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Willderness Way
VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2.
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How I got out of the creek is still a mystery to me. “What happened?” I asked. The log had looked sturdy. I had not anticipated the slick moss that sent me flailing, grasping for anything but only finding air. When I struck the water, the current grabbed me and without hesitation began pulling me down its winding road.
The pack that had carried my precious gear was no longer useful and had become a powerful anchor, pulling me under the pristine water. As I panicked and gasped for air, I tried to doff the pack. I thought, “If only I had undone my waist belt before starting across the log.” Finally, it came off, and I frantically swam for shore, as a cat might after falling into water.
Just three months ago, I had attended a Wilderness Adventure and Survival program. It had been challenging, but had it prepared me for this? Feeling doomed, I thought, “What would my instructor do?” I recalled how he had said, “Stress will play a significant role in any survival situation.” I had heard his words but wasn’t sure what he had meant by “stress.” Was it similar to meeting a deadline at work? Was it like the hardships I faced trying to manage my family? Could he have been referring to the stress I experienced while attending his class? After all, I did go without food and sleep during my training.
Trying to gather my thoughts, I sat down and used the STOP acronym as a means of organizing myself for the evening. I decided to go to ground for the night. I needed to dry out and build a shelter.
My matches were wet. Fortunately, I had my metal match and a Birch tree was close by. Using the bark as my tinder and the Squaw Wood (which was also in the vicinity) as my fuel, I managed to have a blazing fire within ten minutes. I smiled and let out a yowl. It didn’t take long to take the chill away and dry out. I love fire!
With limited daylight, I began to settle in for the evening. I gathered more wood, found a good tree well, and collected enough duff to insulate my body from the evening elements.
“Tomorrow, I’ll worry about how to get home,” I thought, and I decided that tonight I would reflect on my survival training.
The night was cold and I had to get up several times to re-fuel the dwindling fire. I didn’t get much sleep.
When morning came, I had an uncontrollable shiver and was sure that I was in the early stages of hypothermia. I stumbled out of bed, quickly rejuvenated the fire, and stood as close as I could. The steam was rolling off my clothes. It took over 15 minutes before I felt in charge of my body again. Memories of yesterday began absorbing my energy and I felt the hopelessness of my situation.
While looking around my location, I stopped and watched the wildlife that was in the area. The animals that had normally avoided me seemed to be watching my every move. I asked myself, “Do the squirrels and birds know of my predicament?”
Once warmed, I refocused my energies and decided to inventory my gear. The majority of my equipment had been in my backpack, which had been washed away by the raging water. All I had were the clothes on my back and the small survival kit in the side pocket of my pants. I did not have my map or compass since both had been in the outer pouch of my backpack.
Again, thoughts of doom began to overwhelm me as I realized my predicament. I was in rugged mountainous terrain, far away from any civilization, and without the necessary tools to navigate out. I knew a northern heading would take me to a well-traveled road, but which way was that?

Using a Stick and Shadow
The sun had been up for several hours when I decided to use a stick and shadow to determine my cardinal directions. Using a flat level area, I cleared away debris until I had a three-foot circle of brown dirt. I found a straight stick, sharpened it at both ends, and pushed it into the ground until its shadow fell onto the center of the cleared area. I placed a twig at the tip of the shadow and waited.
Two more times (ten minutes apart) I placed another twig at the shadow tip and then used these three twigs as my guide, to draw a straight line in the dirt. Knowing the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, I determined that the first marking on the shadow line was west and the second one was east. Since I was in the Northern Hemisphere (the sun was south of my location), I knew that the shadow tip side was north.
I drew another line perpendicular to the east-west line and then used the perpendicular lines to establish N/S/E/W direction.
I smiled and felt pride in what I’d done until I realized I couldn’t take the stick and shadow with me. I wondered, “How would I manage to stay on a northern heading?” I could travel towards a peak or other landmark on my route of travel, but what about when trees surrounded me and the landmark wasn’t visible?
I remembered that the sun moved approximately 15? an hour towards the western horizon. I also knew that I was north of the sun’s path. I thought “How could I use this to my advantage?”
I stood facing north and established the sun position as it related to me (slightly behind and to the right of me) and began walking north, using the sun as my guide. Every 15 minutes I would allow the sun to move a little further towards my left. To increase my accuracy, I stopped every hour and re-established my northern heading by redoing the stick and shadow process.
Throughout the day, I managed to meet my other needs: water was abundant and easy to procure from the many streams; fiddleheads and horsetails were my main food staple, and I managed to avoid overheating by taking breaks during the heat of mid day.


When night came, I felt rested and wanted to continue my travel. The moon was out, providing ample light, and I was sure I could find the resources necessary to meet my needs when I stopped. My only problem was that I could no longer use the sun as my guide. To make things worse, the sky had a partial cloud covering that made it impossible to find the North Star. What could I do to keep on a northern heading?

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