Miscellaneous

The title "miscellaneous" is a little misleading. The information I'm presenting here is just as important as other topics. But for lack of a better word, I'll call it that.

No doubt, the single most important thing you need is a good map. But along with that if you don't have a compass, you'll need to see objects in the distance that you can identify on that map. What do you do at night? At night, you need shelter...when do you stop your journey and prepare for nighttime? Hopefully, this information will help.

At this point, without a compass and light, you may be limited. However, there are some things that will help.

Direction

As you realize now, North is kind of special. When you want direction, you need to know where North is. Nature gives us some clues in how to tell where North (and South) is.

There is a saying that moss grows on the North side of the tree. That's true. But it also grows on the other sides as well. So as an indicator of North, using moss on a tree, while sometimes correct, is not a reliable way of telling the direction of North!

If you are able to see the rings of a tree recently cut, you can infer South by looking at the rings. In the Northern Hemisphere, tree rings will be slightly thicker towards the South because that's generally the direction the sun faces.

What about at night? If you can see a crescent moon, draw a line from the tips of the edges and extend it down to the ground. That's the general direction of South. Now that you know South, North is directly opposite of that.

If you are in the northern hemisphere and you have clear skies, look for "The Big Dipper" (in the constellation Ursa Major). The Big Dipper is oriented in the sky differently at different times of the year. Once you find the big dipper, the two stars that form the end of the pan point to a star called Polaris; "The North Star." It's not exactly North, but it's close enough that you will be able to tell general direction. It's the brightest star you can see that falls along the axis of rotation of the Earth.

If you point to the North Star, Polaris, you will be pointing True North since that star is along the line of the axis of rotation of the Earth.

You can also tell something else by Polaris. Your latitude will make Polaris appear at different heights above the horizon. See the picture below.

If you are on the geographic North Pole (position B), Polaris will be directly overhead. It would be at 90 degrees above the horizon as would be your latitude.

If you are on the equator (position A), Polaris would be right on the horizon. It would be 0 degrees above the horizon as would be your latitude.

So Polaris is above the horizon however many degrees your latitude happens to be. In Benton, AR, your latitude is about 35 degrees, so Polaris is 35 degrees above the horizon.

Unless you have a protractor or a compass with an inclinometer, you'll need some way of estimating the angle. One way of estimating angle is to stretch out your arm and look at your hand. At arms length, an average fist is about 10 degrees and your index, middle, and ring finger held together is about 5 degrees. You can use that to help measure from the horizon to Polaris and estimate your latitude.

Remember, this is just an estimation! Everyone's arm length and hand size is different.

In the image below, if you can fit three fist lengths between the horizon and Polaris, you know you are at about 30 degrees latitude. Try this next time you're outside on a clear night and see how close you are.

Curious how that works? If you were to make a complete circle in the sky tracing the sun's path, that would make a full day, or 24 hours. Knowing that each fist marks about 10 degrees of angle at arm's length, how many fists would trace the sun's path? -360 degrees / 10 degs per fist = 36 fist lengths. -If that 360 circle around the sun's path equal to 24 hours, 36 fists / 24 hours = 1.5 fists/hour. -With 5 fingers per fist, 1.5 / 5 fingers = 0.3 hours or 20 minutes per finger.

What about during the day? As long as the sun is shining, you can make a rudimentary compass using the shadow cast by a vertical object. Find a stick and plant it in the ground as firmly as you can so it doesn't move. Now observe the shadow it casts. Place a rock on the tip of the shadow. Now wait 15 to 30 minutes. As the sun moves East to West across the sky, the shadow will move from West to East. After some time, place another rock on the ground at the tip of the new shadow position. The first rock represents West, the second rock represents East. From there you know that North and South are perpendicular to that line.

Note that you can do the same thing at night if the moon is bright enough!

Time to setup camp for the night!

It's late in the day and you wonder if you should stop hiking and setup camp, get some firewood, and settle down for the night. How much daylight do you have left? Can you walk a little more or should you hurry to get settled in?

You can use the same trick as shown above but know that each finger length amounts to 20 minutes.

Please remember, do not look directly at the sun when doing this! This is just an estimate, so do not worry if you're not perfectly aligned with the sun.

So in the drawing below, you can count on about 60 minutes, or one hour until sunset. Better to be safe and start setting up camp now!