How do y'all stand geocaching without getting lost in woods.?

[knowschad]

While I'm sure that the GPS app on most smartphones is quite adequate for many things, I'd also like to point out that you can also get a bubble level app, but I wouldn't attempt to build a house with it.

 

Luckily, we aren't building houses. We're hiking. There's quite a big difference there.

True. I doubt that anybody has gotten lost in the woods building a house.

[+fuzziebear3]

In the area you are in, I did not see any big forests -- these are really just parks. Parks have trails, and cachers are a little lazy. Parks also have trail maps. Chances are, the cache is within 100ft of a trail, if that. And the trail goes somewhere, probably back to your car, no less. So try to stay on the trail when getting to the cache; when you get around 90 degrees out, look for a small trail off in the direction and take that. Then you can return to the trail, and return to your car, back on the trail. Of course, still have the breadcrumbs on your GPS in case you get turned around (yes, it happens). And since you marked your car location, you can find it now just like you found the cache.

 

Also, if you come to a + or T or Y in the trial, mark which way you came from by setting an arrow of sticks to point your way back out.

[knowschad]

Here is my 2cents worth of advice.

1. No phone (any type) is a substitute for a quality GPS. The battery life is too short, they are relatively delicate and quit immediately if they get wet. (Also phone antennas are inferior to GPS antennas if you are in any type of overhead cover.).

 

Yawn. None of the above is true, as usual.

You are saying that the battery in your phone lasts as long as the battery in a dedicated GPS? You are saying that the attenna in your phone is equivilent to the attenna in a dedicated GPS? These are some very interesting claims that you are making. I'm no expert by any means, but these are things that I have bought into by what others have said, and if they're not true, I'd sure like some sort of authoritative source to quote. Got one?

[+Volvo Man]

Another Strategy:

 

I use a netbook in the car with a large cache database, these are also loaded into various mapping softwares, including satelite view. If I'm going off the beaten path in a rural area, I first study the map to see the best point from nearby trails and paths to launch my attempt at the cache, then go to that point, which is rarely more than a few hundred feet from the cache. This usually means I have a decent landmark on the nearest trail to head for, such as an unusual tree, lone bush or something similar.

 

Once back at a beaten path, memory will serve to get me back to the car if the GPSr isn't helping (I use tracks) If I'm walking the path and I see more than a couple of features I don't recognise, I am probably going in the wrong direction.

 

At the end of the day, if you can tell the difference between a Human made Trail and a deer track, following the human made trail is going to get you somewhere of help. If you know you've walked further on the path after the cache than before, you're probably going the wrong way, so turn around. All human made paths originate from somewhere Humans can access easily enough, and go somewhere humans want to go.

[+Mudfrog]

Here is my 2cents worth of advice.

1. No phone (any type) is a substitute for a quality GPS. The battery life is too short, they are relatively delicate and quit immediately if they get wet. (Also phone antennas are inferior to GPS antennas if you are in any type of overhead cover.).

 

Yawn. None of the above is true, as usual.

 

If you think your phone will run longer on battery than my gpsr, then i have some swamp land down in south Florida i'd like to sell you. Most phones, i'd give it a 99%, aren't near as robust or water resistant as a handheld gpsr. Try dropping your phone on concrete or in water and see what happens. You might get lucky and it survive but the odds are against you when these types of things happen.

 

As far as antenna and electronics, my LG phone seems to receive comparible to my old Garmin 76Cx. But for getting me closer to the cache, the Garmin works better than the phone.

[+frinklabs]

We are veering off-topic here (getting lost?) but the drop-dead reason I didn't get an iPhone to replace my eTrex is because of environmental issues.

 

The iPhone is rated to 0 degrees Celsius whereas the eTrex is rated to minus fifteen.

 

The iPhone has a range of relative humidity within which it is rated to operate while the eTrex is waterproof to IEC 60529 IPX7 standards

 

http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-4/specs.html

 

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/store/assets/pdfs/specs/etrex_series_spec.pdf

 

I wonder if they will ever make a ruggedized iPhone?

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

another thing..

The feeling of getting lost, can be very fustrating to some,

when it is very bad it can lead to panic.

when you are in panic, you can get tunnel vision, not think and not react smart,

you can get very scared and if bad even start to cry, like the other one mentioned.

 

you can actually learn how to handle stress and fear so it dont lead to panic,

by traning.. by pushing your limits in a controlled envioment,

my panic-traning as a diver is very important to me, and also very usefull when not diving,

when pushed to a limit in any other situation,

I now know how to read the erly signs and handle my mind to stay calm and focused on the task.

 

when someone like the OP say, needed to call 911, he for sure did feel a NEED to do so

this is no joke, the feeling must have been very bad..

Pretty much the best reply I've seen. As others have noted anything that can fail at some point will. Think about what you are doing and ask yourself if you would be comfortable if your phone or GPS were to fail. If not, don't go there.

 

I have a geocacher friend who gets lost easily. I've seen him get lost 100 yards from the car in heavy overgrowth. Many times after signing a cache log he's asked which way back to the car, or he'll watch me and see which way I start off.

 

He has no sense of direction but he's learned that about himself and now doesn't go very deep in the woods, even on State Park marked trails, alone. No one thinks any less of him, in fact I respect him for knowing his limitations and working within them. My wife and one of my sons are prone to panic attacks when stressed, so we avoid situations that put them in stress. Folks who have never felt that stressed-out or panicked feeling may not understand how an adult can get lost 100 yards from their car, but it can and does happen and when it does that person is in real trouble.

 

There's just no reason to put yourself in an uncomfortable situation. There are plenty of great caches that you can get to without going where you would be uncomfortable without any supportive devices.

 

Edit to add: You shouldn't be embarrassed - I got lost one time in open flat desert less than 50 yards from my car, and I'm quite experienced and comfortable in the wilderness!

Edited June 12, 2012 by TheAlabamaRambler

[knowschad]

The feeling of getting lost, can be very fustrating to some,

when it is very bad it can lead to panic.

when you are in panic, you can get tunnel vision, not think and not react smart,

you can get very scared and if bad even start to cry, like the other one mentioned.this is no joke, the feeling must have been very bad..

<snip>

Pretty much the best reply I've seen.

 

Really? I thought for sure it was going to end with "Don't have a grandson with a dog collar"

[+The_Incredibles_]

Edit to add: You shouldn't be embarrassed - I got lost one time in open flat desert less than 50 yards from my car, and I'm quite experienced and comfortable in the wilderness!

 

For those like me who haven't a clue what a yard is, 1 yard = approx. 1 meter

[+JesandTodd]

 

If you think your phone will run longer on battery than my gpsr, then i have some swamp land down in south Florida i'd like to sell you. Most phones, i'd give it a 99%, aren't near as robust or water resistant as a handheld gpsr. Try dropping your phone on concrete or in water and see what happens. You might get lucky and it survive but the odds are against you when these types of things happen.

 

As far as antenna and electronics, my LG phone seems to receive comparible to my old Garmin 76Cx. But for getting me closer to the cache, the Garmin works better than the phone.

 

With my battery case, my iPhone lasts as long as my garmin. I change the batteries on that pretty frequently.

 

You can keep your swampland.

 

I have dropped my iPhone on concrete. And in the water.

 

Again, keep the swampland.

[+TeamPanda173]

Some great advice on this topic has been posted so far!

You can never go wrong with a bit of free education here.

Here's a free manual that you van brush up on your land nav skills. Check out the terrain association chapters so you can learn to match terrain to your maps as you travel.

http://www.uvm.edu/~...r/FM3_25.26.pdf

Edited June 13, 2012 by MDPanda173

[+Mudfrog]

 

If you think your phone will run longer on battery than my gpsr, then i have some swamp land down in south Florida i'd like to sell you. Most phones, i'd give it a 99%, aren't near as robust or water resistant as a handheld gpsr. Try dropping your phone on concrete or in water and see what happens. You might get lucky and it survive but the odds are against you when these types of things happen.

 

As far as antenna and electronics, my LG phone seems to receive comparible to my old Garmin 76Cx. But for getting me closer to the cache, the Garmin works better than the phone.

 

With my battery case, my iPhone lasts as long as my garmin. I change the batteries on that pretty frequently.

 

You can keep your swampland.

 

I have dropped my iPhone on concrete. And in the water.

 

Again, keep the swampland.

 

Ok, extra battery case and let me guess, some sort of hard waterproof case surrounding your phone. Yes, you can pay extra for accessories to help your phone become more rugged and run longer. Straight out of the box, would you still maintain that your phone would out do a handheld gpsr?

[+StripyJules]

Back to getting lost...

 

I appear to be one of those unfortunates with no functioning sense of direction. I'm sure I used to have one, but where it's gone now - who knows! Based in the UK we don't have the real wilderness lands to contend with (though there are a few fairly serious wild bits still left) and if we did have, I wouldn't be going near them, or at least not alone.

 

Oftentimes I can easily find my way TO somewhere, but not BACK. Even something as simple as attending a country show or similar will involve me turning the wrong way out of the gate when I leave and plunging into the unknown. This has happened so often it's become a "thing". I try to remember which way I turned when I drove in but still get it wrong far too often. Maybe it's genetic, as my mother is worse than me.

 

I don't have a car satnav but I can (and do) read maps, so I can translate what I see on the page to what I'm driving or walking through and find my way about, but there's no inbuilt sense of "where I am" at all. My partner lives across the lane (literally, across the lane) from a small patch of woodland and he's been amazed by my ability to get lost in there and not find - or even recognise, if I pop out of the woods at an unexpected angle - the house again; he thinks I'm putting it on, but genuinely, I'm not. On trips out, friends say "I think it's this way!" and mean it, and are right. Me? Not once.

 

I walk a lot with my dog and have a good memory for things like tree- and hedge-lines and silhouettes, but have to learn them over repeated visits, it doesn't happen instantly. As a new geocacher obediently following my little arrow I find myself wondering: can this sense be learned, or practiced and improved? Or am I doomed to be on the verge of "lost" forever?

[HerahL]

I appear to be one of those unfortunates with no functioning sense of direction. I'm sure I used to have one, but where it's gone now - who knows!

 

I had a pretty good sense of direction back in my hometown. Since I moved to Long Island, 20 years ago, I have been turned around by 180 degrees. Seriously. I worked in the city for 6 years, and every morning the train seemed to be going west.

 

I navigate by landmarks; if I have to find a place based on knowing where it is, I have to picture a map and mark my landmarks and my track on it, and point my finger different ways until I get it lined up. And I always wind up reading the imaginary labels upside down.

[+Team Pixos]

It is scary to get lost. Keeping two kids calm at the same time is even harder.

The thing I learned the most was to set a car waypoint on my iPhone app, and always carry tune juice with extra batteries.

You can get lost urban caching too.

 

With two scared kids, a dead iPhone and no idea where I parked I waited till the sun set; the full moon rose; and followed the shine off the lake I previously couldn't see.

 

10 minutes and we were at the vehicle.

 

That taught me enough not to make assumptions.

[knowschad]

 

How do y'all stand geocaching without getting lost in woods.?

Actually, I wonder how y'all stand geocaching WITH getting lost in the woods. I definitely prefer it when I don't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[7rxc]

How do y'all stand geocaching without getting lost in woods.?

Actually, I wonder how y'all stand geocaching WITH getting lost in the woods. I definitely prefer it when I don't.

 

 

In SAR the smiley for a found person (especially kids)in good condition is really big, so worth the effort!

 

Doug 7rxc

[+Chief301]

 

Oftentimes I can easily find my way TO somewhere, but not BACK.

 

 

Well, if you mark the location of your car or the entrance to the park or whatever, then once you've found the cache the car or park entrance or whatever just becomes the next place to find your way TO, right?

 

 

. As a new geocacher obediently following my little arrow I find myself wondering: can this sense be learned, or practiced and improved? Or am I doomed to be on the verge of "lost" forever?

 

Your answer may lie in the "obediently following my little arrow" part. The arrow and distance need only be glanced at occasionally to make sure you're still on the right track, while you keep your head up and make note of your surroundings. Keep your head buried in the GPS screen the whole time and when you finally look up you're bound to wonder how you got there.

 

Have you ever ridden on a bus or a train but kept yourself busy with a book or a magazine the whole ride? Often when you finally look up, or the bus comes to a stop, you're surprised to realize where you are because you weren't paying attention to your surroundings as they went by. The same can happen while you're staring intently at a GPS screen.

 

It happens all the time nowadays to people who have SatNav units in their cars...they obediently follow the directions and are basically teaching themselves NOT to think about where they are going. Then they drive off into ponds or get stuck on one-lane dirt roads or drive into restricted areas because "my GPS told me to". They get in a bad habit of letting the device do all the thinking and disengage their brains from the process, which is bad.

[+StripyJules]

 

Oftentimes I can easily find my way TO somewhere, but not BACK.

 

 

Well, if you mark the location of your car or the entrance to the park or whatever, then once you've found the cache the car or park entrance or whatever just becomes the next place to find your way TO, right?

 

 

. As a new geocacher obediently following my little arrow I find myself wondering: can this sense be learned, or practiced and improved? Or am I doomed to be on the verge of "lost" forever?

 

Your answer may lie in the "obediently following my little arrow" part. The arrow and distance need only be glanced at occasionally to make sure you're still on the right track, while you keep your head up and make note of your surroundings. Keep your head buried in the GPS screen the whole time and when you finally look up you're bound to wonder how you got there.

 

Have you ever ridden on a bus or a train but kept yourself busy with a book or a magazine the whole ride? Often when you finally look up, or the bus comes to a stop, you're surprised to realize where you are because you weren't paying attention to your surroundings as they went by. The same can happen while you're staring intently at a GPS screen.

 

It happens all the time nowadays to people who have SatNav units in their cars...they obediently follow the directions and are basically teaching themselves NOT to think about where they are going. Then they drive off into ponds or get stuck on one-lane dirt roads or drive into restricted areas because "my GPS told me to". They get in a bad habit of letting the device do all the thinking and disengage their brains from the process, which is bad.

 

Actually the first instance applies to life in general, not caching in particular! I've never put myself in the position - whilst caching - of not being able to easily retrace my steps or take a wayposted, circular route back to my starting point.

 

"Following the arrow" has given me a bit more confidence to venture out but I know its - and my - limitations. It gets glanced at to check distance to the cache or to confirm which fork in the path, etc., but I'm not glued to it.

 

As I said, I don't have a car satnav, so I'm not guilty of that one. I am capable of navigating using a map, and do so; I just can't get about using any inbuilt geographical sense. Not if I want to get there. Or back.

 

To be fair, also, my lack of a sense of direction long predates any of this newfangled techno stuff!

[+Lady Loki]

 

Oftentimes I can easily find my way TO somewhere, but not BACK.

 

 

Well, if you mark the location of your car or the entrance to the park or whatever, then once you've found the cache the car or park entrance or whatever just becomes the next place to find your way TO, right?

 

 

. As a new geocacher obediently following my little arrow I find myself wondering: can this sense be learned, or practiced and improved? Or am I doomed to be on the verge of "lost" forever?

 

Your answer may lie in the "obediently following my little arrow" part. The arrow and distance need only be glanced at occasionally to make sure you're still on the right track, while you keep your head up and make note of your surroundings. Keep your head buried in the GPS screen the whole time and when you finally look up you're bound to wonder how you got there.

 

Have you ever ridden on a bus or a train but kept yourself busy with a book or a magazine the whole ride? Often when you finally look up, or the bus comes to a stop, you're surprised to realize where you are because you weren't paying attention to your surroundings as they went by. The same can happen while you're staring intently at a GPS screen.

 

It happens all the time nowadays to people who have SatNav units in their cars...they obediently follow the directions and are basically teaching themselves NOT to think about where they are going. Then they drive off into ponds or get stuck on one-lane dirt roads or drive into restricted areas because "my GPS told me to". They get in a bad habit of letting the device do all the thinking and disengage their brains from the process, which is bad.

 

Actually the first instance applies to life in general, not caching in particular! I've never put myself in the position - whilst caching - of not being able to easily retrace my steps or take a wayposted, circular route back to my starting point.

 

"Following the arrow" has given me a bit more confidence to venture out but I know its - and my - limitations. It gets glanced at to check distance to the cache or to confirm which fork in the path, etc., but I'm not glued to it.

 

As I said, I don't have a car satnav, so I'm not guilty of that one. I am capable of navigating using a map, and do so; I just can't get about using any inbuilt geographical sense. Not if I want to get there. Or back.

 

To be fair, also, my lack of a sense of direction long predates any of this newfangled techno stuff!

If you can navigate with maps, maybe you could print out maps? Or make sure you have really good maps on your GPS?

[+edscott]

Walk with your eyes open so you know where you are and where you've been. So many are in such a hurry to get to their destination and so focused on their GPS screen, that they fail to see what is along the way. If you remember what you've seen just play the memory backwards and go back to your car.

[+ras_oscar]

Back to getting lost...

 

I appear to be one of those unfortunates with no functioning sense of direction. I'm sure I used to have one, but where it's gone now - who knows! Based in the UK we don't have the real wilderness lands to contend with (though there are a few fairly serious wild bits still left) and if we did have, I wouldn't be going near them, or at least not alone.

 

Oftentimes I can easily find my way TO somewhere, but not BACK. Even something as simple as attending a country show or similar will involve me turning the wrong way out of the gate when I leave and plunging into the unknown. This has happened so often it's become a "thing". I try to remember which way I turned when I drove in but still get it wrong far too often. Maybe it's genetic, as my mother is worse than me.

 

I don't have a car satnav but I can (and do) read maps, so I can translate what I see on the page to what I'm driving or walking through and find my way about, but there's no inbuilt sense of "where I am" at all. My partner lives across the lane (literally, across the lane) from a small patch of woodland and he's been amazed by my ability to get lost in there and not find - or even recognise, if I pop out of the woods at an unexpected angle - the house again; he thinks I'm putting it on, but genuinely, I'm not. On trips out, friends say "I think it's this way!" and mean it, and are right. Me? Not once.

 

I walk a lot with my dog and have a good memory for things like tree- and hedge-lines and silhouettes, but have to learn them over repeated visits, it doesn't happen instantly. As a new geocacher obediently following my little arrow I find myself wondering: can this sense be learned, or practiced and improved? Or am I doomed to be on the verge of "lost" forever?

 

My sense of direction was greatly improved by my early days caching with a highway GPS that had static navigation. It would not update in small increments, and it had only highway maps, so I learned to use the map on the GPS and a compass to get me in the right direction. If you are truly without a sense of direction, and I mean no disrespect, your best strategy would probably be to treat your car as another geocache. Before you set off on the trail, set a waypoint with the icon "car". When you're ready to return, use the GPS to find the car the same way you use it to find any other cache.

[+Ambient_Skater]

Get a BIG ball of string.....

I think the actual device is called a yard chain or something, but I can't remember. Pretty much it's a box with a spool of string in it, and it has a counter for measuring how much string is pulled out. My dad has one and when I was 4 the kids from our apartment complex and I got it and made a huge web in the yard.

 

[+Dgwphotos]

The main thing to remember if you get lost is DON'T PANIC!

Patrick F. McManus wrote in "The Modified Stationary Panic"*:

I disagree sharply with most survival experts on what the lost person should do first. Most of them start out by saying some fool thing like, "The first rule of survival is DON'T PANIC!" Well, anyone who has ever been lost knows that kind of advice is complete nonsense. They might as well tell you "DON'T SWEAT!" or "DON'T GET GOOSE BUMPS ALL OVER YOUR BODY!"

 

He then goes on to explain how to panic without getting into more problems (which involves various dance steps and Austrian drinking songs), but you'll have to read that yourself.

 

*A Fine And Pleasant Misery 1981

I see I'm not the only cacher that has read Patrick McManus!

[+Harry Dolphin]

Walk with your eyes open so you know where you are and where you've been. So many are in such a hurry to get to their destination and so focused on their GPS screen, that they fail to see what is along the way. If you remember what you've seen just play the memory backwards and go back to your car.

 

Well, you would need to look behind you as you cache. Things look a lot different coming the other way.

Yeah, I did get lost once, about 200' from the road. Listened for the infrequent traffic. That's when I learnt about track-back! Look! The GPS has a track in it! I can follow that back! Even beter, I can hone in on the GPS map, and figure out where I hid the car, and set that as a waypoint.

Yeah., It took getting lost once, to figure that out.

[knowschad]

Walk with your eyes open so you know where you are and where you've been. So many are in such a hurry to get to their destination and so focused on their GPS screen, that they fail to see what is along the way. If you remember what you've seen just play the memory backwards and go back to your car.

 

Well, you would need to look behind you as you cache. Things look a lot different coming the other way.

Yeah, I did get lost once, about 200' from the road. Listened for the infrequent traffic. That's when I learnt about track-back! Look! The GPS has a track in it! I can follow that back! Even beter, I can hone in on the GPS map, and figure out where I hid the car, and set that as a waypoint.

Yeah., It took getting lost once, to figure that out.

Did you find each geocache for the 2nd time on your way back to the car?

[+Chief301]

The main thing to remember if you get lost is DON'T PANIC!

Patrick F. McManus wrote in "The Modified Stationary Panic"*:

I disagree sharply with most survival experts on what the lost person should do first. Most of them start out by saying some fool thing like, "The first rule of survival is DON'T PANIC!" Well, anyone who has ever been lost knows that kind of advice is complete nonsense. They might as well tell you "DON'T SWEAT!" or "DON'T GET GOOSE BUMPS ALL OVER YOUR BODY!"

 

He then goes on to explain how to panic without getting into more problems (which involves various dance steps and Austrian drinking songs), but you'll have to read that yourself.

 

*A Fine And Pleasant Misery 1981

I see I'm not the only cacher that has read Patrick McManus!

 

I also enjoy Pat McManus . I remember reading his stuff in the outdoor magazines at the barber shop when I was a little kid.

 

The thing to remember about panicking is this...panic CAN save your life...as long as you are the first one to panic and you panic in the right direction....

[7rxc]

Get a BIG ball of string.....

I think the actual device is called a yard chain or something, but I can't remember. Pretty much it's a box with a spool of string in it, and it has a counter for measuring how much string is pulled out. My dad has one and when I was 4 the kids from our apartment complex and I got it and made a huge web in the yard.

 

That's funny! I know the device as a 'hip chain'. Related to those pull through gadgets for measuring rope for sale.

 

As for balls of string... That used to be 'standard' advice by non cavers for people setting out to explore a cave for the first time. However, experienced cavers were of the opinion that 'if you can carry enough string to be of any use, the cave isn't big enough to get lost in, in the first place!'.

 

The standard joke was when you encountered someone laying out string from a ball, you would start rolling it up and hand it to them inside the cave saying 'here you dropped this'. No we never abandoned them in the cave after. Rules against littering and fouling the environment you know.

 

Doug 7rxc

[+aurght]

Great thread with lots of on-topic good advice.

 

I stumbled onto a backup navigator by accident.

 

I usually go bushwhacking the wrong way to a cache location. When done I tell the cute house pet dog with me to "go back". He has learned that as a command. To my surprise the little furball goes back exactly the way we came in, retracing every wrong turn. Any dog is apparently a tracker.

 

Take a dog with you.

 

In case you run out of batteries and lose your map and compass and if you can't recognize trees.

[+Ambient_Skater]

I think the actual device is called a yard chain or something, but I can't remember. Pretty much it's a box with a spool of string in it, and it has a counter for measuring how much string is pulled out. My dad has one and when I was 4 the kids from our apartment complex and I got it and made a huge web in the yard.

That's funny! I know the device as a 'hip chain'. Related to those pull through gadgets for measuring rope for sale.

That's the word! Don't know why I couldn't think of it earlier.

[7rxc]

I think the actual device is called a yard chain or something, but I can't remember. Pretty much it's a box with a spool of string in it, and it has a counter for measuring how much string is pulled out. My dad has one and when I was 4 the kids from our apartment complex and I got it and made a huge web in the yard.

That's funny! I know the device as a 'hip chain'. Related to those pull through gadgets for measuring rope for sale.

That's the word! Don't know why I couldn't think of it earlier.

 

This is also funny! I can't figure out why I remember it, my memory isn't always what it could be!

Glad to help.

 

Doug 7rxc

[+sansone]

I use a couple of strategies but let me say when the woods are thick it is easier to lose your way. First, I stop and turn around to see what the way back looks like every few minutes. Second, I look for landmarks that can be seen along the way. In my case a mountain peak is one of my favorites. I try to remain cognizant of where it is (like on my left or walking/riding toward it). If I am not after a specific target and I come to a fork or intersection I always choose the same direction for the day. As in take the trail to the right. That way on the way back, even if you don't recognize the intersection you now to go (left if you went in always turning right). The most important is not to panic and not make multiple bad decisions. For example, let's say you think you know the way back, if unsure, stack rocks or sticks or something that looks manmade, that way when you realize you were wrong you can go back to where you veered off the path. Look around and try to regain your bearings.

 

I spend a lot of time on dirt bikes in the woods. Sometimes it really surprises me when studying a trail map and getting my location I am way off of where I was expecting. I have a favorite route that is 30 miles long it feels like you do all 30 miles heading generally West but is actually an elongated circle. When first timers are with me they are surprised when we get back to the truck because they too felt like we never turned back toward thevway we came. This is because the turns are very subtle. Don't get me wrong, although I don't like to admit I get lost, there are many times I'm not quite sure where I am. These strategies have helped me get home even with out electronics.

 

One more thing, always a good idea to tell someone you plan and when you expect to wrap up. When I have my phone, I usually send the coordinates of my truck and the currect time and a rough estimate of how long I expect to be to my wife's email just in case, that way if someone needs to come find me they have a starting point.

[+captnemo]

Have I ever gotten lost? Sure but only for a couple of minutes.

 

When I was young I used to take off cross country with a backpack and a compass. I knew where I started from and the bearing where I was headed, then went landmark to landmark there and back. Sometimes took a couple of days and I always left word where I was going and when I should return.

 

Since GPS, I mark where I park, most of the time, turn on the track feature, study a map and know what general direction I'm heading. Always carry a compass and extra batteries. More then once the GPS told me to go the wrong way but the compass never lies. I think the most important thing is to stop and figure out what you need to do before you do it.

[+Misfit-77]

I had a situation where my droid almost died while doing some major bushwhacking. I go nervous when the battery hit 10% and had no service on top of it all. I did find the trail in time luckily. The next week I had a garmin oregon and 8 rechargeables in my bag lol. Now I only use the phone for in town soccer mom caches and logging my finds.

If you have a droid look at an app called locus pro. You can download vector maps and other maps for offline use so you know where you are if you go out of service. You can also then turn on airplane mode and dim your screen for extended battery life. I use the razr so a spare battery is a no go, but that's another option if your phone has a removable battery.

[+Scubasonic]

I know some of you guys probably think I'm crazy, but how do you guys find your way back to freedom? I had to call 911 on myself, today because I couldn't find my way out of the woods, there was thorns everywhere, poison ivy, etc. I mean I love geocaching, but I don't wanna quit, because I keep getting lost in the woods trying to find a cache. This is the 2nd time, its happened to me, and I've only been geocaching for a few months.

 

If you are using a hand held GPs you should be able to follow the same path out as you did coming in. Crumb trail

[+The Jester]

Have I ever gotten lost? Sure but only for a couple of minutes.

 

When I was young I used to take off cross country with a backpack and a compass. I knew where I started from and the bearing where I was headed, then went landmark to landmark there and back. Sometimes took a couple of days and I always left word where I was going and when I should return.

 

Since GPS, I mark where I park, most of the time, turn on the track feature, study a map and know what general direction I'm heading. Always carry a compass and extra batteries. More then once the GPS told me to go the wrong way but the compass never lies. I think the most important thing is to stop and figure out what you need to do before you do it.

I know of several situations where the compass could lie. There are places in the local moutains where iron (in different forms) can 'adjust' the arrow to a new heading. I've watched climbers study their compass with the hand resting on top of the ice axe ('gee, why is the axe head always pointing north?'). I've not seen this, but I've heard that the underwire on some bra's can affect the compass if held too close. So watch what your doing and double check that compass reading - and learn all about declination...

[+steenroller]

Another McManus fan here. When I am in the woods I have my dedicated GPS, smartphone, and compass so that I can find a route back to a road if all else fails. In SW Mississippi where I hunt and work you can generally hit a ridge and follow it to a road if you know the general direction. I also have my handheld ham radio with the local repeaters set up in it or my fire department radio so that I can get help one way or the other if I am out of phone coverage. I have been turned around a few times. I thought I was going to spend the night in the woods less than a mile from my house when I got caught without a flashlight. I had my gps and knew the way out but it got dark quick and there were a lot of gullies around. The breadcrumb wouldn't work because I had been mapping a hiking trail coming in and I knew it was to rough to follow in the dark. I finally got on the main trail but I was just about ready to go back to an observation deck on the trail and wait for daylight.

[+captnemo]

Have I ever gotten lost? Sure but only for a couple of minutes.

 

When I was young I used to take off cross country with a backpack and a compass. I knew where I started from and the bearing where I was headed, then went landmark to landmark there and back. Sometimes took a couple of days and I always left word where I was going and when I should return.

 

Since GPS, I mark where I park, most of the time, turn on the track feature, study a map and know what general direction I'm heading. Always carry a compass and extra batteries. More then once the GPS told me to go the wrong way but the compass never lies. I think the most important thing is to stop and figure out what you need to do before you do it.

I know of several situations where the compass could lie. There are places in the local moutains where iron (in different forms) can 'adjust' the arrow to a new heading. I've watched climbers study their compass with the hand resting on top of the ice axe ('gee, why is the axe head always pointing north?'). I've not seen this, but I've heard that the underwire on some bra's can affect the compass if held too close. So watch what your doing and double check that compass reading - and learn all about declination...

OK if used incorrectly the compass can lie but nothing like the GPS which tells me what direction I should head and the compass tells me which way that is.

 

Wish I had known about the underwire problem when I was single; "Honey can you take off your bra? It's messing up the compass!"

[+The Jester]

Wish I had known about the underwire problem when I was single; "Honey can you take off your bra? It's messing up the compass!"

It sounds good, too bad it only happens when SHE's holding the compass too close. I suppose you might get away with "But, dear, the compass says I have to go that way..."

[+OZ2CPU]

ANY equipment can and will fail, so you must evaluete the chance vs outcome if it fail.

 

I say the highest risk for getting lost, I see is smartphones running out of batteries, and no spare avail.

a GPS device run 10 times as long, no joke, this I know first hand, we see this all the time,

with a GPS device you can still read the screen if light is turned off (much longer run time)

a GPS device use standard batteries, so it is easy to bring spares (important for safety)

we use : Iphone and HTC-desire and Garmin GPS map62

most of the time with normal GPS signal conditions all devices works about the same,

BUT when a signal gets weak or reflected a real dedicated GPS device with large external antenna WIN !!

many such tests have been made, and it is well documented, There was a tecnical event with exactly this as a topic in my area,

they let all people bring their devices, and noted positions during a long day at many conditions,

all info was carefully noted and precented, very good job for stopping endless discussions from people who know nothing

but just think their device what ever it is, is the best there is.

 

about how rugged any electronic device really is.

Is very hard to find out by normal users,

you need alot of units, and perform alot of drop tests and enviomental tests,

those tests perform permanent damage to the unit, you need to stress it and breake it, to find out how weak it is.

Look at a smartphone and compare it to any GPS device, it is clear a GPS device must be able to handle

alot more use (and abuse), a smart phone is designed to be in a pocket, inside, or on a table,

not out in the bush, mud or in the rain. compare enviomental specifications.

 

Not getting lost, is not all about thrusting electronic devices, and using them right,

but also a few other things are important.

LOOK at the area, THINK and feel, is this safe ? what if ?

ask your self what can happen here is worst possible thing happen ?

if you come to the conclution, I could die, then you should replan the trip.

[+OZ2CPU]

here is the repport from the event,

sorry original doc is in Danish

http://www.alesia.dk/geocache/event-2012-04-14/rapport.htm

 

here is a google translated version

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=da&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=da&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alesia.dk%2Fgeocache%2Fevent-2012-04-14%2Frapport.htm&act=url

 

if link dont work, then you got google translate, select Danish to what ever you like

and input the first webpage.

[+GeezerGriz]

Mindset is critical. If you panic you're lost. If you don't... you're temporarily disoriented.

 

I've never been lost... but I was temporarily disoriented for a day and a half once in the Bull Mountains of Montana. Oh yeah, also a day in a jungle in Panama and

3 days backpacking on the tundra in Alaska!

 

Use the tips others have passed on above. Be observant. Be patient. Be prepared. Soon you'll be "oriented" and ready for the next adventure.

[+DragonsWest]

Never been lost in the woods, but have been in the woods too deep and too late to get out with daylight. Not a happy thought when you have a dinky flashlight and 4 stream crossings to make. (Yeah, I did get a soaker)

[+Understandblue]

We have a giant and sometimes treacherous greenbelt here that is a blast to geocache in. We get trail deja vu pretty frequently, and sometimes the way we climbed up is not safe to go down, so we have to improvise.

 

I do waypoint trailheads on the cache we initially start for, but because our tree cover is so heavy, we also build cairns or take pics of existing cairns. I geocache with the app, not a GPSr (please don't stone me) so battery is important.

 

It's also extremely helpful if there's something terrifying like a rattlesnake or a tarantula, which happens fairly often, and tends to burn a spot into your retinas My recent encounter with a coral snake has that section of the trail clearly mapped in my mind.

 

The important thing is not to panic when you don't know where you are. Google Maps can get you out of nearly any situation, even if you have to bushwhack.

[+maxx borchovski]

I never get lost, although I have taken a 'more scenic' route back to the car whilst walking.

 

Skills I use before GPS, have a good look at a good map of the area in advance, noting rivers . Remember the sun always goes east to west. Look where you are going and where you have been. People generally live at lower elevations, so always head down hill / down stream. Tell someone reliable where you are going and a rough idea of what time to start panicking. Make sure you have some cash on you. When you hit civilisation, you may be a fair distance from your car, have bus or taxi fare with you and enough for a hot drink whilst you wait for your ride.

 

Also watch a few episodes of Bear Grils, some basic survival skills will always help, apart from his favored beverage perhaps.

[+Totem Clan]

I never get lost, although I have taken a 'more scenic' route back to the car whilst walking.

 

Skills I use before GPS, have a good look at a good map of the area in advance, noting rivers . Remember the sun always goes east to west. Look where you are going and where you have been. People generally live at lower elevations, so always head down hill / down stream. Tell someone reliable where you are going and a rough idea of what time to start panicking. Make sure you have some cash on you. When you hit civilisation, you may be a fair distance from your car, have bus or taxi fare with you and enough for a hot drink whilst you wait for your ride.

 

Also watch a few episodes of Bear Grils, some basic survival skills will always help, apart from his favored beverage perhaps.

Oh Gawd!!

 

Don't get me going on that fake a** lying twit. I spent over 6 years as a SF survival instructor. Trust me don't listen to what he says.

 

Also be very carful about following streams and river. Yes people do live near them and normally at lower elevations but water takes the pathes into cayons and over cliffs than can quickly lead to trouble. Be careful not to get yourself trapped. Following their general course is very good idea just don't let it lead you into something you can't get out of.

 

The best advise if you truely get lost is stay put and wait.

[+OZ2CPU]

we know a good cache day can be MANY hrs,

so what I always check, it to start with fresh batteries, and one extra box with 4 fully charged AA

the set in my GPS are clearly marked with RED permanet marker, so when empty they can be tossed in the box as dead

since the other 4 cells are marked with black ink name, now I take two of the black, and know I still got a fresh set if needed.

Flash lights are a mandetory item, actually I always got two of them in my pocket,

one very strong and powerfull, it last 2-4 hrs, extra lithium cell for this one,

plus a spare extra light, tiny backup type, uses one AA cell,

it is not really cool for caching, but as a backup, so I can see how to change the batt on the strong one

or if the big one fails or is lost somehow, I still got the little one..

Another little trick : add a reflex tape stribe all the way arround items you can drop or loose,

YES, even the most cool dude who really try to always keep all pockets zipped, will drop stuff sooner or later,

flashlights are often BLACK, so they are VERY hard to find, if dropped while turned off !!

adding a reflex tape to it, and wow amazingly easy to find.

 

TURN ON THE GPS TRAIL !!!

and train to use it..

but that is not all, sometimes marking your start point is VERY usefull,

get used to do it, it takes a sec,

it can be very difficult to figure out where on a very long and complex hiking track

on this little screen, where is the car ?? thrust me !!

 

Bring a cell phone, dont use the cell phone for caching, else it dont offer any double safety,

in case you run out of power and get seriously lost.

if you do need your phone as a GPS geocacher device, just bring an old spare cell phone,

many people dont know this : but old cell phones pre-smart phone types,

can be turned on and used to dial 911 or 112

even if there is NO sim card in it !!

and their battery last for weeks,

maybe old stuff you normally throw away could safe your life one day,

put in a plastic bag turned off, tie knot, this will water rain proff it,

charge it once every 2 weeks..

[+bflentje]

I am trying to figure out how you get lost when you're holding a $500 mapping device..

[+Lieblweb]

We always set a new waypoint at the parking area. We try to remember the exact route we came in, but it doesn't always work that way.

[+The Jester]

I am trying to figure out how you get lost when you're holding a $500 mapping device..

No trail maps on device.

No signal (blocked by terrain)

Reflected signal 'moving' you to wrong spot.

Dead batteries.