Lost

[Wild-Woman]

Has anyone here been really and truly lost in say a wood or on a reserve?
I was deep in a wood today, got involved in what I was doing , stood up and felt very dis-orientated.
Within minutes, all was resolved but it does make me wonder whether any of you have any strategies for finding out where you are.

I'm not a panicker about things like this but I should imagine it's easy to get very frightened if you are that sort of person.

Mind you-I should add that it was a bit scary when we got lost looking for MTR's chips on Saturday.That could have been disasterous!

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Has anyone here been really and truly lost in say a wood or on a reserve?
I was deep in a wood today, got involved in what I was doing , stood up and felt very dis-orientated.
Within minutes, all was resolved but it does make me wonder whether any of you have any strategies for finding out where you are.

I'm not a panicker about things like this but I should imagine it's easy to get very frightened if you are that sort of person.

nooo, but i did get a bit lost in a field of miscanthus a few weeks ago. thankfully there was a tractor in the middle, and once round the tractor i was fine. must admit i was a bit creeped out by it though. imagine being lost forever in a field of elephant grass!

[Ukwildlifeo]

Simple logic dictates that if you walk in a straight line you will eventually emerge from the relatively small woodlands you generally get in this country. Thou apart from the obvious problems with things in the way and making sure you are indeed walking in a striaght line, theres then the problem of knowing where you are when you emerge!

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Has anyone here been really and truly lost in say a wood or on a reserve?

Frequently! Well, not totally lost but disorientated. I guess it comes from looking at the ground or high in the trees for things to take photos of rather than looking where I am going.
I tend to look at the position of the sun and use that as a rough guide and my dogs, who are always with me, are good and following the scent in the right direction!

On the subject, this report of a farmer getting lost in his own maize field made me smile
Farmer gets lost in his own 'maize maze' - Telegraph

[Deer Stalker]

Not me, but I carry an OS map with me as I'm always finding people who are lost on the Forest (especially D of E nippers).

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by Deer Stalker

Not me, but I carry an OS map with me as I'm always finding people who are lost on the Forest (especially D of E nippers).

i wish i could map read....i can just about pin point myself to the nearest km square most of the time!

[Deer Stalker]

Originally Posted by almostnormal

i wish i could map read....i can just about pin point myself to the nearest km square most of the time!

Wouldn't worry about it. Sould be pretty easy to find you if you get lost, just don't dye your hair green!!

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by Deer Stalker

Wouldn't worry about it. Sould be pretty easy to find you if you get lost, just don't dye your hair green!!

darn it, and there i was thinking i could do that for self defence. hmmm.... time to re think!

[ron1863]

Find a stream and follow it. Water and towns, villages etc are never very far apart.

[John]

Originally Posted by ron1863

Find a stream and follow it. Water and towns, villages etc are never very far apart.

That sounds so easy unless you get in a situation like I was two years ago.

I am not going to give the location or the name of the person that did this to me as I don't want to embarrass him, or cause offence but what happened made me realise that some people's brains just do not work on the same level as most of us.

I had been invited to a member of another forums house for a week and he lived abroad. Whilst there he pulled a few stunts on me along the way but by and large I had a good time with some good species.

Coming home I didn't have to be at the airport until around 6pm so he asked what I would like to do on the last day. I wanted to stay somewhere local for obvious reasons and he suggested a Forest about twenty miles away where Hazel Grouse, Black Woodpecker and a few other goodies could be seen.

We duly arrived at the area and had to drive up this forest track to an area where we could park the car. As soon as I got out of the car I wondered where we were going as there were no obvious paths anywhere. He pointed in a direction then proceeded to walk into the forest. I followed and it wasn't long before we reached a carpet of dead branches, that were cracking and breaking up under my weight. My companion weighed in around 8 stone whereas I weighed in around 16 stone and it made a big difference. He was skipping along and I was struggling through breaking dead wood.

Eventually we reached a stream and straight away a Black Woodpecker showed. Just then he moved on and as we got further into the forest so the ground beneath us was getting boggier and boggier. I shouted for him to stop but he carried on. This went on for ages and I watched as he got further and further away from me (despite repeated calls from me). Eventually after a struggle I managed to reach a fallen tree to sit on. By now I was soaking wet and smelling rather foul.

I called to my him and nothing came back. I kept on calling but nothing. I tried to retrace my steps but the water had deepened quite dramatically, plus by now I was completely disorientated. I could see where the stream was in the distance but I couldn't get to it. Every few minutes I would try a different route only to sink in above my knees.

Over an hour had gone by and after continually calling (with no responses) I started to worry). This went on for nearly two hours when I had a bit of a brain wave. I had my mobile phone with me and it had a good signal on it. I didn't want to worry my ex Mrs but the only thing I could think of was if I could get in touch with her then perhaps she could ring the Police, or whoever, they might be able to get the Police in this country to track me down via my mobile signal.

As I was talking to her I started to hear some crashing noises as though someone was walking over dead sticks. Thinking that he was returning I told my Mrs it was ok and he was coming back.

After stopping the call I shouted out to him but nothing. There was still crashing noises but they were getting more and more distant as time went on until eventually they faded away.

I was now getting desperate and tried again different ways of getting out of this mess but each time I ended up crashing down into ever deepening water. It got to just over three hours and I thought I had tried every conceivable way of getting away from this log but after the umpteenth attempt I found a clod of earth that held me then some more and eventually I found some recently fallen trees that I used to move away from the area.

Somehow I managed to find my way back to the track we had driven up and I walked back to where we had parked the car. By now it was nearly four hours since I had seen him but there he was leaning against the car as though nothing had happened.

I rather angrily asked what the heck he thought he was playing at leaving me in that sort of position, and all he said was that I had got back ok so what was I worrying about. He also said, with great delight, that he seen a few Hazel Grouse and that I should have kept up with him.

How can anyone think that that is acceptable behaviour. It is something I will never forget as it is the first and only time that I can honestly say that I was in trouble.

John

[Wild-Woman]

Blimey. Not much of a friend. What a stupid thing to do.Situations like that, and abroad, out of your own territory- very dangerous and irresponsible.

[svenrufus]

I'm hopeless in woodlands, and routinely get lost. It was for this reason amongst others that I invested in a GPS, but to my dismay, they don't work under trees. US Military technology! Just have to hope they never want to invade Sweden, they would be rubbish.

So I have tried walking in a straight line, but I must have one leg shorter than the other or something, as that rarely seems to work. The sun is a good guide, as long as it's sunny.

I have thought about leaving a trail of breadcrumbs behind me, it's the only thing I haven't tried and nothing else works. I understand though that there is a precedent for this not being too successful.

Ultimately I rely on blind luck and the hope that a series of poor decisions eventually add up to something worthwhile.

Here's hoping....

[demicav]

I once got lost in some woods with my daughter, who was 8 at the time and the dog. It was a bit freaky as it was late evening. Don't know if anyone saw the Blair witch films but that did cross my mind at the time, you could hear a pin drop. Thankfully it didn't last a long time and we still laugh about it.

[Jez]

According to Ray Meares (No doubt i have spelt her name wrong) tree branches grow longer to the south and shortest to north. Haven't yet tried it out though!

[agrumpycow]

I wonder why it is that woods and forests are so scary as soon as it starts to get dark or you get a bit lost.....! To many late night horror films maybe!

[John]

Yes it was a stupid and irresponsible thing to do and that is the part I couldn't understand, as he just didn't grasp what the consequences could have been.

BTW he wasn't a friend just someone I knew through another forum.

John

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Blimey. Not much of a friend. What a stupid thing to do.Situations like that, and abroad, out of your own territory- very dangerous and irresponsible.

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by agrumpycow

I wonder why it is that woods and forests are so scary as soon as it starts to get dark or you get a bit lost.....! To many late night horror films maybe!

Yes. Very Blair Witch Project.

[stripee]

emm got lost in enormous forestry plantation for 5 hours on my bike. I got bored with waiting for companions and cycled off all down hill it was really nice, like flying. And I thought just go round here I would get back, but no! A horrible panic set in there was noone to ask I did have an OS map but it wasn't large scale and I was on the wrong track as they say. As it started going dark I ended up at the bottom of the forest miles away. I got back eventually by following a stream on the map.

[Venger]

Originally Posted by Jez

According to Ray Meares (No doubt i have spelt her name wrong) tree branches grow longer to the south and shortest to north. Haven't yet tried it out though!

Lol I'm sure He wouldn't be put out (Ray Mears)

Same goes for moss on trees - more on the north side (apparently)

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

I haven’t been lost but I did get trapped in an area of land covered in four foot nettles. I was out surveying Water Voles last summer on the river. As the river disappeared into some brambles and trees, the way was blocked for me so I skirted the trees and eventually found a gap to get through. The river was no where to be seen only a field of nettles. I set off heading for another row of trees on the opposite side of the field the nettles stinging my legs through my walking trousers. I got across the field only to find my view of the river blocked by more brambles. I fought my way down stream through more nettles but the brambles remained a solid wall. I then gave up and fought my way through the nettles and then spent the next 45 minutes wading through nettles trying to find the only gap in the brambles, the one I originally went through, back into the real world. At one point my sense of humour had left me and I was seriously wondering whether I was ever going to escape my nettle floored cell. Not fun even though I knew exactly where I was.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by ron1863

Find a stream and follow it. Water and towns, villages etc are never very far apart.

true , but water takes the shortest route downhill so try that in the mountains and you could easily find yourself heading over a cliff

I dont think i've ever got lost sober - but there was the occasion when we tried to walk from ciren to westonbirt to ahh see some nice trees dude - this was after a stag night and we were a little worse for wear - thenm compounded our error by taking a shortcut accross a field and into a copse - out the otherside and we were completely lost

still a good nights kip in a ditch enabled me to diagnose that we were heading towards gloucester find a village , and call a taxi

[rlchew]

I generally have a good sense of direction .... and would not know how to use a compass or GPS satnav anyway .

However, in June of this year, I was up at Faraid Head (about as far north as you can go in northern Scotland) photographing Puffins.

I set out from the car in bright sunshine, walked across the spectacular sandy Balnakeil Bay, slogged up the sand dunes and the cliffs to see the Puffins.

Great atmosphere, excellent views through the telescope, average photos .... and then the sun went in .... and then it got very grey .... and then the sea mist rolled in .

Time to go methinks. My sense of direction in the thick fog in a wild and lonely location let me down big time and I became totally disorientated trying to recognise any landmarks from the way up. The journey back down should take a lot less than the slog up but it must have taken me twice as long to find my way back to the car.

Me concerned and worried? .... of course not .

Mind you, I got lost on Chobham Common last weekend and on a very hot and sunny day there wasn't even the hint of any mist as an excuse .

Richard

[nightshade]

I walked into a wood with a narrow but well defined path,looking for a Noctule
Bat roost I had a lamp and head-torch I entered the wood at around 8pm and intended to have a look for likely spots so I could watch the emergence and count Bats.
Luckily found the right spot sat down and watched them out and listen to them
In the meanwhile the entire nature of the wood changed,It was as black as the inside of a cow a solid black, no silouettes and as I was off the easy to find (in daylight) path I was
well lost
Aha,my compass ,well it gave me a direction but even with light without the path it
would be dangerous to blunder around in the dark pools of shadow the lights cast
Panic!! sat down and thought about my movements and finally decided to walk up
the slope this was the right thing to do and I was back on the path it was all I could
do not to run! but why risk turning an ankle now
The half hour walk into the wood doubled in the dark that is why I now peg white paper
plates along my route before it gets dark
.