HOW TO FIND YOUR WAY WITHOUT COMPASS/GPS

Have you ever thought about how our primitive ancestors manage to travel without getting lost (although this happened a lot too, and led to the discovery of new regions of the planet) when they had no maps, compass or GPS?

The basic thing that they reied on was either the sun, the moon or the stars in the sky!

But what if it was cloudy and no way to locate the sun, the moon, or the stars?

Don’t worry, there are other landmarks that will help you find your direction, and you will learn all of these next.

1- The North Star Method

Sure you have learned this method in primary school or as a scout, and if you have forgotten it here’s how to do it:
1) Locate the Big Dipper constellation in the sky

The Big Dipper is formed by seven bright starts, they form the shape of a giant spoon in the sky!

2) Next, locate the furthest two stars in the “spoon” and then draw a straight line connecting these two stars (Called Merak and Dubhe).
Now continue with that line, it should end right at the North Star (Called Polaris).

3) Once you’ve found the North Star, get two sticks with different heights. Place the taller stick in the ground facing the North Star. A foot or two behind it insert the shorter stick in the ground in a way that the 2 sticks and the North Star are aligned.

4) Make sure the two sticks and the North Star are on the same line by lining your eye sight with the tops of the two sticks with the North Star, creating a virtual line in your mind that starts from the top of the short stick, passes by the top of the tall stick and finally setting on the North Star.

5) Draw a line on the ground that starts from the base of the shorter stick to the base of the longer stick, and continues forward. Great job! Now this line is pointing to the geographic north and will be your guide!

2- Two Sticks and a Random Star Method

In case you found a difficulty in spotting the North Star then using this method will be able to determine the geographical directions with any star you can spot at!

Here are the steps:
1) Place a short stick in the ground vertically.

2)Place a second taller stick just in front of the first stick.

3) Now bend down behind the first short stick and look at its top in a way that a virtual line will go from its peak point to the top of the other taller stick, and then to any star in the sky.

If you can’t see any star in the same line as the top of the two sticks, just keep moving the short stick till you can see that it lines up with the top of the taller stick and any star.

It’s better to line the two sticks with a star that doesn’t have too much other

4) Staying in your same position watch the star for a few minutes.
The direction where the star will move will determine your geographic position!
If the star moves up, you are facing east. If it moves down, you are facing west. If it moves right, you are facing south. If it moves left, you are facing north.

3- Watch Method

The only thing you will need for this method is an analog watch. Make sure the time is correct and that the watch works properly, unless the directions you will get won’t be correct!

Depending on whether you are in the northern hemisphere or the southern hemisphere, there are 2 different methods to use the watch to locate the north.

Northern Hemisphere:

1) Hold your watch horizontally in a way that it’s facing the sky.

2) Keep turning it till the hour hand will be pointing at the sun. Now identify the halfway point between the hour hand and the “12” mark on the watch.

That direction is the south, which means the opposite is the north.

Southern Hemisphere;

1) As for the Northern Hemisphere hold your watch making it facing the sky.

2) Now point the “12” mark to the sun. Identify the mid-way point between the “12” mark and the hour hand. That direction will be north.

Please always make sure that your watch is working properly and has the correct time.

For daylight savings time periods, make sure to fix your watch time by turning back the hour hand one hour.

If you’re looking for a reliable tactical watch, you can check out the following item

Do you totally agree with what i mentioned above ?

If you have something to add, don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and ideas in the comment below…