civilization. Ok worst case you walk onto a pot farm but I digress.

The other was in Maine woods and these were real honest to by God if you go the wrong way your are screwed unless your first name is Grizzly. That was a bit unsettling. Took the better part of a day to suss things out. At one point a buddy I was with just stops dead in his tracks and very calmly YELLS AT THE TOP OF THIS LUNGS HEEEELLLPPPPP!!!!!. Then very calmly started back walking simply saying, what the hell I had to give it a try.

[603Country]

I've never been lost when I had my compass with me. But...in my teen years I went squirrel hunting in a large wooded area near where I lived in Louisiana. It had just rained a bunch and the area I hunted was flooded to a depth of about 9 inches or so. I didn't have the compass. I got lost. Sky was clouded over. I walked and I walked and I walked and eventually found my way out of the woods, though I had to walk through a large hog pen area. The owner asked where I had come from and I told the truth. "Got lost". So, I walked a mile or two back to the house, where my cousin was waiting. "Where ya been?". I told him I had gotten lost and he thought that was the funniest damn thing he had ever heard, and wondered how in the world could I have been dumb enough to have gotten lost. Well, that really ticked me off, so I took him back in the flooded woods to show where I had gotten turned around and darned if we didn't find ourselves lost. Unbelievable. We wandered around for half an hour and then came across muddy water where somebody had been walking earlier in the day. That would be ME. Followed the muddy water trail back to the hog pen AGAIN, walked past the owner AGAIN and then walked the couple miles back to the house. Cuz and I didn't chat much on the long walk. Geez! Went straight to my grandpa and asked for his extra compass.

[Old Grump]

Woods, plains and desert are my comfort zone. In the mountains or marsh you can get me turned around and confused all day long till night comes and I can see the stars. If you want to lose me just take me to any large city with more than 10,000 people and walk me 3 blocks away from where I want to be and then laugh at me because I am not a happy camper.

[Tuzo]

Lost in Dublin, Ireland, but that doesn't count. I teach land navigation to Boy Scouts and it consists of normal good-to-know things such as map reading and compass work. At the beginning of a teaching session we begin with a little prayer:

When I'm lost and in doubt,
let me run in circles, scream, and shout.

Works for me.

[Art Eatman]

Lots of little tricks. Stopping to look back and see what the country behind you looks like, checking for landmarks in the direction of where you came from is one.

Remembering the pattern of winds is another. In my area, early morning breezes are from the northwest. In the afternoon, from the southeast. Absent some weather change, those are quite reliable. In coastal areas, the land breeze/sea breeze directions are fairly obvious.

Always carry a deck of cards. If you get lost, stop and lay out a game of solitaire. Pretty soon, Sumdood will come along and tell you to play the red six on the black seven.

Gotta hope he ain't lost, either...

[BIGR]

Came close to being lost, but it was mainly just confused. I could see where it would be easy to get lost in the woods at night.

[ROGER4314]

Two of us went to New Mexico to dirt bike in the desert. We stayed in a big tent on the edge of the desert.

My riding partner wussed out and being bull headed, I went alone. That was probably one of the most dangerous things I've ever done. I was alone and 20-25 miles out in the desert where every bush looks like every other bush. I had a GPS but I stopped, got a sighting, then attempted to keep my landmark in view as I rode. That didn't work! I kept getting very lost during my daily rides.

Finally, I used Velcro to mount the GPS on the front fender of the bike. That way, I could keep both hands on the handlebars and keep the arrows of the GPS lined up as I rode. That worked like a charm!

Flash

[Jack O'Conner]

I was lost for about 3 hours in swampy wilderness country of Huron Nat'l Forest. But I made my way out with help of a small compass.

Jack

[rgrundy]

I was raised in the woods (we were farmers and loggers) and was lost alot. Never really cared and learned lots of new territory that way. I just got through hiking for the better part of three days on an archery mule deer hunt with no compass (don't own a GPS) and came out 2 miles south on the road from my vehicle. Couldn't quite close the deal on a 180 mulie, but there's next week after I rest the old bones a bit. BTW the elk are pushing cows and screaming. Saw a big 6 point this morning with about 20 cows. Priceless.

[PawPaw]

Yeah, I've been lost. These swamps in Louisiana will let you get "turned around". Especially if you cross a little ridge that you don't even realize and suddenly all the drainages are running in the wrong direction. Overcast day, can't see the sun. It's a perfect recipe for coming out of the woods a long way from the truck.

[Husqvarna]

re: cslinger

pot farm the worst case scenario? more like best case scenario

[Art Eatman]

Husqvarna, the problem there is that you can go from being the hunter to the huntee.

[rgrundy]

Husqvarna, Art's right. When we find anything out here the BP gets a call and we don't touch it. Backpacks almost certainly have GPS tracking in them and it won't be the police visiting you.

[foxytwo]

I was hunting in norther minnesota with a friend and we were talking about being lost. My friend said he could find his way anywhere without a compass or a map. We were on back roads and he said to stop. He got out and said he would go out in the woods about 200 ft, turn around about 4 times with his eyes closed. Then he would open his eyes and walk streight back to the pickup. It was a very cloudy day and if I had not answered when he hollered he would still be there.

A compass and a map sure comes in handy when you are hunting, but only if you know how to use it.

[Gunplummer]

All these stories reminded me of a time my x and I were doe hunting on top of a mountain. It had started to snow pretty good and every once and a while we would hear a shot. Along comes a guy dragging a nice big doe. He went past and about an hour later, here comes another guy from the same direction, dragging a doe. My wife said "I told you we should have sat over there farther". When the guy got closer we both started laughing. It was the same guy dragging the same deer. We did point him in the right direction.

[playin' hookey]

I got turned around a few years ago in the fog and dark trying to walk out of a relatively small woodlot which I thought I knew like the back of my hand. I called my wife and told her not to wait on me for supper, I would be home a little late but don't worry. I had a headlight but no compass or GPS (I carry both now, especially the compass!). Couldn't see beyond 30-40 feet. Next thing I knew, I heard somebody hollering and went to it -- my wife had called the lady who owns the property and she had called another guy who hunts the place and he came and got me. I was about 200 yds from my truck. The assistance was appreciated but considering the embarrassment inherent in the escapade I would have preferred to be allowed to fend for myself. I now have a healthy respect for fog, and an appreciation of the compass.

[SavageSniper]

Never really been lost here in my home area in Florida but turned around somewhat many times. The only time I have ever been truly lost was in 1991 in the Saudi desert a few clicks from the Iraq border. It was about 2 weeks before the ground war. Four of us took a HUMVEE to a local store to get some real food. On the way back to base camp it turned dark. We had a compass but was useless, we had no map. We got to where we thought the camp was but we were way off. We finally found the paved road again and went off a landmark on it. Come to find out we were only about 300 yards from camp but it was soo dark nothing could be seen. We also didnt want to go too far east and cross over into Iraq without the M1's.

[L_Killkenny]

I've never been in woods big enough to get really lost. How sad is that?
I'm not sure I've ever been over a mile and a half from pavement.

Pretty much Ditto. I've been to the boundary waters(canoeing) but when it comes to hunting it's all been done here in Iowa which generally has roads every mile or two going every which way. Pretty hard to get lost here. Not saying I haven't been turned around and there has been more than a couple times when we were coon hunting that we'd get all turned around chasing dogs. More than once that I'd look at a compass and doubt what it was telling me. But we have never been close to that heart stopping experience of realizing "oh crap, where the heck are we".

[paradoxbox]

i was lucky to learn some neat navigation and wayfinding tricks as a child by reading books, i've never been lost. though sometimes when i'm walking around tokyo things get a bit confusing..

i was also very fortunate to learn about sea navigation by reading a polynesian navigation book - that was remarkably useful, though difficult for most people to wrap their head around.

one of the neat tricks i learned as a child was an old native american trick - how to use a stick stuck in the ground to tell the 4 directions with remarkable accuracy. these days though i always have a compass on me be it my iphone or my suunto mc-2g compass (awesome compass by the way). but a compass is not a lot of use without a good topographic map!

for anyone who is interested, i really recommend learning a bit about navigation - it's quite easy to find resources on the internet. i am especially partial to maritime navigation as it's extremely precise. with a sextant and almanac you can find your position to within a few hundred meters, it's like having a GPS..! then again without charts that is useless, but still, using tracking techniques (to find your own tracks, so you can go back the way you came) in combination with navigation skill (i.e. using fixed reference points both ahead and behind you to avoid going in circles) you can really be more confident when you go out into the woods

these days i enjoy getting lost on purpose just to have fun using my wayfinding skills!