Bread Crumbs

[BTBoop]

When you go out hiking in an unknown territory do you use anything to flag your way back? Before GPS especially. What did you use to help find your way back to where you started?

 

[YogiBear]

I carry along a roll of red flags and tie them to the branches of trees on the way out. I have always done this since i had an Uncle that got lost and almost went into a diabetic coma.

 

[sherbearski]

I take a compass reading before I set out in unfamiliar places off trail. I always have my compass with me. Old fashioned I guess with all the new GPS technology. I am usually very good though at being aware of my surroundings and knowing which way to get back to where we started. My husband calls me his personal GPS tracker! lol I think here in the rockies and southwest it is more common to use rock cairns than flags.

 

[campclose]

You mean like Hansel and Gretel? I just would crush down trees and leaves so I knew where I was. I don't hike often in areas that I don't know (or at least not by myself).

 

[jloomis]

I occasionally setup a rock pile or break a branch just in case my GPS stops working. I only need to do this if the trail is hard to find or non existent, like in the snow.

 

[Refrigerator]

I use a GPS, Compass and Map and keep tracks or ticks with a grease pencil on my map case to orientate my position approx every half hour. It also helps to stop and turn around and take a good look at what is behind you.

 

[oldsarge]

It also helps to stop and turn around and take a good look at what is behind you.

Excellent point! Especially in heavily wooded ares where your vision is limited. Look beyond the wall of green, notice the lay of the land. Picking out major features that you will notice from a different angle. If your looking at just the foliage, remember, only a few steps to the left or right and it all changes.

 

[IndianaHiker]

Refrigerator and Old Sarge are once again dean on. Never trust finding your own tracks. Piles of rocks can be disturbed and so can leaves and branches. Yogi I am sorry if I have every hikes the same area as you. I say this because if I saw a bunch of red flags tied to trees I would have removed them and threw them in the trash when I left. I practice leave no trace and also clean up after others.