Using The Stars When Lost in The Woods

From Hansel and Gretel to Wild, there are many cautionary tales about how easy it is to get lost in the woods and how important it is to have a plan. Dropping breadcrumbs that may get carried away by hungry birds is not a good plan. But what happens when you’ve taken all the recommended precautions (marked your path, signed into the trail register, refrained from relieving yourself more than 10 feet away from the trail), and you find yourself lost and dusk is fast approaching?

Well, first: Stay calm. It is said the decisions you make within the first five minutes of getting lost are critical. But let’s say you’ve messed up those first five minutes and dusk has given way to complete darkness. What now?

Breadcrumbs may get scooped up, but generally, unless it is a cloudy night, the stars aren’t going anywhere. If you have the good fortune of a clear night along with the bad fortune of getting lost, you can use the stars to orientate yourself.

Wherever you have ended up in the woods is now your main point of reference. Mark this area with some rocks, candy wrapper tied around a branch, spare clothing — whatever you’ve got. And then get a grasp on your key directions. And here’s the most important part: You should practice this at home in the safety of your backyard or in a park — get good at it first.

In the Northern Hemisphere, you are looking for the North Star (Polaris), the brightest handle of the Little Dipper (the big frying pan in the sky). If you are facing Polaris, you are pointing north.

For those below the equator, you need to find the Southern Cross, a constellation with a cluster of bright stars with two stars pointing at them from nearby (really, practice this at home first). Bisect these two pointer stars and where that line intersects the long arm of the Southern Cross is the South celestial pole. Then at that point, where they all meet, drop a line straight down to the horizon and that is due South. The most important lesson I can gather from this: If you are going to get lost at night and rely on the stars to orientate yourself, don’t do it in the Southern Hemisphere.