Find north without a compass

[Kevin K]

Watch video ----------very easy
http://www.instructables.com/id/Find-north...hout-a-compass/

[Donald Stahl]

Kevin,
Might work just fine and dandy. In the afternoon. But, since the sun is in the east in the morning and the rays are projected toward the west, what then? Looks like directions will be much different. Besides, I don't think I am going to go to all the effort to find a straight stick. No sir. Too complicated. I think I will just look at the moss growing on a tree. The moss always is on the north side. See? You can never get lost doing that. If you are lost in a swamp. Don

[Joe Z]

the moss trick i already know but if i remember right i couldn't find any moss when living out in the az desert......and the stick compass seems very interesting and will definitely test it during all times of the day
thanx,
Joe

[Kevin K]

You could also try this
http://www.instructables.com/id/Find...th-your-Watch/

[Donna D.]

I think I will just look at the moss growing on a tree. The moss always is on the north side. See? You can never get lost doing that. If you are lost in a swamp. Don

Here in the Pacific NorthWET moss grows in all directions including up and down. The only thing you'd find out by checking the moss for directions is the absolute certainty that YEP yur lost

[Roger H]

Geez... you guys... why make this so difficult?

If you're facing the Pacific, north is to your right. If you're facing the Atlantic, it's to your left, and if you're facing Mexico... well, it's behind you!



Roger

[pjanits]

You could always just ask somebody.

[Bill MacDermod]

Why would I want to know which way North is??? I like Florida

[Roger H]

Or, for most of us, just point at Ches, and you'll be pointing north.

Roger

[Frederick L. Simson]

If you're facing the [b]Pacific, north is to your right. If you're facing the [b]Atlantic, it's to your left,

Growing up on the East Coast, I always knew that when I faced The Ocean, north is to my [b]left.
Then I moved to the West Coast; where The Ocean is [b]on the wrong side!

[HaroldB]

You could always just ask somebody.

That may not work. You could be asking a SA.

I had a neighbor once, who had recently moved from New Jersey to Tennessee, ask me "Which way is north?" It was all I could do to keep from replying "It's the way from whence you came."

Harold

[Pete Dumbleton]

The key to this method is that regardless of time of day, you first orient the stick so that it throws NO shadow at all (IOW, the straight stick is pointing straight at the sun regardless of whether it's in the east, west, south (winter) or straight overhead). As the sun moves past the stick aim, the shadow points east because the sun's going west.

[Byron Kinnaman]

I don't know why all this fuss about finding where north is. North is not the important thing nor south nor east nor west. All a compass or these tricks do find north when all you really want to know is in which direction is camp. Now you can find a compass or a stick trick that will do that you've got something useful.

[Pete Dumbleton]

Me not lost. Me right here. Teepee lost.

[pjanits]

"All a compass or these tricks do find north when all you really want to know is in which direction is camp. Now you can find a compass or a stick trick that will do that you've got something useful.That would be a GPS. Which could also tell you which way is North."

That would be a GPS.

[peterh]

I remember reading about this same trick in Boy's Life (the Boy Scout's magazine). That would have been sometime before Neil Armstrong stepped out on the moon. Still comes in handy, though. I can't tell you how many times I've hopped out of the car, stuck a stick in the ground, waited fifteen minutes, and figured out which direction North is. What I'm still trying to figure out how to stuff a stick in the ground and figure out where I am.

[Byron Kinnaman]

"All a compass or these tricks do find north when all you really want to know is in which direction is camp. Now you can find a compass or a stick trick that will do that you've got something useful.That would be a GPS. Which could also tell you which way is North."

That would be a GPS.

YUP!... I'm on about my 5th GPS dating back to 1998.

Typical trip with hand held GPS goes something like this.
Before leaving home put stuff in daypack, lunch, water, a warm jacket, camera, and bag of safety stuff. Oh ya, better put the GPS in there too.
At trail head, through the pack on and head up the trail. Interesting game trail heading up the side of the hill with fresh deer tracks. Up the game trail, then to the next one, etc. Oops, where's the car?

Remember that the GPS is located in the pack. Pull out the GPS and turn it on, wait for a good lock. Now I know exactly where I am. Check to see if I set a waypoint for the trail head. As I scan the list of way points there's a half dozen goecaches listed that are a couple hundred miles away. There's my house, it's only 125 miles away. Dang, no waypoint set for the trail head or anything close to here. It's a long walk back to my house but what else am I to do?

[pjanits]

Byron,
That's what the string tied on your finger is for - to set the waypoint before you go off.

It's all so simple.

[Tamid]

I have no fear in the bush and have never been lost. I have however - in typical native fashion - been confused for serveral days at times and have occasionally lost my camp for a few nights

[Byron Kinnaman]

Byron,
That's what the string tied on your finger is for - to set the waypoint before you go off.

It's all so simple.

Do you think that would help?

True story -- I think maybe there's been 2 or 3 times I've remember to set the waypoint for where I was parked. One time out that I was really glad I had. Gray day, gray sagebrush, gray juniper trees, low rolling mounds. Walked about 1/2 mile, then wandered around within 50 yards of a geocache. Found it then started back to the car. There were 3 of us, we started to head in different directions. I consulted the GPS and discovered to our horror, we were all wrong.

Now about that string, I've never found a string on my finger to do anything but cut off circulation in part of the finger.