Lost in the Big Woods

[INTJ]

While I haven't been lost, the mountainous areas of Western Oregon can certainly contribute to that. The Cascade range can be bad enough--miles and miles of big Doug Fir trees and thick brush in lower elevations.

However, the Coast Range is that on steroids. Along with the big trees and brush, there are masses of black berry bushes and ferns to hide the dead falls, rocks, and holes.

One day I was hunting above a clear cut in the Coast Range. On top was a mix of tight timber where the sun didn't shine and more open areas covered in ferns. I was done hunting and just wanted to get back to the truck. Being lazy I didn't want to stay on top and walk the long way back.

I dropped out of the timber to the clear cut and could see my truck parked a half mile away. What could be easier than taking a short cut across a clear cut?

HUGE mistake! The reprod looked short only because the blackberries were so high. Did you know that a knee high blackberry bush can put an absolute stop to your momentum?

Add to that all the big dead falls, rocks, and holes were conveniently covered by blackberries, ferns, and tall grass. It took me WAY longer to get across the clear cut than walking the top to the point I became concerned about the fading light and breaking a leg.

When I finally made it to the truck I was bruised and cut up by the berry thorns. It was at that point I decided hunting by myself may no longer be the best call. At least it wasn't raining that day......

 

[Monte F]

Never "lost" in the woods hunting, but have spent some long days/nights skiing out of the woods in the winter. Knew which way it was to the nearest highway, just took longer than expected due to snow conditions and terrain. Got picked up by the sheriff the first time around 2:00 in the morning walking down the road. Mom had called to have search and rescue look for us, she underestimated our ability to get out alive and well (tired though).

 

[PigButtons]

When I was in the USAF in Galena, Alaska, we decided to take an afternoon winter hike suited up in bunny pants, muklucks, parkas, and elbow high mittens. But at 2pm it is already pitch black dark and the Yukon river flood plain is a labyrinth of sloughs crisscrossed by snowmobile trails. Five of us had headed out in the -25 weather for what we thought would be an hours walk before chow. Three hours later we were in heavy snow fall and no idea where the base was. Compasses don't work up there and even though it was clear when we left out, the snow had completely obliterated any hope of star navigation. Fortunately for us they had started to plow the runway on base and I could hear the plows off in the distance. Another hour later and we could again see the lights of the base on the horizon and another 30 minutes and we were back in the barracks laughing how we had cheated death. Young and dumb can get you hurt.

 

[2506]

I have never been "lost" in the woods because I take note of my directions of where I enter and have known from a youngster of how to read the sun and stars to get my directions, North, South, East and West. I have sometimes not come back to the exact spot on a straight line but close enough to familiar territory to get back to where I need to go. I did get turned around in a HUGE newly made cut over in east NC once while deer hunting. This is flat land and it was a hardwood mostly area that had been cut over. The big tree tops and laps were laying haphazardly piled together in every direction and because of the flat land and these piled high tree tops it was hard to see far enough to get a land mark. As I was still hunting sneaking around I had to make many twist and turns in direction. I came to a point that there was no easy direction to go and it just happened to be high noon with the sun right above. I had to just sit on a log until the sun moved enough west to allow me to find the direction that I needed to go to get back to my truck.

 

[bloc]

While I haven't been lost, the mountainous areas of Western Oregon can certainly contribute to that. The Cascade range can be bad enough--miles and miles of big Doug Fir trees and thick brush in lower elevations.

However, the Coast Range is that on steroids. Along with the big trees and brush, there are masses of black berry bushes and ferns to hide the dead falls, rocks, and holes.

One day I was hunting above a clear cut in the Coast Range. On top was a mix of tight timber where the sun didn't shine and more open areas covered in ferns. I was done hunting and just wanted to get back to the truck. Being lazy I didn't want to stay on top and walk the long way back.

I dropped out of the timber to the clear cut and could see my truck parked a half mile away. What could be easier than asking a short cut across a clear cut?

HUGE mistake! The reprod looked short only because the blackberries were so high. Did you know that a knee high black berry bush can put an absolute stop to your momentum?

Add to that all the big dead falls, rocks, and holes were conveniently covered by blackberries, ferns, and tall grass. It took me WAY longer to get across the clear cut than walking the top to the point I became concerned about the fading light and breaking a leg.

When I finally made it to the truck I was bruised and cut up by the berry thorns. It was at that point I decided hunting by myself may no longer be the best call. At least it wasn't raining that day......

Amen, bro.

I was a JoCo SAR volunteer for several years (before age caught up with me) and I'm familiar with that area.

Before age caught up with me, I'd backpacked and searched in the Kalmiopsis often enough to know how easy it is to get turned around and caught in a labyrinth so dense you could be 5 yards off a trail and not know which direction to go in to find it: if you weren't on the trail, it was somewhere in the RoW (Rest of World).

There are places in our region (JoCo, Jackson, Coos, Curry and Douglass Counties) where the deadfalls, bramble tangles, steeps and dense softwood growths make travel almost impossible, not to mention locating a lost person in them.

Finding landmarks in such terrain can be next to impossible.

 

[1lnbrdg]

Amazes me sometimes at the people that have no idea of compass directions.

 

[mike a]

I did jungle training with the 82nd in Panama. I only got unlost when I got back to the USA.

 

[rayporter]

lost? not sure, yet, but i am 101 miles from the nearest humans. and no one is coming to get us.

 

[bloc]

Amazes me sometimes at the people that have no idea of compass directions.

I wish everyone did know how to use a compass, but alas IMO there are few such people

Having taught maps, compasses, GPS and land navigation for several years to SAR teams, I've learned that there's a bit more to using a compass than might at first be evident . . . as in the devil is in the details.

There are variables that can thwart the unwary. I've seen it happen. I've also witnessed a salesman in an outdoor store (who had a degree in geography, no less) misinform a customer about the proper use of a compass.

To start with, consider this link to Magnetic Declination. It leads to an interactive map showing the lines of magnetic force for the world. Your compass needle will point towards Magnetic North.

The term "Magnetic Declination" refers to the angular difference between True North (TN) and Magnetic North (MN). A single line runs through the midwest in which there is no Magnetic Declination because TN and MN are aligned.

If you are west of that line, the compass needle will point to the east of TN, and if you are to the east of that line, the compass needle will point to the west of TN. ("The declination for Portland Oregon is XX degrees East, the Declination of NY City is XX degrees West.")

Magnetic Declination changes wrt location at any given time.

Magnetic Declination changes wrt time for the same location. That is to say Magnetic North moves.

If you're using a USGS map (we used 1:24,000 scale maps), you'll find in the bottom legend an illustration showing TN, MN and Grid North (GN). MN is what you care about. The older the map, the more the map legend's declination differs from the current declination (because the magnetic pole has moved).

Serious maps (like USGS maps) are always oriented to TN (minor discrepancies discounted). You want your compass and map to be in synch: to do this, you need to know where TN is, and to locate it you have to take into account Magnetic Declination every time you wish to orient your map to the real world.

Cheap compasses lack a "set-and-forget" adjustment for declination. If all you want is to be able to navigate in a straight line, or, for more complicated navigation, you like doing simple math problems in your head and can assure yourself that you can do them by second nature without error, there's nothing at all wrong with such compasses. They work fine and have for a long, long time.

But I want my compass have a Magnetic Declination "set-and-forget" feature. I prefer one like the Silva Ranger, which uses a mirror to shoot and take bearings. Why gamble?

I could go on, but I'll spare the readership.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Mulligan]

I wish everyone did know how to use a compass, but alas IMO there are few such people

Having taught maps, compasses, GPS and land navigation for several years to SAR teams, I've learned that there's a bit more to using a compass than might at first be evident . . . as in the devil is in the details.

There are variables that can thwart the unwary. I've seen it happen. I've also witnessed a salesman in an outdoor store (who had a degree in geography, no less) misinform a customer about the proper use of a compass.

To start with, consider this link to Magnetic Declination. It leads to an interactive map showing the lines of magnetic force for the world. Your compass needle will point towards Magnetic North.

The term "Magnetic Declination" refers to the angular difference between True North (TN) and Magnetic North (MN). A single line runs through the midwest in which there is no Magnetic Declination because TN and MN are aligned.

If you are west of that line, the compass needle will point to the east of TN, and if you are to the east of that line, the compass needle will point to the west of TN. ("The declination for Portland Oregon is XX degrees East, the Declination of NY City is XX degrees West.")

Magnetic Declination changes wrt location at any given time.

Magnetic Declination changes wrt time for the same location. That is to say Magnetic North moves.

If you're using a USGS map (we used 1:24,000 scale maps), you'll find in the bottom legend an illustration showing TN, MN and Grid North (GN). MN is what you care about. The older the map, the more the map legend's declination differs from the current declination (because the magnetic pole has moved).

Serious maps (like USGS maps) are always oriented to TN (minor discrepancies discounted). You want your compass and map to be in synch: to do this, you need to know where TN is, and to locate it you have to take into account Magnetic Declination every time you wish to orient your map to the real world.

Cheap compasses lack a "set-and-forget" adjustment for declination. If all you want is to be able to navigate in a straight line, or, for more complicated navigation, you like doing simple math problems in your head and can assure yourself that you can do them by second nature without error, there's nothing at all wrong with such compasses. They work fine and have for a long, long time.

But I want my compass have a Magnetic Declination "set-and-forget" feature. I prefer one like the Silva Ranger, which uses a mirror to shoot and take bearings. Why gamble?

I could go on, but I'll spare the readership.

Just my 2 cents.

A Silva Ranger has been a faithful companion for for over 30 years.
If it broke today, I would order another just like it in a heartbeat.
CW