Wandering In Circles

Being lost is no fun.  At first, for the experienced outdoors person, they may experience a rush as they anticipate being able to put their skills to use.  But soon you realize that people back home will miss you and be afraid for your safety.  And, being alone wears thin after a while for most people and all you want to do is get rescued and get home.

The old cliche that you will wander clockwise or counter-clockwise based on whether you are left or right-handed dominant has been proven untrue.  What actually happens is that people wander of course without a point of reference.  In one study, as long as the sun was out the participants walked in a relatively straight line, but when it was cloudy or they were in forested areas they walked in circles, even crossing their own paths without realizing it.  When blindfolded, some people walked in loops as tight as 66 feet, all the while believing they were walking in a straight line!  Scientists think that this is possibly caused by the vestibular system in our inner ear not receiving the proper information and malfunctioning in the absence of visible cues.

What this means is that if you don’t have a compass, a GPS or other reference point, you will most likely wander in circles!  So, how do we overcome this troubling obstacle in a survival situation?  Ideally, you will use the sun, which rises in the East and sets in the West for a directional gauge, avoiding travel at mid-day when the sun is high enough overhead that you cannot tell direction.  In the absence of the sun, you can use the moon to travel at night as it also rises in the East and sets in the West.  Night travel is advisable only under certain conditions, such as desert travel or in clear open terrain, as the possibility of falling off a cliff or into a crevasse etc. is greatly intensified at night.  If you cannot see the sun or moon, pick a distant tree, mountain or other landmark and travel toward it.  When you arrive look back at where you came from and line it up with the landmark at which you are standing.  Then, pick a new landmark in the direction in which you are headed as far out as you can see and continue your journey.  Continue to do this all day and when you rest for the night, lay down sticks or draw an arrow in the soil in the direction of your travel so you can keep on the same heading the next day.

Ideally, you will have a small compass on you.  Moss doesn’t always grow on the North side of trees and you are not a homing pigeon so you will need something to help you stay on track.  Preparation is the key to survival and there are small button compasses which take up very little space and even wallet compasses which you can punch out of a card and float in your palm in a little bit of water and which will give you a general sense of direction.  A steel sewing needle, magnetized by either rubbing in in your hair (using static electricity) or by drawing it several times across a magnet at home, can also be floated on a leaf or something to give basic North/South directions.  These items are small and lightweight and you can easily carry them with you every day.

Many people go in circles spiritually.  I like to call it the roller coaster experience.  You start out, go up then down and up and down several more times, even going loop de loop and then end up right back where you started.  It gets discouraging when you realize you aren’t making any progress.  This is why we need the Bible as our map and the Holy Spirit as our guide as well as the fellowship and testimony of other believers and our pastors.  We need to highly value the counsel of those who watch over the spiritual direction of our lives.  It is odd that sometimes, when people are lost, they will disregard the clear direction of their compass!  They are just so sure in themselves that they are headed in the right direction that they actually think that their compass must be wrong!  Are you listening to your compass?  Are you headed in the right direction? Or are you wandering in spiritual circles?

James B.

PS. You can check out my website where you can set up training for many of these skills at www.waypointsurvival.com and look at and order my custom knives at www.benderknifeworks.com.