Navigating without a compass

What you need

• A look at the map before you go in, even a photo of it on the phone
• A watch, or the sun
• Two landmarks you can see from where you stand

How

1. Fix the big picture before you leave the truck. A road, a shoreline, a power line or a river down one side of you is a handrail, and walking until you hit it always gets you out.
2. The sun rises in the east, sits south at midday here, and sets in the west. Stand a stick up, mark the tip of its shadow, wait fifteen minutes and mark it again. The line between those two marks runs west to east.
3. Pick a tree or a rock ahead of you on the line you want, walk to it, then pick the next one. That is how you walk straight without a needle.
4. Look back every few minutes and learn what the way home looks like from this side, because it looks like nothing you remember.
5. At night the two stars on the end of the Big Dipper cup point at the North Star, five times the gap between them.

Watch for

Notes

A phone with the map saved for offline use still puts a dot on it with the data off and airplane mode on, because the GPS chip needs no signal. Keep the phone warm and shut off until you need it.