An Animated Guide to Nature’s Best Wayfinding Secrets

I recently came upon this little article about wayfinding with clever little animations. Stuff probably a lot of people know, but I learned a few things — I had no idea the moon crescent could show you South!

My favorite example of Wayfinding is not used by nature.  It is that used by architecture, best seen in hospitals where they use a different color floor tile to lead to different parts of the hospital,  Kinda like following the yellow brick road.

What are ways others are using wayfinding other than maps, compass and gps?

I'm constantly amazed by the number of people who don't remember that the sun rises in the East, sets in the West and is South at mid day (in the Northern Hemisphere).  Granted the sun rises more Northeasterly in summer and Southeasterly in the winter but you get the drift.

Same is true of the moon regarding the direction of rising/setting/etc.

Mike Jay wrote:I'm constantly amazed by the number of people who don't remember that the sun rises in the East, sets in the West and is South at mid day (in the Northern Hemisphere).  Granted the sun rises more Northeasterly in summer and Southeasterly in the winter but you get the drift.

Same is true of the moon regarding the direction of rising/setting/etc.

Yes that is true too, but my first thought is that north is already some steps removed from nature in the same way as a map is. I happen to love maps and consult a map even if someone has given me directions for a first trip. but after a first trip I don't use them again. I look for landmarks. It does not matter which direction a stream goes so long as one is aware the place they are seeking is up or down. A certain shape of mountain or tall tree could be any direction from me so long as I know where the place I want to get to is from there. So there are more than one kind of wayfinding.

Finding a known place for the first time.

finding a known place subsequent times.

Finding a kind of place by looking at nature.

Finding your way back from the above place.

I think most of us have learned about the first and second, The third Is useful for hunting, fishing or gathering and the forth is about remembering how one got where they are and probably the hardest. Maybe there are more kinds of wayfinding.

I don't know if maybe I was born with a natural ability to find a way. Or maybe from a very young age I got this from my parents, so it feels like some natural part of me. Sometimes I wonder if people can have that 'feeling' for the Earth magnetic fields, like birds have. Anyway: for me it's impossible to get lost. I tried several times, in the forest and in unknown towns. But I always know which way to go. I consider it 'a gift'.

I like 'reading maps' too. When seeing a map I have an image in my mind of how it looks there (when it's a good map). The first image, before I really visited that place, is vague. But afterwards, watching the map is like watching photographs or a film of the place I visited.

I have friends who are the opposite. They can visit a place many times and still every time they don't know how to get there, turn the wrong direction, or have to use their car navigation system again. Maybe that navigation system is the problem. People get used to it, to listen to a voice telling them how to go, they forget to use their own brains. And I am not a car driver (no driver's licence), I am used to find my way myself.

I too have a gift for direction, I can walk into a forest or a mall and maintain north within 10 or so degrees. My first day in Berlin we took a subway and got out and I found my place on a map, we walked for several hours and my buddy got worried we should head back. We were less than 2 blocks away, I just figured he knew were were heading back to the hostel.

Time works in a similar way for me if I can keep track of the light, I'm usually within 10 minutes without a watch or cellphone (2 years free of a phone!)

I have an incredible internal compass.  My sister tests me by driving to strange places and tells me to find my way home....hmmm...maybe an ulterior motive in there??  One time, lost in Minneapolis, I found our way back to our hotel, in the dark and no map.  She still tells people that story, I call it "Driving by feel".
I am from the True North and have navigated by stars, moon and good old compass.  All three helped me hone my sense of direction.  Neither of my children inherited this trait, so I think it is probably a skill to learn, although most of my family is "directionally challenged".

I don't think it's something you can teach. I was in SAR for 10 years and taught GPS, map and compass along with many other skills. Orientation was tough, maybe 1/10 of the people took to instinctively, maybe 50% were very comfortable with their learned skills and the rest just nod and  really shouldn't leave camp without a buddy.

Direction sense is different tho, I can point out what I see and even talk about how it effects me but my wife and kids don't get it, I've tried multiple times. They ask me what time it is when they have watches or cell phones, then check their devices and just shake their heads when I'm a few minutes off.

Len Ovens wrote: Yes that is true too, but my first thought is that north is already some steps removed from nature in the same way as a map is....

It may be a step removed, but a sense of "north" could still save people's lives, so I do wish more people would be taught the skill.

Story time that relates to "finding a known place subsequent times."
We were on a canoe trip. I had never been on this route before, and I knew that the leader was known to have map-reading/place-remembering issues, so I was keeping a close eye on the route. We were in the middle of a significant drought.

We got to the bay we were supposed to cross to get to the next campsite. The leader emphatically insisted, this was *not* the bay. We went further down the lake. A bunch of us stopped at a sand bar, and I finally insisted that he take the strongest paddler and keep going, and we would wait until he came back.

Unfortunately, but the time he did, the wind had shifted and the wind we'd fought against getting there, fought just as hard getting back to the bay we needed.

What caused this? The water was so low, that an "island" at the mouth of the bay, was now attached to the land. The rocks were clearly below the water line to my eyes, but I hadn't realized how different it looked to someone who had seen it before.

Landmarks are a valuable resource, but it's important to use many cues, because some landmarks can change dramatically.

Jay Angler wrote:...
Story time that relates to "finding a known place subsequent times."
...
Landmarks are a valuable resource, but it's important to use many cues, because some landmarks can change dramatically.

Thank you for this story.
I totally agree: landmarks do change. The same place can look very different in different seasons, even in different weather, or if you come from a (slightly) different direction than you did before.

Way Finding
(aka. Orienteering)

Plan Ahead and Prepare… before going a-wandering
- keep a compass in your grab and go bag
- Maps - review before & during travel (local topographic maps are particularly handy)
- Practice and **learn** some of the other orienteering methods at home when the directions are available and you’re not under the stress of being lost

North Star
Tristan Gooley’s method using Cassiopeia to find the North Star is new-to-me and pretty cool. Nevertheless, one of the ‘traditional’ ways is using the Big Dipper to point the way - https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/blog/discover-big-dipper/

Once you’ve located the North Star, a Boy Scout Handbook (*) method can be used to establish a true North-South line:
“Push a two-foot long stick into the ground. Place a shorter stick in such a way that when your sight over the tips of both sticks you can see the North Star (you’ll likely need to be lying on the ground on your belly to do this). A straight line scratched between the sticks is a true north south line.”

Sun-Stick Shadow Methods (*)
The Boy Scout Handbook offers a couple of methods to establish directions when the sun is shining
- Note “high noon” is never at 12:00 o’clock noon (unless you have an appointment, such as a duel, at ‘high noon’), it varies from day to day and is dependent on your geo-location. Here in Ohio USA, it’s usually around 1:30 PM
… just occurs to me the reason dueling at high noon is preferred is to avoid having the sun in your eyes (i.e., from behind your opponent)

- Shadow-Stick Method (*)
Push a short, straight stick into the ground. Angle it toward the sun so that the stick makes no shadow, then wait until it casts a shadow at least six inches long. The shadow will be pointing east from the stick. A line at right angles across the shadow will be north-south.

- Equal-Length Shadow Method (*)
In the morning, push a straight three-foot-long stick upright into the ground. Tie a string around the base of the stick with a bowline, then extend the string to the end of the stick's shadow. Tie a peg to the string at that point and use it to scratch a circle on the ground around the stick. Push the peg into the ground where the tip of the stick's shadow touches the circle.

In the afternoon, place another peg where the tip of the shadow again touches the circle. A straight line drawn between the pegs is a west-east line, with west at the morning peg. A line drawn at right angles across the west-east line will be north-south.

Watch & twig method (*)
Hold your watch level. Place a short, straight twig upright against the edge of the watch at the point of the hour hand. (If you're wearing a digital watch, note the hour, imagine where the hour hand would be pointing, and place the twig accordingly.) Turn the watch until the shadow of the twig falls along the hour hand's position-that is, until the hour hand points toward the sun.

Notice the angle formed between the numeral 12 (the top of a digital watch) and the shadow lying on the real or imaginary hour hand. A lIne from the center of the watch that divides that angle in half will poInt south.

Note: This method requires standard time. If your watch is set on daylight savings time, turn it back one hour.

(*) Source: The Boy Scout Handbook, Eleventh Edition 1998
- Note: the above methods may have been omitted from later Handbook editions as wilderness survival skills and methods continuously were removed over many years/editions. This 1998 edition, I acquired as an Adult Scout Leader, already had way less than the ca.1960 edition I had as a Boy Scout.
- Another topic - Chivalry - which held a prominent place (a whole chapter!) in the earliest editions, was lost in the mists of time - we sure could use more of that fetchin’ up in today’s world

‘Floating’ Needle on Water Compass
While this was a fun experiment back in Science 101, it could be useful “lost in the woods” if you happen to have a magnet and a sewing needle handy. You can find details online. However, when you’re trekking about you can float the ‘magnetized’ needle on a leaf

Moss (often grows) on the north side of trees - BUT moss can grow on any and all sides depending on local conditions - moss likes shady moist conditions so the forest canopy could shade all sides and in the Pacific Northwest, climate conditions are so wet and humid that "moss grows on all sides of trees"
Read More: https://www.outdoorguide.com/1506792/moss-only-grows-north-side-trees-myth/