January 2, 2025 • 57 mins
In this vital episode of Shawn & Mike Take A Hike, we confront the reality of getting lost in the wilderness and share actionable advice to ensure your safety and survival.
The conversation begins with an in-depth look at the first crucial steps to take when you realize you’ve strayed off course. Shawn and Mike explore how to stay calm, assess your surroundings, and avoid making the situation worse.
Next, we dive into practical navigation tips, including using natural landmarks, maps, and compasses to find your bearings. Our hosts also discuss techniques for staying visible to rescuers, from signaling with mirrors and whistles to creating makeshift markers.
The episode doesn’t stop there—listen in as Shawn and Mike explain the best practices for traveling in a straight line, deciding when to stay put, and making sound decisions that increase your chances of being found.
Whether you're a seasoned backpacker or a casual hiker, this episode is packed with life-saving advice to prepare you for the unexpected. Tune in to learn how to handle one of the most challenging situations a hiker can face and emerge safely. 🌲
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I'm Sean and I'm Mike and you're listening to Sean and Mike take a hike.
(00:17):
Welcome to another episode of Sean and Mike take a hike.
What are we going to talk about today, Sean?
Today I thought we could talk about how to get un-lost.
Okay, so if you find yourself lost.
If you find yourself lost or you find yourself like off the trail somehow and don't know
where you're at.
(00:38):
Like, look, bottom line, I hope this never happens to anybody and I hope that this is
never like a thing people have to worry about.
But I feel like we should at least maybe touch on it because nobody plans on getting lost,
right?
At least I hope they don't.
Right.
(00:59):
I mean, we're all out to get lost in nature and all that sort of stuff, quote unquote,
like in the abstract sense, like get lost in nature.
But there is a chance that you could wind up off the trail and get turned around and
not know what to do.
So I thought we could share some tricks and tips.
(01:23):
Tips and tricks.
There it is.
Tips and tricks of like what to do in that situation in case it does happen to somebody.
Yeah.
Hopefully if it does happen and it's still daylight and you just, you know, maybe you
found a different trail, you haven't seen a blue blaze or whatever in a while, turn
around and go find the other trail and see if you just took a missed turn.
(01:46):
If you find out that you're in the middle of nowhere and you just completely lost the
trail, then there's going to be some ideas and options for you there too.
Well, and we talked on a different episode.
I don't even remember which one it was at this point because we say so much stuff.
It's hard to keep track of which episode it was on.
But like we were talking about on our first trip when we were up in the Porkies.
(02:08):
Now full disclosure, the Porkies was pretty well marked.
Yeah.
You and I, we just didn't really know.
We didn't know.
We weren't sure what to look for.
We weren't real accustomed to how hiking worked.
And we got to a couple of spots, I remember, where it was like we would stop and be like,
okay, I haven't seen a marking in a while.
(02:30):
Are we still on the trail?
Or we'd come to what looked like maybe a fork.
I would say it was a fork, even though like one was not actually the path and one was
actually the path.
And I remember we would come to those and you and I would both be like, well, I'm going
to take like 20 steps down this way.
You take 20 steps down this way, see if you see a marking, and then like yell to each
(02:55):
other.
Like we wouldn't get so far apart that we couldn't see each other.
Right.
But like that sort of stuff could happen.
Like even your best intentions, if you get to a trail that either you missed the markings
or they weren't marked all that well or whatever the situation is, you could find yourself
off the path.
And then it's like, then you're relying on being able to backtrack, like hopefully looking
(03:18):
back on the path the other way, it still looks like a path that way.
Right.
Or you can see your footprints or whatever.
But you know, I'm just saying it's you might laugh thinking like, oh, I'm never going to
get lost because how do you wind up losing the trail?
But like I'm telling you, you can lose the trail.
Like it can be a thing.
There's been, I mean, even this year there's been reports and things like that of people
(03:41):
getting rescued out of the Yosemite or Zion or something like that.
People have been getting this place and been places where a lot of people go.
So it's not like the trails aren't like damped down and like it's a trail.
So from my understanding, the one that pops into my head immediately, and I don't remember
(04:02):
all the exact details, but it was a hiker.
So it's not just like somebody was out there and got turned around.
It's like somebody went out there to go hiking.
So you know what I mean?
Like I would think any of us that are quote unquote hikers or backpackers, like, you know,
we kind of plan, we kind of know what we're doing, whatever.
And then you got like the general public who winds off on it or wanders off on a trail
(04:24):
and gets lost.
You know, like that's both sad, both unfortunate.
Hopefully it never happens.
But like I think people that do backpacking or do hiking, you feel like I know how to
stay on the trail.
It's, you know, I know what I know what markers look like and I know what I'm doing.
But like you said, several this year alone have wound up lost and needed assistance.
(04:45):
Yep, there's no greater wrong saying or wrongdoing it other than saying that'll never happen
to me or that could never happen to me.
It absolutely could.
Right.
So be so arrogant that it's like, oh, I'm better than that.
I'm never going to get lost.
Like, right.
You and I have been in the situation where it's like, yeah, we might be lost right now.
(05:06):
Turns out we weren't right.
Luckily.
But right, you know, well, there was the one, I don't remember if it was this year or last
year, but we were in the picture grocks and we ended up, we're like, I think it goes and
follows the lake shore more.
So we ended up like climbing over some like downed trees and things like that, little
water crossing.
And then all of a sudden we're like, I don't think this is it.
So we turned back and then we found the right trail.
(05:28):
So right.
Or we had one up in, I don't remember what the lake was that we hiked around, but it
was up in the Huron National Forest where that was the one that we have said, like wasn't
super well marked.
The trail was like pretty defined, but there weren't a lot of markings on it.
But I remember a couple of times when we were on that trail where it's like, yeah, I'm pretty
(05:49):
sure I'm on the path still, but like, I'm not entirely sure because it was fairly overgrown.
Right.
And you and I both made comments like, well, I can hear a road over in that direction.
So like if we're not on the trail, at least if we walk that way, there's a road over there.
Or you said you had seen a car drive by in the distance at one point.
(06:09):
So it's like, okay, even if we're off the trail, we're not super lost because like you can
always at least get to the road and then figure it out from there.
But I mean, I guess maybe I'm getting ahead of myself because that might be one of the
tips.
Like, I mean, if you find yourself off a trail, we'll get to that, I guess.
But like, you know, use your surroundings or like stop, assess where you're at.
(06:33):
Like can you hear anything?
Right.
Like, can you hear a river?
Can you hear a stream?
Can you hear a road?
Can you hear other hikers?
Can you hear boats out on a lake somewhere?
You know, like stop, don't panic.
Yep.
Use all of your senses and then figure out what to do.
(06:56):
Yeah.
So I mean, do we want to get into it maybe?
So yeah, I was gonna say like, I'm looking at my notes here and like one of the methods
that I came across was the stop method.
The stop method is like a big thing that I'm gonna talk about too.
So yeah, yeah.
So maybe this is a good time to get into that.
So like, you want to go over the stop method, like real quickly, and then we can kind of
(07:17):
get into it in detail.
Yeah.
So the stop method, it's an acronym.
It stands for stop, think, observe and plan.
So each of those is one of their its own little steps or thoughts within this getting on lost
process.
If you find yourself not knowing where exactly you're at.
So you know where you're supposed to be, but you're not there.
(07:40):
So
you know where you're supposed to be, but that's not where you are.
So right.
So I mean, just like you said, the stop is you just stop as soon as you realize that
you're kind of not where you're supposed to be.
And then you just open your ears, you take a look around, see if you can find any trail
(08:03):
markings or something that resembles a trail, anything like that.
You tend to just you stop and observe.
I mean, and that's so a I think it's funny that the S in stop stands for stop.
But right.
It seriously like stop, take a minute.
(08:23):
Yep.
Don't freak out and just stop the big thing.
It's staying calm.
That's the thing.
I think it would get real easy to realize that you are lost or or like you said, maybe
maybe not where you're supposed to be.
Like even if you're not lost, you're not where you think you were or you're not where you're
(08:44):
supposed to be.
I think it would be real easy to panic.
Well, yeah, because when you're out, especially if you're hiking in the woods where visibility
is you know, only as good as depending on how thick the woods are.
Right.
I think it would be real easy to panic.
So the big thing, depending on the time of the day, too, like if it's getting closer
(09:07):
to dark and you're coming up to where you should be setting up camp, but you're not
a camp yet.
100%.
So well, and we've all been guilty at one time or another in our lives of like even
if you're not on the trail, right, like even if you're just doing whatever.
Well, I'll I'll just keep going because it's got to be right up here around the corner
or it's just it's got to be up just like over the next hill or it's got to be whatever.
(09:30):
So then like you just keep pushing yourself because we got to be almost there.
So you just keep going because there ain't no point in stopping now and yada yada.
And then you just get more lost and more further away from where you're supposed to be.
So not panicking and stop moving forward.
Like literally stop.
(09:50):
Like stop where you're at.
Take a beat.
Assess your physical and mental well-being.
Yep.
And just breathe for a hot minute.
Like just pause.
Yep.
Yeah.
I mean, that's really no better way to put it that I can think of is just stop and think
(10:12):
and well stop and assess.
I guess you can move on to the T, which is the think part.
Well, right.
OK, so then the T is think, right?
Right.
And you again, you calmly assess your situation and you try again, try to avoid panic because
I mean, panic can cloud your judgment.
(10:32):
Panic can really make you do some things that you probably shouldn't.
So like, don't just take your pack off and start running.
Right.
Which I'll be honest, I can see that being an urge that people would have is just like,
OK, I'm just going to take everything off and I just got to get moving faster.
Right.
(10:52):
Right.
Bad idea.
Well, because if you're lost, good luck finding your pack.
Right.
You know, like you don't know where you're at.
Good luck getting back there.
Exactly.
So yeah, be calm, be rational, think it through.
You'll probably be OK.
But like take a minute and like actual like take your emotion out of it and think like
(11:18):
what is the next step?
What do you need to do?
How do you get yourself not lost anymore?
Right.
Make a plan.
So are you jumping ahead to the I'm not trying to.
Sorry.
So the next one is, oh, so we did the S, which is stop.
We did the T, which is think we did the oh, the oh is for observe.
(11:41):
Yep.
So that's look at your surroundings.
Check things out.
Do you see any trees there or markings or any blazes?
If you know, do you notice like the sun's in this direction?
So I should be headed north or I am headed whatever.
And you know what general direction you're supposed to be in, which way the trail goes.
(12:02):
So then maybe you can meet back up with the trail, kind of take your time and assess that
to see if you can find.
Did you miss a blaze?
It's just, you know, it's 15 feet to your right or whatever.
Well, and I would also include in observe, like this is where you're going to be using
all your senses, right?
You're going to be listening.
(12:23):
Do you hear other hikers?
Do you hear traffic?
Do you hear a river?
Do you hear like that's where you're going to for observe, use all of your senses, not
just your eyes.
Right.
Use your, you know, what else?
What can you hear?
What is around you from where you are standing right now?
(12:44):
What can you see?
What can you hear?
Maybe even what can you smell?
I mean, do you smell a campfire?
Is there a campsite set up somewhere and you smell a fire?
You know, do you hear some laughter?
Do you hear somebody playing music?
Do you hear somebody mowing the lawn?
You know, like any of those things, like that's a good indication.
Okay.
(13:04):
Maybe that's not the direction that you ultimately want to be, but at least, you know, there's
humans over there.
So you can, you know, seek assistance or whatever.
But then another thing that I would recommend like during the O for observe is take stock
of your supplies too.
So like, this is a good time to check.
Like, okay, what's your situation?
(13:26):
Do you got some food rations?
Do you got some water still?
Because like if you got food and water and maybe shelter, if it's starting to get dark,
like all the more reason to stay calm.
Cause like you've got your essentials, right?
You're fine.
Yeah.
You're not where you're supposed to be.
You're off the trail.
You got everything you need to survive.
You got food and water.
Like, okay, might you get a little bit hungry?
(13:47):
Maybe you'll get a little bit hungry, but you don't need to panic immediately because
you've got what you need right on your person to, you know, and like we mentioned in our,
can I set up camp here is you can set up camp if it's an emergency.
If you need to disperse camp, you can set up camp there.
The worst thing that's going to happen is if a ranger finds you, you're not lost anymore.
(14:11):
Exactly.
I could not have said that better myself.
Like, oh no, somebody's coming out to get me in trouble.
But it's a somebody that hopefully knows where they're at.
So it turns out like the worst thing is they find you, you're not lost, or you wake up
(14:33):
in the morning, you've got a little bit more energy.
It's daylight.
You can go reassess your situation, see if you can find the trail, get to where you're
supposed to be.
Absolutely.
Well, and I'll be honest, that's partly because we are getting older and I just can't go that
far.
But partly, that's one of the reasons that I don't like to push our distance so much
(14:55):
when we go every day.
Like I don't want to be getting to camp.
I don't want to be pushing our distance every day so far that we're like having to get to
camp at dark or having to get to where we're going to stop when it's like the sun going
down or pushing ourselves so far that you...
And this is a little bit off topic, but like so you can't take a break when you need to
(15:16):
take a break, right?
Like I don't want to be pushing us that far that we don't leave ourselves a little bit
of wiggle room.
I don't specifically plan it for quote unquote getting lost or getting off the trail and
needing to find our way back to the trail.
But like it's an added bonus to like, okay, if we wind up not getting to whatever milestone
(15:38):
or whatever that we think we're going to get to, because you and I kind of plan like waypoints
along our trip too.
Like okay, by the second hour we should roughly be to this river or whatever.
So like we have those waypoints built in.
If like our three gets to us and we haven't gotten to a river yet, well, okay, maybe we're
(16:00):
not where we're supposed to be.
Right.
We stop, we reassess, like we look at our plan to map and we look at all of that kind
of stuff to just say, okay, like the river should, oh, it's right up around this bend.
We were just a little off on our calculations.
Right.
Like, but yeah, it's there's, you always want to keep checking in with yourself.
(16:20):
Don't just walk in and be like, this should take me four hours.
And then four hours later, you're not where you're supposed to be.
And turns out you're way on the wrong trail.
Right.
So you're just passing where you're at, where you're supposed to be.
Right.
And then I guess you kind of were talking about planning, which so let's get to the
P in the stop method, which P stands for planning.
(16:43):
So okay, so you've stopped, you took a minute to compose yourself.
You've thought about the situation you're in.
You've taken all your observations.
Now you're in a develop a plan.
So based on all of your like sensory input and all of your logical thinking, now what's
the next thing that you're going to do?
(17:06):
You're going to make a plan to get out of the woods or find the trail or get unlaunched.
You're going to figure out what, what your plan of action is going to be and how you're
methodically going to attack this.
With full disclosure, one thing that you can do as your plan, maybe the best course of
(17:30):
action is not moving at all.
Yep.
So like, yeah.
So like Mike is saying, like you're, you're going to make a plan to, you know, walk towards
this sound or walk towards this smell or walk towards where you can see cars driving on
the road or walk to this hill that you can see or walk to whatever.
Right.
So that's your plan.
And if that is a viable option, do that.
(17:53):
Yep.
If you cannot come up with a viable option though, it might be best not to do anything
at least at first.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, go ahead.
Well, I was just going to say like, it's going to come down to the point where you're either
(18:15):
going to start running out of food or you're going to run out of water, something you're
going to have to do a little bit of searching around there.
But if you have shelter, then one of the things in my research that I found out, I found out
or didn't find out, but I found was that one method is if it is a place where you're going
(18:35):
to set up like a little base camp and that is where you're going to start trying to get
out and lost, set that base camp, have something that you can use as a blaze, whether it's
your knife and you just got to carve a little bit into a tree or something like that.
Walk in one direction, mark every 10, 15 feet that you're going in that direction for 50
(18:58):
paces to a hundred paces, however far you want to go and say, okay, well, I made it
this far.
I didn't find anything.
Well, then you can trace your steps back to your base camp.
Yep.
I'm going to like that didn't work out.
So let's go do the same amount of paces in a different direction.
Go keep marking your keep doing your blazes or keep doing your markings.
(19:21):
Go in that other new direction.
If you find something great, you know, you got to where you got to go.
You can go pack up camp and get going or it doesn't work.
Come back to your base camp, reassess, pick a different direction, go that direction and
do the same thing.
If all of the directions that you go doesn't lead you anywhere, maybe you just didn't go
(19:41):
far enough the next day.
If you got the energy, extend each trail, it's going to take you less time because you
don't have to do all of those markings for that first leg of that direction.
So just keep going until you find something.
Well, and I don't disagree.
Like that is everything that you said, absolutely true.
But I guess what I'm trying to say by saying maybe your best course of action is to do
(20:05):
nothing.
If you if you are really lost, right, and really don't have the capability of getting
yourself un-lost in any way.
Okay.
If it's to the point where rescue people are going to be searching for you, right?
Like you are that lost where it is where you were supposed to be at work on Monday and
(20:29):
you didn't show up for work.
And so you're sure somebody's called the authorities at this point, right?
Right.
So you might be best not to be moving around when people are searching for you because
you might be you might be missing each other, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
Like you might be moving into an area that's already been checked and then they might be
(20:50):
moving into an area that you used to be and you've crossed paths now and now like you're
almost making it even worse.
So I guess I just say do nothing as as knowing that that is an option.
Like we're talking about making a plan.
The plan can be if it is so bad that maybe the conditions are dangerous for you to be
(21:10):
moving.
Maybe you don't have enough food to sustain burning that much energy doing all of this
trying to eat yourself out.
Maybe you know there's there are things that could come into play where no plan might be
a good plan.
Well, and I don't want to say no plan.
Like don't be wandering around aimlessly without a plan.
No move.
But like no movement might be a plan.
(21:32):
Right.
Yeah, that's definitely I didn't I didn't think we were to the point of giving up at
this point.
Well, I mean, hopefully we're not.
But I guess I just want it to be in people's heads that like as part of the P as part of
the plan P for plan could be stay put.
Yeah, staying put is a plan.
(21:54):
Yep.
So I mean, that's pretty much the stop method.
Yeah.
So that's the stop.
Right.
Which I think really, even though the other methods or other options, things like that
aren't called the stop method, they all kind of go along the same the same thing is just
don't panic, check your surroundings and try to reorient yourself to where you're you can
(22:20):
either find where you're supposed to be or make that decision to just stay put.
Right.
So let's let's extend the line of thinking.
Let's pretend we've stopped.
We've done all those things.
Right.
Like we'd stop to assess their situation.
We've decided we're not so lost that we need to stay put.
We want to try to figure out how to get to back to where we need to be or at least back
to civilization.
(22:40):
You kind of touched on one of the things already about kind of like marking, making your own
marks to you know, so you're not doubling back on yourself or so you're you know, you
know, if you've already been to this, whatever you're at the great tips.
One of the things I actually thought about while I was doing this research that we don't
(23:01):
take with us in our packs, but I'm like, I wonder if we should is you can buy real cheap
that like tree marking ribbon stuff.
Yeah, I usually have a bunch.
You do put it in your pack.
I don't put it in my pack.
I have it for our property that we have.
But yeah, I got to thinking I'm like, man, it doesn't weigh that much.
(23:24):
It doesn't take up that much space.
I almost wonder if that wouldn't be worth taking with us.
Yeah, it would be so much easier than carving something into a tree or setting up like rocks
and sticks to mark that you already done there.
I was wondering if that would be a terrible thing to take with us.
I mean, it wouldn't be a terrible thing.
(23:45):
I mean, the more and more we do this, we talk, you know, offline about stuff like one of
the things I love about doing this podcast is it gives it makes us come up with new ideas
to for for the trail.
So right.
Yeah, that would be a bad idea to take.
Like I said, I've got a I think bought a roll of three thousand feet of it.
It takes it takes up no space that that roll.
(24:07):
But like I could shorten it quite a bit, you know, just really roll it down to something
else.
But I just feel like like Mike was saying, do something to mark the path that you're
taking so that a you can either find your find your way back to wherever, you know,
your stop point was so you're not getting even more lost or walking even further than
(24:30):
you need to.
But like it leaves it's a way to leave a path behind in some fashion.
You can use sticks or you can use rocks or you could, you know, if it's dirt on the ground
or whatever, you could probably draw with your toes and try to make arrows or whatever
to indicate where you've been.
Or maybe if it's muddy, maybe you can follow your footprints.
I don't know.
But like if none of those are an option, this cheap marking ribbon stuff might not be might
(24:54):
not be bad.
Not a long way away.
Right.
Well, that's why we have it for our property.
We wanted to mark the property lines that weren't marked so well and wanted it to be
brighter color.
So we just got this bright orange ribbon and just tied it around some trees.
Like it's perfect.
So yeah, maybe I'll start grabbing some of that.
(25:15):
Well, and then I get to like with us, you and I.
And here's another thing that I hope most people take with them.
We do take a compass, too.
So like I feel pretty confident that by using a compass, you and I could walk in a pretty
straight line.
(25:35):
Yeah.
Now, that does not going to help us get back to the exact spot that we were when we started
out.
But theoretically, we were already lost when we were at that spot, too.
So I feel like if you could at least walk in a straight line so you know you're going
in one direction and not just going in circles.
That's another way that hopefully you could help yourself get on lost is like make sure
(25:56):
you are going in a straight line.
If you just keep going in a straight line, hopefully sooner or later you will come across
the path or a road or a river or a lake or something.
Well, realistically, I mean, we both have iPhones, but like I mean, even an Android
or any other smartphone out there is going to have some kind of a map app.
(26:17):
So if you have any kind of signal that will allow that app to load, then use that.
Obviously, that's your first method.
For sure.
Look and see what kind of signal you have and if you can get your maps to load.
Or if you've got like a real like a Garmin type GPS device.
I mean, realistically, if you've got one of them, hopefully you're not lost in the
(26:38):
first place because you got a GPS on you.
But if you just find yourself off the trail, hopefully those can help you navigate back
to wherever the trail actually is.
And like Mike is saying, if you've got a cell phone and it's got enough signal, use that
as your reference.
Like, you know, where are you?
Hopefully that'll show a little dot on a map on where you're at.
(27:00):
Or at least pretty close.
Yeah.
And if it doesn't have enough signal to load the map, it might have enough signal to make
a phone call.
And then if you're to that point where you're done, you're you want to be on loss and you
want to go home, then you can maybe call for some assistance.
Well, and even if you're not at the point where you want to give up, if you've got enough
(27:24):
signal to either send a text message or a phone call and you know you are off the path,
make a call or a text message at that point to somebody and just be like, look, it's not
an emergency.
I'm pretty sure I'm OK.
But I am off the path.
I'm working my way to get back on or whatever your situation is, let somebody know that
(27:46):
at this point you're at present, not sure where you're at.
Right.
Yeah.
At least they've got a heads up and they know that if they don't hear from you within the
next 24 hours or whatever, then maybe they need to start.
So they think about sending somebody out for sure.
One of the features that I think most smartphones have these days is usually for the area that
(28:07):
you're going, you can download.
I think they always call it offline maps so you can download maps for the area you're
in that will theoretically work even if you don't have cell phone signal.
Full disclosure, I have never had to use that, so I don't fully understand.
Yeah.
OK, maybe you've got a map, but it doesn't still put a pin where you're at because that
(28:28):
uses GPS, right?
Right.
And that typically uses your cell phone signal.
So like you said, we've never used it.
Maybe we should try just to come back to it on our next trip, which is probably April
or May.
But yeah, we should definitely look at it.
We should try that.
(28:49):
But so hopefully you have a compass and please at least have a basic understanding of how
to use a compass before you go out into the woods.
Even if you have no plan on ever actually using it, please at least understand how to
read a compass.
Right.
And hopefully you have, if you don't have offline maps on your phone or even if you
do, I don't think it's a terrible idea to have a printed off map to take with you.
(29:10):
No.
Hopefully between the two things.
You should be able to find something.
You can find something, right?
There are no abouts where, OK, there's this lake that's a pretty big lake that's supposed
to be up on my right hand side somewhere.
So if I walk kind of straightforward to the right, I should find that.
Like, you know, something like that.
Or this path follows, you know, it's pretty consistently a mile from this country road.
(29:37):
This country road stays to the south of the path the entire time.
So OK, so now I'm off the trail.
If I just walk south for a mile, I should hit this road.
Right.
I mean, like those sorts of things.
Good to know how to be able to do.
Yep, absolutely.
(29:58):
Another thing that we kind of discussed on another one is, you know, make yourself visible,
like where your brain clothing, things like that.
So if people do end up having to look for you, you are able to be seen, create your
visibility with make large SOS things with rocks or anything like that.
(30:19):
If that's if you're staying in your you're staying put and your people are looking for
you type of a thing.
And we always carry our emergency whistle.
So if you are lost, it's not just for when you're hurt.
If you're lost or anything, you blow that whistle.
And if somebody might signal back with theirs to let you know that, yep, you're within earshot
(30:40):
of somebody so you can head towards their whistle or they head towards yours.
So in the whole concept for the whistle, for any way that doesn't understand what the concept
for the whistle is like the whole concept of the whistle is you can blow into a whistle
for a lot longer than you can yell and typically speaking, a whistle's noise is going to travel
(31:00):
further than what your voice yelling travel.
So yeah, you might think to yourself, well, you know, I can just yell for help.
Eventually your voice is going to give out and your voice doesn't carry as far as the
whistle noise carries.
So take a fricking whistle.
They're cheap.
Take one, please.
They weigh nothing and like you said, they're cheap, a couple bucks can go a long ways.
(31:23):
Yeah.
And another, so then another thing that we've talked about is like we keep saying, you know,
hopefully you'll find a river or hopefully you'll find a body of water or whatever.
So for anybody that doesn't know like just basic, I don't want to call it survival skills
because hopefully you're not like trying to survive.
I mean, you are trying to survive at this point, but hopefully it's not that.
But anyway, if you get to a river or lake or river specifically, usually you can follow
(31:50):
a river the way the water is flowing.
So follow a river the way the water is flowing.
Eventually most flowing rivers eventually lead to some civilization.
So it's at least a good thing.
It's like a thing that should be pretty easy to follow and eventually it should get you
to people.
So whether it's a civilization is just a bridge, like a road crossing or anything like that,
(32:17):
you'll be able to find something and then you can follow that road or you might see
cars or things like that.
Like somebody down.
Well, a lake, if you follow it around the lake, eventually you're probably going to
find a boat launch.
You're going to find a little community of houses that have Lakeford property, something
along those lines.
So.
Right.
Or a lot of lakes are, even if you're in the remote middle of nowhere and if you happen
(32:44):
to find a lake that doesn't have any houses or boat launches or anything like that, a
majority of lakes, certainly not all of them, but a majority of them are river or stream
fed.
So then maybe you'll find an outlet where, okay, there was nothing at this lake.
Let me follow this river to the next lake or the civilization or whatever.
(33:06):
So yeah.
So if you find yourself at a lake, walk around the lake for sure.
And the other double added bonus of following about a body of water is at least you have
water now.
Right.
Yeah.
You have a constant source of water.
You might run out of food, but you can go a lot longer without food than you can without
water.
Right.
Yeah.
(33:27):
Yeah.
Whether you've got to boil it to sanitize it or you have to, you've got some kind of
a filtration system.
It's got water or absolute worst case scenario.
If it's been a significantly long time, which hopefully nobody's getting to that point,
but like if it gets to the point where like you don't got a way to boil it anymore, I
(33:49):
mean, it's at least water.
Like it's right.
Maybe is it maybe going to make you sick?
I don't know.
Maybe.
But like it's better than dehydration, you know, right?
Hopefully you're not going to be a lot lost long enough to where you get really, really
sick off.
Yeah.
But right.
So that's kind of the thought with like the waterways.
Now the other thing that you can do to navigate, like if your compass is failing you and you
(34:12):
can't find a waterway, the other thing that you can try to do, which is much harder in
my personal opinion, use like nature as your navigation.
So the sun rises in the east, sets in the west, kind of sorta.
(34:32):
I mean, it does and that's the rule, but like, you know, like it doesn't, it doesn't rise
in due east.
Due east.
Yeah.
It doesn't set in due west.
Right.
So, I mean, that's a little bit problematic, but at least you can kind of get a decent
bearing based on that.
(34:54):
The other thing that you'll hear people say a lot is like moss grows on the north side
of the tree.
I've read that's not true.
It's not true.
That's the problem with that.
Like it's moss grows on the shady side of the tree.
The shady side of the tree in the northern hemisphere is usually the north side of the
(35:18):
tree.
Right.
So I think it is a good rule of thumb to say that moss grows on the north side of the tree.
I wouldn't look at one tree and take that one tree's moss growth as word for it.
You know what I mean?
I would take a consensus of multiple trees.
Yeah.
(35:39):
Well, yeah.
Take a look at multiple trees.
But moss typically needs a wet or moist environment.
Also, it's not just the north side of the tree.
It's going to go where the moisture is at too.
So if that happens to be on the south side of the tree just because another tree is providing
(36:00):
shade or anything like that and that's where it's more wet, then that's where the moss
is going to grow.
So pay attention to other surroundings, things of that nature.
The other thing that kept coming up and tell me if this kept coming up in your research,
Mike.
The other thing that I kept reading that's like you can use the stars to navigate.
(36:24):
Yeah.
I'm not getting more lost in the dark.
That is okay.
Thank you.
I kept reading that.
I'm like, that is such a problematic suggestion because A, I don't want people moving in the
dark.
Right.
If you don't know where you're at, I don't think moving in the dark is the right way
(36:46):
to get unlost.
Well, I mean, again, good luck finding your stuff if you set it down or anything like
that.
We're finding where you originally were lost at.
You know, like, I don't know.
I just, I don't think going venturing too far in the dark is a wise idea.
(37:08):
That's me.
If that could be.
Yeah, I just, I mean, I don't think navigating by the stars is the best idea.
I guess that's all I'm saying.
Like, it might help you orientate yourself at night.
I don't think it's the best.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(37:28):
Don't get yourself more lost if you can help, if you can avoid it.
If it's an emergency situation, then yeah.
So yeah, I wouldn't, I mean, I just, I'm not walking around in the dark.
Bottom line.
No.
I don't think the only thing I like to go walking around in the dark for is if I have
to go to the bathroom.
Now, well, right.
(37:48):
Right.
And hopefully you're not walking too far at that point.
But right.
Or hopefully you have a headlamp or whatever.
I mean, that's all stuff that we talked about back in our gear episode to like, hopefully
you've got, you know, stuff to be able to see at night.
But I wouldn't be purposefully wandering around, especially if you don't know where you're
at in the dark.
Right.
(38:09):
So another tip, like as far as like, let's pretend you don't have a compass and you are
having a hard time walking in a straight line.
Hopefully you've got something to like mark your path so you can like look back and see,
you know, have you been going in the straight line.
But another tip that I was reading about how to walk in a straight line is pick something
like far away, like as far as you can see, pick a specific thing.
(38:33):
So is there a giant tree or is there a rock or is there a hill?
And you can make sure you are walking directly to that thing because turns out people have
just like naturally, like if you were blindfolded, you have a, you can think you are walking
(38:53):
straight but you will actually walk in circles.
Yep.
I don't know why that is.
But you're like, but what you think is straight is actually a circle.
Yep.
Yeah.
I've never understood that either.
But yeah, you will not walk in the straight line if you are looking at the ground, if
(39:16):
you are looking any like, like you said, just pick something that's kind of like your driving
technique you're supposed to look way out in the distance and that'll help you keep
in your lane better type and whatever.
So this isn't a driving podcast.
Well, and unfortunately, like let's face it, the ground is typically not flat that you're
on either.
Well, right.
You do have to glance down.
(39:37):
And it's going to be hard to walk.
Chances are you're not going to be able to walk in an exact straight line anyway, because
you're going to be like navigating hills and brush and trees and rocks and all, you know,
maybe you know, caverns and I don't know, I mean all sorts of things.
So you're not really going to be able to just like walk in a straight line even if you are
(39:58):
following a compass.
It's not going to be a perfectly straight line that you're walking in just because of the
way nature is.
So right, pick a distant spot, walk towards that distant spot.
And then when you get there, pick a new distant spot to walk to.
Right.
And try to keep that is in the straight of a line as the previous spot in the starting
(40:21):
point, things like that.
Right.
Try to keep that going.
Or here's another thing.
Like hopefully, I mean, I guess maybe this isn't a great thing, but like what if there's
is there a radio tower or something that you can see or, you know, like is there something
manmade that you can make your way towards?
Like even if it's something that wouldn't necessarily have people at it, if there's
(40:42):
a manmade something, it probably has a road to it.
Well, I was just going to say there's some kind of a service or access drive or something
like that that goes to that which comes off of a road.
So yeah, try to find that and then you can find your way back to civilization that way.
And like all the while, I guess the other thing to kind of keep in the back of your
(41:03):
mind is like if you didn't have cell signal where you started, if you have a phone on
with you, which I hope you do, or an emergency beacon or something like that, like if you're
getting to the point where you need to activate your emergency beacon or alert somebody, pay
attention as you're going.
Like did you get to a spot where there was signal?
Maybe you didn't have one when you started, but do you have signal now that you can send
(41:27):
a message to somebody?
And this kind of goes back to like the thing that Mike and I always kind of preach is let
somebody know where you're going to be.
Yes.
Yes.
When you're planning your trip, that's part of our planning your trip episode is once
you have your plan, let others know your plan and let them know you'll try to check in periodically.
(41:54):
But if you don't, at least that's where you're supposed to be.
Yeah.
I mean, I just, I really, I really hope everybody has somebody that they can let know.
And hopefully you're not hiking by yourself too.
Like that's another thing.
Like I get it.
Some people want to go and do this by themselves and I'm never going to say a hundred percent
don't do that.
(42:16):
Right.
Hopefully you are not by yourself.
So I don't know, is it better to get lost in a group?
Hopefully it's better to get lost in a group or if you're separated from the group, hopefully
the group will notice right away.
Yeah.
And if the group has noticed it, like if you are separated from your group, that might be
one of those scenarios where it is better to not be moving.
(42:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, use your whistle, use your whatever you've got to like alert your group that,
like, I'm separated from you, you know, like come find me.
I just listened to a whole podcast about the, the Donner dinner party or not Donner dinner
party, but the Donner party.
There's a game we play called Donner dinner party.
(43:01):
But yeah, like out year, is it better to get lost in groups?
Well, okay.
Fair enough.
I mean, hopefully it's not to that, but then again, all the more reason to be wearing brightly
colored clothing, like when you're out on the trail, don't wear your camo when you're
out there, you know, hopefully you have an emergency beacon of some sort.
(43:24):
Mike and I have said before, we do not carry an emergency beacon, but the cell phones that
we have do have satellite connectivity with them.
So I feel like that is a good alternative for us.
Another tip, if you do have a cell phone and you find yourself separated and not sure where
you're at now might be a good time to turn on low power mode on your phone.
(43:45):
Yep.
Um, you know, conserve as much battery as you can just in case.
Hopefully you're not lost for that long, but if you are, that's something I just thought
of too, is if you are traveling in a group and you have the same type of service, like
you and I both have iPhones, other people have androids, whatever, but we have the find
(44:07):
my option.
We both share a location with each other, even if you don't want them stalking you when
you're back at home, share your location with your peers in the woods.
That way, if you do get separated, the find my option, it's, if you have cell phone signal,
you can like, okay, they're in that direction.
Let me head that way.
(44:28):
So and I guess, I mean, if your plan is to move, right?
Like if your plan is to self rescue, I mean, that's kind of what they call it, where you're
finding your way out, your self rescuing, right?
We've talked about like how when we plan, we don't push ourselves to our maximum miles
and we live ourselves a little bit of gap for like time wise and all that sort of stuff.
(44:50):
If you find yourself off trail and not sure where you're at and not sure where to go,
I do not recommend pushing yourself to absolute exhaustion every day, like trying to find
yourself to get back out of the woods, like go a good distance.
I'm not saying like, you know, don't put in a hard day's work, but like, do not push yourself
(45:14):
to the absolute exhaustion point, right?
Because that's gonna have all sorts of other problems that it's going to create, especially
in this situation.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Definitely know your limits.
If you are setting up a base camp and you're going to try to go wander in this direction,
something wander in that direction, know your limits there too.
(45:37):
Like I can go a hundred yards this way before I'm going to turn around and then I'll be
able to go a hundred yards in the other direction.
And if need be, make sure you know those limitations for yourself.
Don't let your ego wear you down, like break you.
Well, and then I mean, I guess that is a good point too.
Like as far as ego goes, if you are real deal lost, right?
(46:02):
Like you're not just like a little bit off the trail and you don't know exactly where
you're at, but like if you were a real deal lost and you have the ability to call for
help, right?
Call for help.
Like, I mean, I get it.
Like it's a little bit embarrassing and people are real reluctant to do that sort of stuff.
Cause like, Oh, I'm sure I can figure it out.
I'm sure if I just go up over this next hill, it'll be fine or whatever.
(46:23):
But like, I'll never hear the end of it.
If I call somebody, I'll never hear the end of it.
Yeah.
Like I'm not going to need rescued or like, I mean, this is not the time to be proud.
Right.
Right.
So while we learned that the one year when we knew our limits or learned our limits and
ended up calling for help and getting out of there.
(46:43):
I mean, and that was a slightly different situation.
We weren't lost.
We were just exhausted.
Right.
Which, like I said, I mean, being exhausted is a real thing.
Like you can get exhausted out there, especially if you're new and you don't know what your
limits are and you know, you think, Oh, well yeah, I should be able to go this far and
whatever.
Like exhaustion is a real thing.
(47:04):
And you and I had a long conversation before we decided to not continue on about like,
Oh, like your wife is going to make fun of you.
My husband's going to make fun of me.
People are going to let us live it down.
But like at the end of the day, it was like, okay, that is all true.
And they did pick on us and they did, you know, rib us pretty good about it.
(47:28):
But at the end of the day, I couldn't keep going.
So like there was no alternative.
I mean, there was an alternative and it wasn't going to be a good one.
But like, right, this is not the time to put your pride as the first thing.
If you need to call for help, call for help.
The other things you can do, like if you have gotten to that point where you have had to
(47:48):
call for help or you are relying on people to find you, we said it 20 times already on
this, but like this is the time if you've got brightly colored clothing, this is the
time to put it on.
Oh, absolutely.
If you've got a whistle, this is the time to be blowing on that whistle period periodically.
If you have the ability to make a fire, it wouldn't hurt to make a fire.
(48:10):
I'm not saying set the whole forest on fire, but like make a fire that you can use as like
a signal fire type thing.
If you've got a flashlight, I don't think it would hurt to have that handy to use at
night if you see a helicopter flying over or you see people walking by, like use that
as a signal in some way.
(48:34):
One thing that Mike and I do not take, but I'm going to recommend people take, take a
signal mirror, like take a little pocket mirror that you can use to signal people with.
I don't think that's a bad thing to have.
It weighs practically nothing.
It doesn't require any kind of power.
Exactly.
Like a flashlight or anything like that.
Yep.
(48:54):
I mean, take some of your, get your emergency things handy, use them for what they're needed
for.
This is the time to have them out if you are not where you think you are supposed to be.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, like you said, don't let your pride and don't let your, I mean, hack wisely.
(49:17):
Don't go throwing free flashlights and like all this kind of stuff.
Don't overdo it when you're packing your emergency stuff, but also just be smart about it and
know like I'm only going to use these things in the event of an emergency or in the event
of I am lost and need help.
It might be, hopefully you don't need them, but at least you have them as a, as a just
(49:41):
in case it'll be the time you don't take them that you end up need them.
Well, and then I guess if I could just revisit like the whole group thing too, we kind of
glossed over that with, you know, the Donner party stuff.
Cause I mean, that is kind of funny, but if, if you are going out hiking in a group, hopefully
you all stay together, but if there is some reason that you are separating for some, whatever
(50:07):
it is, somebody wants to go off on a day hike and the rest of the group don't want to go
or whatever that situation looks like for you, have a conversation about like, what
is the plan?
Hopefully everybody in the group knows what the plan is.
Like, okay, we're gonna, you know, everybody that's not doing this is going to stay in
a spot or, you know, for those that are taking a different path to the next location, this
(50:32):
is where we all plan on being by such and such time or whatever.
I recommend everybody stay together.
Please don't split up.
But I understand people have different methods of hiking and different things like that.
So I'm not going to be ignorant and pretend like this is never a possibility, but having
a conversation with the group.
You run into solo hikers all the time too.
So they're, they don't have a group.
(50:53):
So that's the thing.
I mean, I know people are out there solo hiking.
I think it's, I get the appeal.
I get the appeal, right?
Part of the reason you and I go hiking in the first place is we want to get away from
everything.
You and I just happen to get along good enough that we can get away from everything by going
together.
Right.
But if you don't have somebody in your life that is into hiking and you want to go hiking
(51:17):
and you're a strong minded person, I get going out there by yourself.
You understand it, but you're asking for a lot more, what's a good way to put this?
You're asking for, I don't want to say you're asking for it because you're not asking for
it, but you're opening the possibility of having more problems.
(51:37):
Yeah.
You're, you're, there's, there's more risk involved.
Cause like, okay, so going back to what we said at the beginning of this, right?
When we were on the Porkies that first time, there was two of us.
One of us could go down what we thought was a branch of the trail and another of us could
go down the other branch of the trail until we found what we thought we were.
And we were able to do that because there was more than one of us.
(51:59):
Right.
If you're by yourself, you're only relying on yourself.
You don't have somebody else to bounce ideas off of.
If you and I got lost together, we're going to use the stop method, but then you and I
have two heads to think, okay, what is the best course of action?
Right.
(52:19):
Yeah.
More, the more brain power you have, the better in that situation.
Right.
Yeah.
And, and this is not the time to like argue about what the better idea is.
You know, like, yeah, it's, it's not a time to pick a leader and just follow one person's
ideas.
It's a time to collaborate and, and, uh, I don't know, vanilla, I said it best, I think
(52:44):
it was stop collaborate and listen.
Yes.
Right.
So,
right.
But just, just stay, stay alert to your surroundings.
Don't don't get yourself worked up so much that you were walking into a more dangerous
situation.
Like, don't be, uh, you know, don't be in such a hurry to get back to civilization that
(53:09):
you're throwing caution to the wind and wind up walking off the ledge of a ravine or, um,
you know, don't be trying to wade through a river that is like treacherously fast and
full of rocks or, you know, keep your wits about you.
Be smart about the movements that you make.
(53:30):
Yeah.
And realistically, if you're not on a trail, don't cross the river, follow the river.
Yeah.
You know, that type of a thing.
So, okay.
But then, but I mean, I say that, but then, okay, what if there's a road right across
the river?
Well, okay.
But that's, that's one thing.
But now it's a super fast moving river full of rocks and it's, and you might get swept
(53:52):
down.
So I mean, I'm just saying, follow it in one direction or the other and see if that road
crosses the river.
And this might be a good time to stop again.
Like you can stop more than once and assess your situation.
Right.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Okay.
This is good.
We've got some good signs, but don't just like blindly rush into something without thinking
(54:14):
it through too.
Continuously stopping is also going to help you avoid the panic.
Stop and just think is, is, is going to prevent that the panic from setting in.
If you continuously are just move, move, move, move, move, a wrong move might throw you into
a panic mode.
(54:35):
So if you think you're making a wrong move, slow it down.
Yep.
The assess, figure it out.
And here, here's another thing that I guess I'll just say, just to say it, nothing happens
as fast as you want it to.
Like, oh, absolutely.
You are not going to be magically un-lost in five minutes.
Right.
Right.
(54:56):
I mean, you might be, you might stumble across.
You might stumble across some other people, but like nothing happens as fast as you want
to, especially when you're already kind of stressed out.
So plan on it taking a long time to get un-lost.
For sure.
I've been wanting to bring up the, especially with all the, you know, if you're marking
(55:20):
your, your path with ribbon, if you're having some kind of a signal fire, if you're doing
any of that stuff, do your best to still follow the lead, no trace options.
I mean, the ribbon, you're probably going to end up leaving that out there, but most
of that stuff is pretty, it breaks down pretty quickly and it's not that bad.
(55:43):
If you have the means to go grab some of them, go get it.
But if not, but especially with the fire, I mean, just make sure it's out before you
get rescued, anything like that, or at least it's not going to spread and catch the rest
of the forest on fire and things like that.
Yeah, I hear you.
And I, and I totally don't disagree with what you're saying.
Like, I mean, that is, you know, good, good practice to, you know, leave no trace, pack
(56:07):
and pack out all the things that we talk about on all of our episodes.
I'm going to give everybody a little bit of grace on this one.
You know what I mean?
Like, yeah, I get that.
Just do your task.
Right.
Right.
Yeah, that might not be top of mind is like, Oh, I've got to pick that up.
Yeah, right.
I mean, I will give everybody a little bit of grace if you are lost and you're right.
(56:30):
But still, still try to keep that part of your mind there.
Keep the woods.
So for sure.
That's pretty much all I have other than just like some tips on preventing getting lost.
But we've already kind of covered all of my notes on preventing getting lost.
Like carry your navigation tools, tell someone your plan, where you're planning on being
(56:50):
stay on the trail.
If you, you know, you're probably not going to get lost if you stay on the trail.
But if you lose the trail, then that doesn't work.
Right.
But then be aware of your time if you're losing daylight, things like that.
But but we kind of already touched on all of that.
So I don't really feel like that's worth going into a ton.
Okay, fair enough.
Well, so if anybody has any other tips or tricks that they use that they would like
(57:14):
to share, by all means, reach out to us.
You can reach us on our email, which is Sean Mike Hike at gmail.com.
You can reach us on most of the major socials at Sean Mike Hike or directly on our website
Sean Mike Hike dot com.
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And until next time, go take a hike.
(57:36):
Go take a hike or get lost.
We'll see you guys in a couple weeks.
Thanks, everybody.
See you.
I'm Sean and I'm Mike and you're listening to Sean and Mike take a hike.
(00:17):
Welcome to another episode of Sean and Mike take a hike.
What are we going to talk about today, Sean?
Today I thought we could talk about how to get un-lost.
Okay, so if you find yourself lost.
If you find yourself lost or you find yourself like off the trail somehow and don't know
where you're at.
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Like, look, bottom line, I hope this never happens to anybody and I hope that this is
never like a thing people have to worry about.
But I feel like we should at least maybe touch on it because nobody plans on getting lost,
right?
At least I hope they don't.
Right.
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I mean, we're all out to get lost in nature and all that sort of stuff, quote unquote,
like in the abstract sense, like get lost in nature.
But there is a chance that you could wind up off the trail and get turned around and
not know what to do.
So I thought we could share some tricks and tips.
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Tips and tricks.
There it is.
Tips and tricks of like what to do in that situation in case it does happen to somebody.
Yeah.
Hopefully if it does happen and it's still daylight and you just, you know, maybe you
found a different trail, you haven't seen a blue blaze or whatever in a while, turn
around and go find the other trail and see if you just took a missed turn.
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If you find out that you're in the middle of nowhere and you just completely lost the
trail, then there's going to be some ideas and options for you there too.
Well, and we talked on a different episode.
I don't even remember which one it was at this point because we say so much stuff.
It's hard to keep track of which episode it was on.
But like we were talking about on our first trip when we were up in the Porkies.
(02:08):
Now full disclosure, the Porkies was pretty well marked.
Yeah.
You and I, we just didn't really know.
We didn't know.
We weren't sure what to look for.
We weren't real accustomed to how hiking worked.
And we got to a couple of spots, I remember, where it was like we would stop and be like,
okay, I haven't seen a marking in a while.
(02:30):
Are we still on the trail?
Or we'd come to what looked like maybe a fork.
I would say it was a fork, even though like one was not actually the path and one was
actually the path.
And I remember we would come to those and you and I would both be like, well, I'm going
to take like 20 steps down this way.
You take 20 steps down this way, see if you see a marking, and then like yell to each
(02:55):
other.
Like we wouldn't get so far apart that we couldn't see each other.
Right.
But like that sort of stuff could happen.
Like even your best intentions, if you get to a trail that either you missed the markings
or they weren't marked all that well or whatever the situation is, you could find yourself
off the path.
And then it's like, then you're relying on being able to backtrack, like hopefully looking
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back on the path the other way, it still looks like a path that way.
Right.
Or you can see your footprints or whatever.
But you know, I'm just saying it's you might laugh thinking like, oh, I'm never going to
get lost because how do you wind up losing the trail?
But like I'm telling you, you can lose the trail.
Like it can be a thing.
There's been, I mean, even this year there's been reports and things like that of people
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getting rescued out of the Yosemite or Zion or something like that.
People have been getting this place and been places where a lot of people go.
So it's not like the trails aren't like damped down and like it's a trail.
So from my understanding, the one that pops into my head immediately, and I don't remember
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all the exact details, but it was a hiker.
So it's not just like somebody was out there and got turned around.
It's like somebody went out there to go hiking.
So you know what I mean?
Like I would think any of us that are quote unquote hikers or backpackers, like, you know,
we kind of plan, we kind of know what we're doing, whatever.
And then you got like the general public who winds off on it or wanders off on a trail
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and gets lost.
You know, like that's both sad, both unfortunate.
Hopefully it never happens.
But like I think people that do backpacking or do hiking, you feel like I know how to
stay on the trail.
It's, you know, I know what I know what markers look like and I know what I'm doing.
But like you said, several this year alone have wound up lost and needed assistance.
(04:45):
Yep, there's no greater wrong saying or wrongdoing it other than saying that'll never happen
to me or that could never happen to me.
It absolutely could.
Right.
So be so arrogant that it's like, oh, I'm better than that.
I'm never going to get lost.
Like, right.
You and I have been in the situation where it's like, yeah, we might be lost right now.
(05:06):
Turns out we weren't right.
Luckily.
But right, you know, well, there was the one, I don't remember if it was this year or last
year, but we were in the picture grocks and we ended up, we're like, I think it goes and
follows the lake shore more.
So we ended up like climbing over some like downed trees and things like that, little
water crossing.
And then all of a sudden we're like, I don't think this is it.
So we turned back and then we found the right trail.
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So right.
Or we had one up in, I don't remember what the lake was that we hiked around, but it
was up in the Huron National Forest where that was the one that we have said, like wasn't
super well marked.
The trail was like pretty defined, but there weren't a lot of markings on it.
But I remember a couple of times when we were on that trail where it's like, yeah, I'm pretty
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sure I'm on the path still, but like, I'm not entirely sure because it was fairly overgrown.
Right.
And you and I both made comments like, well, I can hear a road over in that direction.
So like if we're not on the trail, at least if we walk that way, there's a road over there.
Or you said you had seen a car drive by in the distance at one point.
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So it's like, okay, even if we're off the trail, we're not super lost because like you can
always at least get to the road and then figure it out from there.
But I mean, I guess maybe I'm getting ahead of myself because that might be one of the
tips.
Like, I mean, if you find yourself off a trail, we'll get to that, I guess.
But like, you know, use your surroundings or like stop, assess where you're at.
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Like can you hear anything?
Right.
Like, can you hear a river?
Can you hear a stream?
Can you hear a road?
Can you hear other hikers?
Can you hear boats out on a lake somewhere?
You know, like stop, don't panic.
Yep.
Use all of your senses and then figure out what to do.
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Yeah.
So I mean, do we want to get into it maybe?
So yeah, I was gonna say like, I'm looking at my notes here and like one of the methods
that I came across was the stop method.
The stop method is like a big thing that I'm gonna talk about too.
So yeah, yeah.
So maybe this is a good time to get into that.
So like, you want to go over the stop method, like real quickly, and then we can kind of
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get into it in detail.
Yeah.
So the stop method, it's an acronym.
It stands for stop, think, observe and plan.
So each of those is one of their its own little steps or thoughts within this getting on lost
process.
If you find yourself not knowing where exactly you're at.
So you know where you're supposed to be, but you're not there.
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So
you know where you're supposed to be, but that's not where you are.
So right.
So I mean, just like you said, the stop is you just stop as soon as you realize that
you're kind of not where you're supposed to be.
And then you just open your ears, you take a look around, see if you can find any trail
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markings or something that resembles a trail, anything like that.
You tend to just you stop and observe.
I mean, and that's so a I think it's funny that the S in stop stands for stop.
But right.
It seriously like stop, take a minute.
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Yep.
Don't freak out and just stop the big thing.
It's staying calm.
That's the thing.
I think it would get real easy to realize that you are lost or or like you said, maybe
maybe not where you're supposed to be.
Like even if you're not lost, you're not where you think you were or you're not where you're
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supposed to be.
I think it would be real easy to panic.
Well, yeah, because when you're out, especially if you're hiking in the woods where visibility
is you know, only as good as depending on how thick the woods are.
Right.
I think it would be real easy to panic.
So the big thing, depending on the time of the day, too, like if it's getting closer
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to dark and you're coming up to where you should be setting up camp, but you're not
a camp yet.
100%.
So well, and we've all been guilty at one time or another in our lives of like even
if you're not on the trail, right, like even if you're just doing whatever.
Well, I'll I'll just keep going because it's got to be right up here around the corner
or it's just it's got to be up just like over the next hill or it's got to be whatever.
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So then like you just keep pushing yourself because we got to be almost there.
So you just keep going because there ain't no point in stopping now and yada yada.
And then you just get more lost and more further away from where you're supposed to be.
So not panicking and stop moving forward.
Like literally stop.
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Like stop where you're at.
Take a beat.
Assess your physical and mental well-being.
Yep.
And just breathe for a hot minute.
Like just pause.
Yep.
Yeah.
I mean, that's really no better way to put it that I can think of is just stop and think
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and well stop and assess.
I guess you can move on to the T, which is the think part.
Well, right.
OK, so then the T is think, right?
Right.
And you again, you calmly assess your situation and you try again, try to avoid panic because
I mean, panic can cloud your judgment.
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Panic can really make you do some things that you probably shouldn't.
So like, don't just take your pack off and start running.
Right.
Which I'll be honest, I can see that being an urge that people would have is just like,
OK, I'm just going to take everything off and I just got to get moving faster.
Right.
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Right.
Bad idea.
Well, because if you're lost, good luck finding your pack.
Right.
You know, like you don't know where you're at.
Good luck getting back there.
Exactly.
So yeah, be calm, be rational, think it through.
You'll probably be OK.
But like take a minute and like actual like take your emotion out of it and think like
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what is the next step?
What do you need to do?
How do you get yourself not lost anymore?
Right.
Make a plan.
So are you jumping ahead to the I'm not trying to.
Sorry.
So the next one is, oh, so we did the S, which is stop.
We did the T, which is think we did the oh, the oh is for observe.
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Yep.
So that's look at your surroundings.
Check things out.
Do you see any trees there or markings or any blazes?
If you know, do you notice like the sun's in this direction?
So I should be headed north or I am headed whatever.
And you know what general direction you're supposed to be in, which way the trail goes.
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So then maybe you can meet back up with the trail, kind of take your time and assess that
to see if you can find.
Did you miss a blaze?
It's just, you know, it's 15 feet to your right or whatever.
Well, and I would also include in observe, like this is where you're going to be using
all your senses, right?
You're going to be listening.
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Do you hear other hikers?
Do you hear traffic?
Do you hear a river?
Do you hear like that's where you're going to for observe, use all of your senses, not
just your eyes.
Right.
Use your, you know, what else?
What can you hear?
What is around you from where you are standing right now?
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What can you see?
What can you hear?
Maybe even what can you smell?
I mean, do you smell a campfire?
Is there a campsite set up somewhere and you smell a fire?
You know, do you hear some laughter?
Do you hear somebody playing music?
Do you hear somebody mowing the lawn?
You know, like any of those things, like that's a good indication.
Okay.
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Maybe that's not the direction that you ultimately want to be, but at least, you know, there's
humans over there.
So you can, you know, seek assistance or whatever.
But then another thing that I would recommend like during the O for observe is take stock
of your supplies too.
So like, this is a good time to check.
Like, okay, what's your situation?
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Do you got some food rations?
Do you got some water still?
Because like if you got food and water and maybe shelter, if it's starting to get dark,
like all the more reason to stay calm.
Cause like you've got your essentials, right?
You're fine.
Yeah.
You're not where you're supposed to be.
You're off the trail.
You got everything you need to survive.
You got food and water.
Like, okay, might you get a little bit hungry?
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Maybe you'll get a little bit hungry, but you don't need to panic immediately because
you've got what you need right on your person to, you know, and like we mentioned in our,
can I set up camp here is you can set up camp if it's an emergency.
If you need to disperse camp, you can set up camp there.
The worst thing that's going to happen is if a ranger finds you, you're not lost anymore.
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Exactly.
I could not have said that better myself.
Like, oh no, somebody's coming out to get me in trouble.
But it's a somebody that hopefully knows where they're at.
So it turns out like the worst thing is they find you, you're not lost, or you wake up
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in the morning, you've got a little bit more energy.
It's daylight.
You can go reassess your situation, see if you can find the trail, get to where you're
supposed to be.
Absolutely.
Well, and I'll be honest, that's partly because we are getting older and I just can't go that
far.
But partly, that's one of the reasons that I don't like to push our distance so much
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when we go every day.
Like I don't want to be getting to camp.
I don't want to be pushing our distance every day so far that we're like having to get to
camp at dark or having to get to where we're going to stop when it's like the sun going
down or pushing ourselves so far that you...
And this is a little bit off topic, but like so you can't take a break when you need to
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take a break, right?
Like I don't want to be pushing us that far that we don't leave ourselves a little bit
of wiggle room.
I don't specifically plan it for quote unquote getting lost or getting off the trail and
needing to find our way back to the trail.
But like it's an added bonus to like, okay, if we wind up not getting to whatever milestone
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or whatever that we think we're going to get to, because you and I kind of plan like waypoints
along our trip too.
Like okay, by the second hour we should roughly be to this river or whatever.
So like we have those waypoints built in.
If like our three gets to us and we haven't gotten to a river yet, well, okay, maybe we're
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not where we're supposed to be.
Right.
We stop, we reassess, like we look at our plan to map and we look at all of that kind
of stuff to just say, okay, like the river should, oh, it's right up around this bend.
We were just a little off on our calculations.
Right.
Like, but yeah, it's there's, you always want to keep checking in with yourself.
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Don't just walk in and be like, this should take me four hours.
And then four hours later, you're not where you're supposed to be.
And turns out you're way on the wrong trail.
Right.
So you're just passing where you're at, where you're supposed to be.
Right.
And then I guess you kind of were talking about planning, which so let's get to the
P in the stop method, which P stands for planning.
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So okay, so you've stopped, you took a minute to compose yourself.
You've thought about the situation you're in.
You've taken all your observations.
Now you're in a develop a plan.
So based on all of your like sensory input and all of your logical thinking, now what's
the next thing that you're going to do?
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You're going to make a plan to get out of the woods or find the trail or get unlaunched.
You're going to figure out what, what your plan of action is going to be and how you're
methodically going to attack this.
With full disclosure, one thing that you can do as your plan, maybe the best course of
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action is not moving at all.
Yep.
So like, yeah.
So like Mike is saying, like you're, you're going to make a plan to, you know, walk towards
this sound or walk towards this smell or walk towards where you can see cars driving on
the road or walk to this hill that you can see or walk to whatever.
Right.
So that's your plan.
And if that is a viable option, do that.
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Yep.
If you cannot come up with a viable option though, it might be best not to do anything
at least at first.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, go ahead.
Well, I was just going to say like, it's going to come down to the point where you're either
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going to start running out of food or you're going to run out of water, something you're
going to have to do a little bit of searching around there.
But if you have shelter, then one of the things in my research that I found out, I found out
or didn't find out, but I found was that one method is if it is a place where you're going
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to set up like a little base camp and that is where you're going to start trying to get
out and lost, set that base camp, have something that you can use as a blaze, whether it's
your knife and you just got to carve a little bit into a tree or something like that.
Walk in one direction, mark every 10, 15 feet that you're going in that direction for 50
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paces to a hundred paces, however far you want to go and say, okay, well, I made it
this far.
I didn't find anything.
Well, then you can trace your steps back to your base camp.
Yep.
I'm going to like that didn't work out.
So let's go do the same amount of paces in a different direction.
Go keep marking your keep doing your blazes or keep doing your markings.
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Go in that other new direction.
If you find something great, you know, you got to where you got to go.
You can go pack up camp and get going or it doesn't work.
Come back to your base camp, reassess, pick a different direction, go that direction and
do the same thing.
If all of the directions that you go doesn't lead you anywhere, maybe you just didn't go
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far enough the next day.
If you got the energy, extend each trail, it's going to take you less time because you
don't have to do all of those markings for that first leg of that direction.
So just keep going until you find something.
Well, and I don't disagree.
Like that is everything that you said, absolutely true.
But I guess what I'm trying to say by saying maybe your best course of action is to do
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nothing.
If you if you are really lost, right, and really don't have the capability of getting
yourself un-lost in any way.
Okay.
If it's to the point where rescue people are going to be searching for you, right?
Like you are that lost where it is where you were supposed to be at work on Monday and
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you didn't show up for work.
And so you're sure somebody's called the authorities at this point, right?
Right.
So you might be best not to be moving around when people are searching for you because
you might be you might be missing each other, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
Like you might be moving into an area that's already been checked and then they might be
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moving into an area that you used to be and you've crossed paths now and now like you're
almost making it even worse.
So I guess I just say do nothing as as knowing that that is an option.
Like we're talking about making a plan.
The plan can be if it is so bad that maybe the conditions are dangerous for you to be
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moving.
Maybe you don't have enough food to sustain burning that much energy doing all of this
trying to eat yourself out.
Maybe you know there's there are things that could come into play where no plan might be
a good plan.
Well, and I don't want to say no plan.
Like don't be wandering around aimlessly without a plan.
No move.
But like no movement might be a plan.
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Right.
Yeah, that's definitely I didn't I didn't think we were to the point of giving up at
this point.
Well, I mean, hopefully we're not.
But I guess I just want it to be in people's heads that like as part of the P as part of
the plan P for plan could be stay put.
Yeah, staying put is a plan.
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Yep.
So I mean, that's pretty much the stop method.
Yeah.
So that's the stop.
Right.
Which I think really, even though the other methods or other options, things like that
aren't called the stop method, they all kind of go along the same the same thing is just
don't panic, check your surroundings and try to reorient yourself to where you're you can
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either find where you're supposed to be or make that decision to just stay put.
Right.
So let's let's extend the line of thinking.
Let's pretend we've stopped.
We've done all those things.
Right.
Like we'd stop to assess their situation.
We've decided we're not so lost that we need to stay put.
We want to try to figure out how to get to back to where we need to be or at least back
to civilization.
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You kind of touched on one of the things already about kind of like marking, making your own
marks to you know, so you're not doubling back on yourself or so you're you know, you
know, if you've already been to this, whatever you're at the great tips.
One of the things I actually thought about while I was doing this research that we don't
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take with us in our packs, but I'm like, I wonder if we should is you can buy real cheap
that like tree marking ribbon stuff.
Yeah, I usually have a bunch.
You do put it in your pack.
I don't put it in my pack.
I have it for our property that we have.
But yeah, I got to thinking I'm like, man, it doesn't weigh that much.
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It doesn't take up that much space.
I almost wonder if that wouldn't be worth taking with us.
Yeah, it would be so much easier than carving something into a tree or setting up like rocks
and sticks to mark that you already done there.
I was wondering if that would be a terrible thing to take with us.
I mean, it wouldn't be a terrible thing.
(23:45):
I mean, the more and more we do this, we talk, you know, offline about stuff like one of
the things I love about doing this podcast is it gives it makes us come up with new ideas
to for for the trail.
So right.
Yeah, that would be a bad idea to take.
Like I said, I've got a I think bought a roll of three thousand feet of it.
It takes it takes up no space that that roll.
(24:07):
But like I could shorten it quite a bit, you know, just really roll it down to something
else.
But I just feel like like Mike was saying, do something to mark the path that you're
taking so that a you can either find your find your way back to wherever, you know,
your stop point was so you're not getting even more lost or walking even further than
(24:30):
you need to.
But like it leaves it's a way to leave a path behind in some fashion.
You can use sticks or you can use rocks or you could, you know, if it's dirt on the ground
or whatever, you could probably draw with your toes and try to make arrows or whatever
to indicate where you've been.
Or maybe if it's muddy, maybe you can follow your footprints.
I don't know.
But like if none of those are an option, this cheap marking ribbon stuff might not be might
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not be bad.
Not a long way away.
Right.
Well, that's why we have it for our property.
We wanted to mark the property lines that weren't marked so well and wanted it to be
brighter color.
So we just got this bright orange ribbon and just tied it around some trees.
Like it's perfect.
So yeah, maybe I'll start grabbing some of that.
(25:15):
Well, and then I get to like with us, you and I.
And here's another thing that I hope most people take with them.
We do take a compass, too.
So like I feel pretty confident that by using a compass, you and I could walk in a pretty
straight line.
(25:35):
Yeah.
Now, that does not going to help us get back to the exact spot that we were when we started
out.
But theoretically, we were already lost when we were at that spot, too.
So I feel like if you could at least walk in a straight line so you know you're going
in one direction and not just going in circles.
That's another way that hopefully you could help yourself get on lost is like make sure
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you are going in a straight line.
If you just keep going in a straight line, hopefully sooner or later you will come across
the path or a road or a river or a lake or something.
Well, realistically, I mean, we both have iPhones, but like I mean, even an Android
or any other smartphone out there is going to have some kind of a map app.
(26:17):
So if you have any kind of signal that will allow that app to load, then use that.
Obviously, that's your first method.
For sure.
Look and see what kind of signal you have and if you can get your maps to load.
Or if you've got like a real like a Garmin type GPS device.
I mean, realistically, if you've got one of them, hopefully you're not lost in the
(26:38):
first place because you got a GPS on you.
But if you just find yourself off the trail, hopefully those can help you navigate back
to wherever the trail actually is.
And like Mike is saying, if you've got a cell phone and it's got enough signal, use that
as your reference.
Like, you know, where are you?
Hopefully that'll show a little dot on a map on where you're at.
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Or at least pretty close.
Yeah.
And if it doesn't have enough signal to load the map, it might have enough signal to make
a phone call.
And then if you're to that point where you're done, you're you want to be on loss and you
want to go home, then you can maybe call for some assistance.
Well, and even if you're not at the point where you want to give up, if you've got enough
(27:24):
signal to either send a text message or a phone call and you know you are off the path,
make a call or a text message at that point to somebody and just be like, look, it's not
an emergency.
I'm pretty sure I'm OK.
But I am off the path.
I'm working my way to get back on or whatever your situation is, let somebody know that
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at this point you're at present, not sure where you're at.
Right.
Yeah.
At least they've got a heads up and they know that if they don't hear from you within the
next 24 hours or whatever, then maybe they need to start.
So they think about sending somebody out for sure.
One of the features that I think most smartphones have these days is usually for the area that
(28:07):
you're going, you can download.
I think they always call it offline maps so you can download maps for the area you're
in that will theoretically work even if you don't have cell phone signal.
Full disclosure, I have never had to use that, so I don't fully understand.
Yeah.
OK, maybe you've got a map, but it doesn't still put a pin where you're at because that
(28:28):
uses GPS, right?
Right.
And that typically uses your cell phone signal.
So like you said, we've never used it.
Maybe we should try just to come back to it on our next trip, which is probably April
or May.
But yeah, we should definitely look at it.
We should try that.
(28:49):
But so hopefully you have a compass and please at least have a basic understanding of how
to use a compass before you go out into the woods.
Even if you have no plan on ever actually using it, please at least understand how to
read a compass.
Right.
And hopefully you have, if you don't have offline maps on your phone or even if you
do, I don't think it's a terrible idea to have a printed off map to take with you.
(29:10):
No.
Hopefully between the two things.
You should be able to find something.
You can find something, right?
There are no abouts where, OK, there's this lake that's a pretty big lake that's supposed
to be up on my right hand side somewhere.
So if I walk kind of straightforward to the right, I should find that.
Like, you know, something like that.
Or this path follows, you know, it's pretty consistently a mile from this country road.
(29:37):
This country road stays to the south of the path the entire time.
So OK, so now I'm off the trail.
If I just walk south for a mile, I should hit this road.
Right.
I mean, like those sorts of things.
Good to know how to be able to do.
Yep, absolutely.
(29:58):
Another thing that we kind of discussed on another one is, you know, make yourself visible,
like where your brain clothing, things like that.
So if people do end up having to look for you, you are able to be seen, create your
visibility with make large SOS things with rocks or anything like that.
(30:19):
If that's if you're staying in your you're staying put and your people are looking for
you type of a thing.
And we always carry our emergency whistle.
So if you are lost, it's not just for when you're hurt.
If you're lost or anything, you blow that whistle.
And if somebody might signal back with theirs to let you know that, yep, you're within earshot
(30:40):
of somebody so you can head towards their whistle or they head towards yours.
So in the whole concept for the whistle, for any way that doesn't understand what the concept
for the whistle is like the whole concept of the whistle is you can blow into a whistle
for a lot longer than you can yell and typically speaking, a whistle's noise is going to travel
(31:00):
further than what your voice yelling travel.
So yeah, you might think to yourself, well, you know, I can just yell for help.
Eventually your voice is going to give out and your voice doesn't carry as far as the
whistle noise carries.
So take a fricking whistle.
They're cheap.
Take one, please.
They weigh nothing and like you said, they're cheap, a couple bucks can go a long ways.
(31:23):
Yeah.
And another, so then another thing that we've talked about is like we keep saying, you know,
hopefully you'll find a river or hopefully you'll find a body of water or whatever.
So for anybody that doesn't know like just basic, I don't want to call it survival skills
because hopefully you're not like trying to survive.
I mean, you are trying to survive at this point, but hopefully it's not that.
But anyway, if you get to a river or lake or river specifically, usually you can follow
(31:50):
a river the way the water is flowing.
So follow a river the way the water is flowing.
Eventually most flowing rivers eventually lead to some civilization.
So it's at least a good thing.
It's like a thing that should be pretty easy to follow and eventually it should get you
to people.
So whether it's a civilization is just a bridge, like a road crossing or anything like that,
(32:17):
you'll be able to find something and then you can follow that road or you might see
cars or things like that.
Like somebody down.
Well, a lake, if you follow it around the lake, eventually you're probably going to
find a boat launch.
You're going to find a little community of houses that have Lakeford property, something
along those lines.
So.
Right.
Or a lot of lakes are, even if you're in the remote middle of nowhere and if you happen
(32:44):
to find a lake that doesn't have any houses or boat launches or anything like that, a
majority of lakes, certainly not all of them, but a majority of them are river or stream
fed.
So then maybe you'll find an outlet where, okay, there was nothing at this lake.
Let me follow this river to the next lake or the civilization or whatever.
(33:06):
So yeah.
So if you find yourself at a lake, walk around the lake for sure.
And the other double added bonus of following about a body of water is at least you have
water now.
Right.
Yeah.
You have a constant source of water.
You might run out of food, but you can go a lot longer without food than you can without
water.
Right.
Yeah.
(33:27):
Yeah.
Whether you've got to boil it to sanitize it or you have to, you've got some kind of
a filtration system.
It's got water or absolute worst case scenario.
If it's been a significantly long time, which hopefully nobody's getting to that point,
but like if it gets to the point where like you don't got a way to boil it anymore, I
(33:49):
mean, it's at least water.
Like it's right.
Maybe is it maybe going to make you sick?
I don't know.
Maybe.
But like it's better than dehydration, you know, right?
Hopefully you're not going to be a lot lost long enough to where you get really, really
sick off.
Yeah.
But right.
So that's kind of the thought with like the waterways.
Now the other thing that you can do to navigate, like if your compass is failing you and you
(34:12):
can't find a waterway, the other thing that you can try to do, which is much harder in
my personal opinion, use like nature as your navigation.
So the sun rises in the east, sets in the west, kind of sorta.
(34:32):
I mean, it does and that's the rule, but like, you know, like it doesn't, it doesn't rise
in due east.
Due east.
Yeah.
It doesn't set in due west.
Right.
So, I mean, that's a little bit problematic, but at least you can kind of get a decent
bearing based on that.
(34:54):
The other thing that you'll hear people say a lot is like moss grows on the north side
of the tree.
I've read that's not true.
It's not true.
That's the problem with that.
Like it's moss grows on the shady side of the tree.
The shady side of the tree in the northern hemisphere is usually the north side of the
(35:18):
tree.
Right.
So I think it is a good rule of thumb to say that moss grows on the north side of the tree.
I wouldn't look at one tree and take that one tree's moss growth as word for it.
You know what I mean?
I would take a consensus of multiple trees.
Yeah.
(35:39):
Well, yeah.
Take a look at multiple trees.
But moss typically needs a wet or moist environment.
Also, it's not just the north side of the tree.
It's going to go where the moisture is at too.
So if that happens to be on the south side of the tree just because another tree is providing
(36:00):
shade or anything like that and that's where it's more wet, then that's where the moss
is going to grow.
So pay attention to other surroundings, things of that nature.
The other thing that kept coming up and tell me if this kept coming up in your research,
Mike.
The other thing that I kept reading that's like you can use the stars to navigate.
(36:24):
Yeah.
I'm not getting more lost in the dark.
That is okay.
Thank you.
I kept reading that.
I'm like, that is such a problematic suggestion because A, I don't want people moving in the
dark.
Right.
If you don't know where you're at, I don't think moving in the dark is the right way
(36:46):
to get unlost.
Well, I mean, again, good luck finding your stuff if you set it down or anything like
that.
We're finding where you originally were lost at.
You know, like, I don't know.
I just, I don't think going venturing too far in the dark is a wise idea.
(37:08):
That's me.
If that could be.
Yeah, I just, I mean, I don't think navigating by the stars is the best idea.
I guess that's all I'm saying.
Like, it might help you orientate yourself at night.
I don't think it's the best.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(37:28):
Don't get yourself more lost if you can help, if you can avoid it.
If it's an emergency situation, then yeah.
So yeah, I wouldn't, I mean, I just, I'm not walking around in the dark.
Bottom line.
No.
I don't think the only thing I like to go walking around in the dark for is if I have
to go to the bathroom.
Now, well, right.
(37:48):
Right.
And hopefully you're not walking too far at that point.
But right.
Or hopefully you have a headlamp or whatever.
I mean, that's all stuff that we talked about back in our gear episode to like, hopefully
you've got, you know, stuff to be able to see at night.
But I wouldn't be purposefully wandering around, especially if you don't know where you're
at in the dark.
Right.
(38:09):
So another tip, like as far as like, let's pretend you don't have a compass and you are
having a hard time walking in a straight line.
Hopefully you've got something to like mark your path so you can like look back and see,
you know, have you been going in the straight line.
But another tip that I was reading about how to walk in a straight line is pick something
like far away, like as far as you can see, pick a specific thing.
(38:33):
So is there a giant tree or is there a rock or is there a hill?
And you can make sure you are walking directly to that thing because turns out people have
just like naturally, like if you were blindfolded, you have a, you can think you are walking
(38:53):
straight but you will actually walk in circles.
Yep.
I don't know why that is.
But you're like, but what you think is straight is actually a circle.
Yep.
Yeah.
I've never understood that either.
But yeah, you will not walk in the straight line if you are looking at the ground, if
(39:16):
you are looking any like, like you said, just pick something that's kind of like your driving
technique you're supposed to look way out in the distance and that'll help you keep
in your lane better type and whatever.
So this isn't a driving podcast.
Well, and unfortunately, like let's face it, the ground is typically not flat that you're
on either.
Well, right.
You do have to glance down.
(39:37):
And it's going to be hard to walk.
Chances are you're not going to be able to walk in an exact straight line anyway, because
you're going to be like navigating hills and brush and trees and rocks and all, you know,
maybe you know, caverns and I don't know, I mean all sorts of things.
So you're not really going to be able to just like walk in a straight line even if you are
(39:58):
following a compass.
It's not going to be a perfectly straight line that you're walking in just because of the
way nature is.
So right, pick a distant spot, walk towards that distant spot.
And then when you get there, pick a new distant spot to walk to.
Right.
And try to keep that is in the straight of a line as the previous spot in the starting
(40:21):
point, things like that.
Right.
Try to keep that going.
Or here's another thing.
Like hopefully, I mean, I guess maybe this isn't a great thing, but like what if there's
is there a radio tower or something that you can see or, you know, like is there something
manmade that you can make your way towards?
Like even if it's something that wouldn't necessarily have people at it, if there's
(40:42):
a manmade something, it probably has a road to it.
Well, I was just going to say there's some kind of a service or access drive or something
like that that goes to that which comes off of a road.
So yeah, try to find that and then you can find your way back to civilization that way.
And like all the while, I guess the other thing to kind of keep in the back of your
(41:03):
mind is like if you didn't have cell signal where you started, if you have a phone on
with you, which I hope you do, or an emergency beacon or something like that, like if you're
getting to the point where you need to activate your emergency beacon or alert somebody, pay
attention as you're going.
Like did you get to a spot where there was signal?
Maybe you didn't have one when you started, but do you have signal now that you can send
(41:27):
a message to somebody?
And this kind of goes back to like the thing that Mike and I always kind of preach is let
somebody know where you're going to be.
Yes.
Yes.
When you're planning your trip, that's part of our planning your trip episode is once
you have your plan, let others know your plan and let them know you'll try to check in periodically.
(41:54):
But if you don't, at least that's where you're supposed to be.
Yeah.
I mean, I just, I really, I really hope everybody has somebody that they can let know.
And hopefully you're not hiking by yourself too.
Like that's another thing.
Like I get it.
Some people want to go and do this by themselves and I'm never going to say a hundred percent
don't do that.
(42:16):
Right.
Hopefully you are not by yourself.
So I don't know, is it better to get lost in a group?
Hopefully it's better to get lost in a group or if you're separated from the group, hopefully
the group will notice right away.
Yeah.
And if the group has noticed it, like if you are separated from your group, that might be
one of those scenarios where it is better to not be moving.
(42:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, use your whistle, use your whatever you've got to like alert your group that,
like, I'm separated from you, you know, like come find me.
I just listened to a whole podcast about the, the Donner dinner party or not Donner dinner
party, but the Donner party.
There's a game we play called Donner dinner party.
(43:01):
But yeah, like out year, is it better to get lost in groups?
Well, okay.
Fair enough.
I mean, hopefully it's not to that, but then again, all the more reason to be wearing brightly
colored clothing, like when you're out on the trail, don't wear your camo when you're
out there, you know, hopefully you have an emergency beacon of some sort.
(43:24):
Mike and I have said before, we do not carry an emergency beacon, but the cell phones that
we have do have satellite connectivity with them.
So I feel like that is a good alternative for us.
Another tip, if you do have a cell phone and you find yourself separated and not sure where
you're at now might be a good time to turn on low power mode on your phone.
(43:45):
Yep.
Um, you know, conserve as much battery as you can just in case.
Hopefully you're not lost for that long, but if you are, that's something I just thought
of too, is if you are traveling in a group and you have the same type of service, like
you and I both have iPhones, other people have androids, whatever, but we have the find
(44:07):
my option.
We both share a location with each other, even if you don't want them stalking you when
you're back at home, share your location with your peers in the woods.
That way, if you do get separated, the find my option, it's, if you have cell phone signal,
you can like, okay, they're in that direction.
Let me head that way.
(44:28):
So and I guess, I mean, if your plan is to move, right?
Like if your plan is to self rescue, I mean, that's kind of what they call it, where you're
finding your way out, your self rescuing, right?
We've talked about like how when we plan, we don't push ourselves to our maximum miles
and we live ourselves a little bit of gap for like time wise and all that sort of stuff.
(44:50):
If you find yourself off trail and not sure where you're at and not sure where to go,
I do not recommend pushing yourself to absolute exhaustion every day, like trying to find
yourself to get back out of the woods, like go a good distance.
I'm not saying like, you know, don't put in a hard day's work, but like, do not push yourself
(45:14):
to the absolute exhaustion point, right?
Because that's gonna have all sorts of other problems that it's going to create, especially
in this situation.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Definitely know your limits.
If you are setting up a base camp and you're going to try to go wander in this direction,
something wander in that direction, know your limits there too.
(45:37):
Like I can go a hundred yards this way before I'm going to turn around and then I'll be
able to go a hundred yards in the other direction.
And if need be, make sure you know those limitations for yourself.
Don't let your ego wear you down, like break you.
Well, and then I mean, I guess that is a good point too.
Like as far as ego goes, if you are real deal lost, right?
(46:02):
Like you're not just like a little bit off the trail and you don't know exactly where
you're at, but like if you were a real deal lost and you have the ability to call for
help, right?
Call for help.
Like, I mean, I get it.
Like it's a little bit embarrassing and people are real reluctant to do that sort of stuff.
Cause like, Oh, I'm sure I can figure it out.
I'm sure if I just go up over this next hill, it'll be fine or whatever.
(46:23):
But like, I'll never hear the end of it.
If I call somebody, I'll never hear the end of it.
Yeah.
Like I'm not going to need rescued or like, I mean, this is not the time to be proud.
Right.
Right.
So while we learned that the one year when we knew our limits or learned our limits and
ended up calling for help and getting out of there.
(46:43):
I mean, and that was a slightly different situation.
We weren't lost.
We were just exhausted.
Right.
Which, like I said, I mean, being exhausted is a real thing.
Like you can get exhausted out there, especially if you're new and you don't know what your
limits are and you know, you think, Oh, well yeah, I should be able to go this far and
whatever.
Like exhaustion is a real thing.
(47:04):
And you and I had a long conversation before we decided to not continue on about like,
Oh, like your wife is going to make fun of you.
My husband's going to make fun of me.
People are going to let us live it down.
But like at the end of the day, it was like, okay, that is all true.
And they did pick on us and they did, you know, rib us pretty good about it.
(47:28):
But at the end of the day, I couldn't keep going.
So like there was no alternative.
I mean, there was an alternative and it wasn't going to be a good one.
But like, right, this is not the time to put your pride as the first thing.
If you need to call for help, call for help.
The other things you can do, like if you have gotten to that point where you have had to
(47:48):
call for help or you are relying on people to find you, we said it 20 times already on
this, but like this is the time if you've got brightly colored clothing, this is the
time to put it on.
Oh, absolutely.
If you've got a whistle, this is the time to be blowing on that whistle period periodically.
If you have the ability to make a fire, it wouldn't hurt to make a fire.
(48:10):
I'm not saying set the whole forest on fire, but like make a fire that you can use as like
a signal fire type thing.
If you've got a flashlight, I don't think it would hurt to have that handy to use at
night if you see a helicopter flying over or you see people walking by, like use that
as a signal in some way.
(48:34):
One thing that Mike and I do not take, but I'm going to recommend people take, take a
signal mirror, like take a little pocket mirror that you can use to signal people with.
I don't think that's a bad thing to have.
It weighs practically nothing.
It doesn't require any kind of power.
Exactly.
Like a flashlight or anything like that.
Yep.
(48:54):
I mean, take some of your, get your emergency things handy, use them for what they're needed
for.
This is the time to have them out if you are not where you think you are supposed to be.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, like you said, don't let your pride and don't let your, I mean, hack wisely.
(49:17):
Don't go throwing free flashlights and like all this kind of stuff.
Don't overdo it when you're packing your emergency stuff, but also just be smart about it and
know like I'm only going to use these things in the event of an emergency or in the event
of I am lost and need help.
It might be, hopefully you don't need them, but at least you have them as a, as a just
(49:41):
in case it'll be the time you don't take them that you end up need them.
Well, and then I guess if I could just revisit like the whole group thing too, we kind of
glossed over that with, you know, the Donner party stuff.
Cause I mean, that is kind of funny, but if, if you are going out hiking in a group, hopefully
you all stay together, but if there is some reason that you are separating for some, whatever
(50:07):
it is, somebody wants to go off on a day hike and the rest of the group don't want to go
or whatever that situation looks like for you, have a conversation about like, what
is the plan?
Hopefully everybody in the group knows what the plan is.
Like, okay, we're gonna, you know, everybody that's not doing this is going to stay in
a spot or, you know, for those that are taking a different path to the next location, this
(50:32):
is where we all plan on being by such and such time or whatever.
I recommend everybody stay together.
Please don't split up.
But I understand people have different methods of hiking and different things like that.
So I'm not going to be ignorant and pretend like this is never a possibility, but having
a conversation with the group.
You run into solo hikers all the time too.
So they're, they don't have a group.
(50:53):
So that's the thing.
I mean, I know people are out there solo hiking.
I think it's, I get the appeal.
I get the appeal, right?
Part of the reason you and I go hiking in the first place is we want to get away from
everything.
You and I just happen to get along good enough that we can get away from everything by going
together.
Right.
But if you don't have somebody in your life that is into hiking and you want to go hiking
(51:17):
and you're a strong minded person, I get going out there by yourself.
You understand it, but you're asking for a lot more, what's a good way to put this?
You're asking for, I don't want to say you're asking for it because you're not asking for
it, but you're opening the possibility of having more problems.
(51:37):
Yeah.
You're, you're, there's, there's more risk involved.
Cause like, okay, so going back to what we said at the beginning of this, right?
When we were on the Porkies that first time, there was two of us.
One of us could go down what we thought was a branch of the trail and another of us could
go down the other branch of the trail until we found what we thought we were.
And we were able to do that because there was more than one of us.
(51:59):
Right.
If you're by yourself, you're only relying on yourself.
You don't have somebody else to bounce ideas off of.
If you and I got lost together, we're going to use the stop method, but then you and I
have two heads to think, okay, what is the best course of action?
Right.
(52:19):
Yeah.
More, the more brain power you have, the better in that situation.
Right.
Yeah.
And, and this is not the time to like argue about what the better idea is.
You know, like, yeah, it's, it's not a time to pick a leader and just follow one person's
ideas.
It's a time to collaborate and, and, uh, I don't know, vanilla, I said it best, I think
(52:44):
it was stop collaborate and listen.
Yes.
Right.
So,
right.
But just, just stay, stay alert to your surroundings.
Don't don't get yourself worked up so much that you were walking into a more dangerous
situation.
Like, don't be, uh, you know, don't be in such a hurry to get back to civilization that
(53:09):
you're throwing caution to the wind and wind up walking off the ledge of a ravine or, um,
you know, don't be trying to wade through a river that is like treacherously fast and
full of rocks or, you know, keep your wits about you.
Be smart about the movements that you make.
(53:30):
Yeah.
And realistically, if you're not on a trail, don't cross the river, follow the river.
Yeah.
You know, that type of a thing.
So, okay.
But then, but I mean, I say that, but then, okay, what if there's a road right across
the river?
Well, okay.
But that's, that's one thing.
But now it's a super fast moving river full of rocks and it's, and you might get swept
(53:52):
down.
So I mean, I'm just saying, follow it in one direction or the other and see if that road
crosses the river.
And this might be a good time to stop again.
Like you can stop more than once and assess your situation.
Right.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Okay.
This is good.
We've got some good signs, but don't just like blindly rush into something without thinking
(54:14):
it through too.
Continuously stopping is also going to help you avoid the panic.
Stop and just think is, is, is going to prevent that the panic from setting in.
If you continuously are just move, move, move, move, move, a wrong move might throw you into
a panic mode.
(54:35):
So if you think you're making a wrong move, slow it down.
Yep.
The assess, figure it out.
And here, here's another thing that I guess I'll just say, just to say it, nothing happens
as fast as you want it to.
Like, oh, absolutely.
You are not going to be magically un-lost in five minutes.
Right.
Right.
(54:56):
I mean, you might be, you might stumble across.
You might stumble across some other people, but like nothing happens as fast as you want
to, especially when you're already kind of stressed out.
So plan on it taking a long time to get un-lost.
For sure.
I've been wanting to bring up the, especially with all the, you know, if you're marking
(55:20):
your, your path with ribbon, if you're having some kind of a signal fire, if you're doing
any of that stuff, do your best to still follow the lead, no trace options.
I mean, the ribbon, you're probably going to end up leaving that out there, but most
of that stuff is pretty, it breaks down pretty quickly and it's not that bad.
(55:43):
If you have the means to go grab some of them, go get it.
But if not, but especially with the fire, I mean, just make sure it's out before you
get rescued, anything like that, or at least it's not going to spread and catch the rest
of the forest on fire and things like that.
Yeah, I hear you.
And I, and I totally don't disagree with what you're saying.
Like, I mean, that is, you know, good, good practice to, you know, leave no trace, pack
(56:07):
and pack out all the things that we talk about on all of our episodes.
I'm going to give everybody a little bit of grace on this one.
You know what I mean?
Like, yeah, I get that.
Just do your task.
Right.
Right.
Yeah, that might not be top of mind is like, Oh, I've got to pick that up.
Yeah, right.
I mean, I will give everybody a little bit of grace if you are lost and you're right.
(56:30):
But still, still try to keep that part of your mind there.
Keep the woods.
So for sure.
That's pretty much all I have other than just like some tips on preventing getting lost.
But we've already kind of covered all of my notes on preventing getting lost.
Like carry your navigation tools, tell someone your plan, where you're planning on being
(56:50):
stay on the trail.
If you, you know, you're probably not going to get lost if you stay on the trail.
But if you lose the trail, then that doesn't work.
Right.
But then be aware of your time if you're losing daylight, things like that.
But but we kind of already touched on all of that.
So I don't really feel like that's worth going into a ton.
Okay, fair enough.
Well, so if anybody has any other tips or tricks that they use that they would like
(57:14):
to share, by all means, reach out to us.
You can reach us on our email, which is Sean Mike Hike at gmail.com.
You can reach us on most of the major socials at Sean Mike Hike or directly on our website
Sean Mike Hike dot com.
Please rate, review and subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast.
And until next time, go take a hike.
(57:36):
Go take a hike or get lost.
We'll see you guys in a couple weeks.
Thanks, everybody.
See you.
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The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.