Modern Frontier: Developing Primitive Navigation Skills
These primitive navigation skills can lay a foundation for long-term success.
Equipping ourselves with effective skills, knowledge, and tools is important before we begin any difficult endeavor. In fact, Benjamin Franklin once said, “failing to prepare, is preparing to fail.” This seems to be true for many things in life, wilderness trips included. Personally, when preparing for a wilderness camping trip, I reference checklists I have made. I’ve found that using checklists is beneficial in helping me remember all the gear I need. Lists give me something concrete to ensure I don’t forget anything important before departing. While it’s important to bring the right gear, it’s also very important that I prepare myself for the trip as well.
For whatever reason, it seems like our world focuses much more on tools and technology than skill development. My guess is that this is because we love the shortcuts technology provides. Why spend time developing a skill when you can just buy something to get the job done? It’s actually a good question. We’ve all got limited time and resources, so why would we spend hours and hours developing a skill when we can get the same task done by purchasing a product? This basic question is actually the starting point for a pivotal decision.
We all have to decide how we proceed. We can focus more on task completion. Or, we can focus more on skill development. Skill development takes time and effort, but provides long-term benefits. Focusing on task completion allows us to get things done quickly, easily, and effectively. However, it may be like building a home on sand. When things go wrong (and they will), you might not be able to outlast the storm. Let’s use wilderness navigation as a topic to see the difference.
When it comes to wilderness navigation, technology offers us an easy win. We can use our phones or GPS units to see high-resolution satellite images of the area we are in. These devices are wonderful for accomplishing the task. When they are working, they can keep you traveling with no problems. Simply zoom out to see where you are in relation to other locations, and you can easily get your bearings. Simple. Easy. Effective. What more could you want?
Although it sounds like a win, this approach has some drawbacks. Of course, the main drawback is what happens when the technology stops working. This is where the person wanders around trying to get service or spends hours tinkering with the device trying to get it to function. This is where the person goes home because the GPS didn’t work.
If you think I’m making this up, think again. Recently, two friends of mine went on a fishing trip. It was a pretty big trip that both were excited about. The trip got off to a great start and they were catching some fish. However, about halfway through their trip, the fish finder quit working. What did they do once the technology failed? You’d like to think they fell back onto a foundation of fishing skills and continued to have success and enjoy the trip. In reality, they packed up and went home. This happens all the time. As soon as the technology fails, the adventure is over. Why? Because many people embark on trips with a limited foundation of skills and knowledge. Without their technology, there is no confidence.
Now, back to the topic of navigation. If we decide not to rely on technology, we must instead develop skills and knowledge within ourselves. This takes time, effort, and focus to initially make small gains. However, skills and knowledge are things that will never run out of batteries, and they will provide for us as long as we keep them tuned up. Initially, a lack of skills may hold us back from going to great places. However, if we continue to develop over time, there is no place we will lack the confidence to go.
At this point, it might be worth mentioning that primitive navigation skills are not the place to begin. The place to begin developing your navigation skills is by learning to use basic tools like a compass and map. If you click on this link, you can read an article we wrote on that subject. It’s the place to start if you have limited experience.
If you are interested in developing primitive navigation skills, here are a few areas to focus on.
ATTITUDE
In his book, Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival, the author starts with a chapter on attitude. This isn’t coincidental. He says one of the most important things you must have in a survival situation is a good attitude. Keeping calm and collected is very important when it comes to navigation, particularly if you begin to feel lost.
I can vividly remember one time I was truly afraid. I was on a tube in the middle of a lake when I suddenly lost the tube. I was all by myself and did not have a life jacket on. Wind swept the tube away and I was a long way from shore. Admittedly, I’m not a strong swimmer. In that moment, I did exactly the wrong thing. I panicked. In fact, I actually envisioned myself dead at the bottom of the lake.
When you think you are going to die, what do you do? Swim. Swim as hard as you possibly can.
I swam as hard as I could toward the shore. Unfortunately, I hadn’t gone 100 yards before I was exhausted. Looking back, what I did next was a make-or-break moment. I made a decision that saved me.
I realized I would never make the shore. My only option to avoid drowning was to try and catch my breath. Again, I’m not a strong swimmer, but at one point I had learned to do the basic backstroke. Rotating to my back, I was able to keep my face out of the water just enough that I could catch my breath and relax. Although I think I could have backstroked back to shore, a few minutes later I was fortunately picked up by a boater and given a ride.
Hopefully, this story can illustrate what happens when we panic. My mind went into survival mode and I expended a bunch of energy in a futile effort to save myself. Rather than thrash around, what I really needed to do was conserve my energy. It wasn’t until I fell back onto a basic skill that I was able to collect myself and save myself from drowning.
The same principle is true with wilderness navigation. If you ever find yourself lost, it’s best to stay calm. Don’t waste a bunch of energy scurrying around in a panic. Sit down and think your way out of the problem.
As already mentioned, this is easier said than done. To do so, it may help to remember a few things. First, odds are you’re not as far from help as you might feel. According to one source, the furthest you can be from any maintained road in the lower 48 states is 21 miles. In reality, the lower 48 just aren’t that wild anymore. Secondly, remember that if you have appropriate skills, knowledge, and gear, you probably have more time than you think. If you read our article on primitive shelters, you’ll remember that you can survive around 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. If the weather is not dangerous, you’ll probably be fine.
At this point, it might be worth sharing the mindset of historic frontiersmen. Take the mountain men for example. They were often traveling in uncharted territory and lands they knew nothing about. However, as long as they had their basic gear they knew they could travel anywhere. They could always have food, shelter, and fire. I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve also heard that at least some tribes of Native Americans didn’t have a word for wilderness. The reason; there was no “wild” place. There was just a different place that they could live in. Don’t twist this to imagine a beautiful land where everything was perfect. The opposite was probably true. However, equipped with skills and knowledge, they knew they could live everywhere. In the words of the famous Ray Mears, it’s not about being able to travel to the woods from time to time, it’s about learning to live there.
In our modern society, we have separated the world into developed areas and wild areas. Developed areas have all that we need, and the undeveloped places are “wild.” However, if you have the right skills, knowledge, and tools, it’s just another place.
Now, this isn’t to say that there are not dangers in “wild” places. In fact, that uncertainty is part of the adventure. It’s just to say, that when appropriately equipped, you’ll have the confidence to stay calm even if you get a little turned around.
MENTAL MAPS
One of the most practical skills for basic wilderness navigation is making mental maps. Understanding where landmarks are in relation to one another is very helpful. Landmarks such as mountains, rivers, or lakes can keep you orientated. Admittedly, this is easier in some areas than in others. For example, when I go hunting in a large grassland, there are very few landmarks to use. Almost all the hills look the same and there are few bodies of water. I know this is also a challenge if you are in a thick woodland or swamp. I spent some time exploring the Florida Everglades and landmarks there were equally difficult to use. However, almost every area has something you can use. Knowing where those landmarks are, and how they relate to each other, is a great foundation for wilderness travel.
Folklore says that mountain man Jim Bridger was a master at this. Once he went to a place, he never forgot it. Part of his ability to master mental maps was the constant attention he paid to his surroundings. He didn’t just ride through an area. He observed. He was intentional. He wasn’t just looking at the scenery. He was creating a map of where things were and relating those to where other places were. Legend says that he also always looked at places coming and going. He knew places looked different from different angles, so he tried to remember things as many ways as he could.
On a recent trip with my daughters, I tried to encourage them to make a habit of this. Before starting out from camp, we noted a prominent hill nearby. I tried to get them to think about what it looked like, and where our camp was in relation to it. As we traveled the trails, I would stop every half hour or so and I would ask them if they could locate the hill that told us where our camp was. As you might expect with two young kids, there were some wins and some losses. However, overall they did a pretty good job. Getting them in the habit of keeping track of landmarks may just help them out someday as they begin taking their own adventures.
TRAVELING BY LANDMARKS
Once you know where the landmarks are, you can begin using them to navigate. To understand how to do this, there are two basic principles; handrails and backstops.
HANDRAILS
Handrails are physical features you use to travel along. This is much the same way people use handrails to guide them up or down a set of stairs.
My classroom is right next to a stairwell. Between classes, I step out into the hall to monitor the passing time. While monitoring, I see students moving up and down the stairwell. Many of them reach their hand out without even realizing it and gently run their hand along the rail as they walk down the stairs. In the same way, we can keep track of physical features to guide us along. Let’s look at an example.
The Oregon Trail is probably the most famous migration in our nation’s history. People in the eastern United States headed for the West Coast by the tens of thousands. They were rugged pioneers and survivalists who conquered the wilderness with their cunning woodsmanship, right?
Actually, if you look at the primary sources, you’ll realize most of them were not Daniel Boone. In fact, some of them had never been camping before. Then how did they survive? Well, honestly, many didn’t. In fact, it is estimated that perhaps 65,000 people died along the trail. Many others made it because they depended on the strength of the entire train they were traveling with. You’ll also have to remember that they didn’t have detailed maps of the route until very late in the migration. So, how did they cross half the continent?
They used the rivers as handrails.
At first, the main river they followed was the Platte River. This river flows into the Missouri River near Omaha. Emigrants followed the sandy shores across Nebraska until it forked near present-day North Platte, Nebraska. From there, they followed the North Platte River to near present-day Casper, Wyoming. After that, it was the Sweetwater River to South Pass. Once over South Pass, they followed small creeks like Pacific Creek and Blacks Fork, before eventually meeting the Snake River around present-day American Falls, Idaho. From there, it was the Snake to the Columbia River, then that took them to the coast. Following the rivers made the day’s travel easy. When traveling, they simply had to keep the river on the same side (north or south) every day. If they did that, they’d eventually make it to the next river. 6 months later, they’d be in Oregon.
Although our theatre of travel may not be as vast, we can still use physical features as handrails. These can be creeks, ridges, or even roads and power lines. Essentially, if you leave camp and follow a creek all morning and the creek has always been on your right side, in order to find your way back, simply travel and keep the creek on your left side. In the same manner that the students gently keep a hand on the railing, you don’t have to actually follow the creek inch by inch. Instead, keep track of it in your mind as you travel. Seeing it from a distance is good enough. If you have to leave it completely, make sure you find another landmark before completely “letting go.” This leads to the next way we can navigate by physical features. That is by understanding backstops.
BACKSTOPS
Backstops are another way we can use landmarks for navigating in the wilderness. Before diving into an explanation, it may help to imagine the idea first.
My two young girls are crazy about volleyball. Of course, this gets most intense in the fall, but they do like to play year-round. As their Dad, I enjoy making time to play with them. It really is fun to watch them do their best and attack something with enthusiasm. However, at the present moment, their skills are not the greatest. That means we get a ton of errant passes and kills. Basically, the ball doesn’t go where they want it to go. No problem. They’re kids, they need time and practice to get better. I get that. However, I have to admit, nothing takes the fun out of some family volleyball practice like Dad chasing errant passes across the yard every single time. I know somebody out there knows what I’m talking about.
So, for us to have the best time together, we have some rules about who has to retrieve errant shots. More importantly, we always play in front of a wall, fence, or the side of the house. When they hit the ball past me, it stops the ball from going further and further away. It’s a backstop. It keeps things from going too far. In this case, it keeps the game fun and we play longer. In the case of navigation, they can keep you from getting lost. Let me explain.
After developing an awareness of the area, you can use certain landmarks as backstops. Basically, you can pick out a landmark and say to yourself, “If I make it to that hill, I’ve gone too far.” The same way the wall keeps the ball from going too far in the game, the landmark can stop you from wandering miles and miles in the wrong direction. Keep in mind, you should have these in both directions if you are traveling away from a camp that you plan on returning to. Just like with handrails, backstops can be anything. You can pick out a creek, a mountain, a road, or a lake. In the grassland that I hunt on, oftentimes I use things like windmills and fence lines as backstops.
You can also combine backstops and handrails. Basically, you can set a place in your mind as a backstop. “Once I hit the river, I need to stop. Then I need to turn it into a handrail. After that, I need to follow it and keep in on my left side.” In this way, you can travel fairly easily from place to place without using trails or paper maps. It does take practice, but it is a great way to navigate when doing things like hunting or going out for a day ride.
Primitive Techniques
Even in our modern world, there is a place for the primitive knowledge from long ago. These are a few methods you can use to orient yourself.
North Star
The North Star is one of the easiest ways to orient yourself. To identify it, you can use the Big Dipper. Most people can find the Big Dipper. To find the North Star, draw a straight line between the two stars of the “cup” on the side opposite of the “handle.” If you draw a straight line between those stars, and continue to follow it, that line will lead you to the North Star. The downside is, of course, you have to use it at night, However, it has been used for thousands of years to give people a general sense of direction.
Shadow Sticks
If you don’t have time to wait until night to find north, you can always use shadow sticks. Basically, place a stick in the ground leaving about 6 inches above ground. Using a rock, mark the location of the end of the stick’s shadow. Wait half an hour. Then, mark the location of the end of the stick’s shadow. At this point, you will have the cardinal directions. The stick will be on the south side of the rocks. The first rock will show you west, and the second rock will show you east. By default, you can find north.
In order to make this technique more accurate, you can do two things. First, avoid starting at noon. The angle of the sun during the middle of the day can make it harder. Second, wait longer to set your second rock. Other than that, it is a simple yet effective way to establish north.
If you add these two tricks to your toolbox, you can increase the likelihood that you can stay orientated.
On that note, it might be helpful to reiterate a point already mentioned. That is, America just isn’t that wild anymore. In most situations, if you travel in a consistent direction, it shouldn’t be too long before you hit a road or other sign of civilization. It seems like, when you hear stories of people getting lost and dying in the woods, it seems like they tend to die from heat, thirst, or cold. In a sense, it’s not a navigation issue. It’s a shelter, or water, issue.
On a final note, recognizing that doesn’t mean abandoning technology completely. GPS and cell phones can still be good tools. However, they should complement skills, not substitute them.
By preparing your necessary skills and knowledge before you embark on your journey, you will be preparing to succeed. If instead, you fail to prepare them…well, people have known the result of that for hundreds of years.
