You Ever Get Turned Around In The Woods?

[geewhiz]

Keep thinking about that guy that went missing on the haul road. I like to think that I'm above average when it comes to orientation, but bring on the fog/snow/thick timber and it humbles a man.

 

[Moose 360]

I am kind of ashamed of this, but it was a surreal experience I figured I’d share. Opening morning my hunting partner and I got absolutely turned around – 100% disoriented in terms of direction - on our hunt, and more than once.

I had hiked this ridge once before probably a decade ago, and it was elky. Opening morning at 8,000 ft brought snow and wind and fog with a legit 75-100 yard visibility. The plan was simple. Hike the quarter mile to the top of a ridge, and walk north along it.

We got out, ascended the ridge, and began our hike. Not a half hour into it we crossed some boot tracks. “Damn, someone else is ahead of us.” Stopped overlooking a park to assess our plan, and fired up OnX. Those tracks were ours. What the hell. Ok, we thought, we need to turn around, because we are literally 180 degrees the opposite of what we think we are. So we start heading that direction, and after another 45 minutes run into our boot tracks again. Jesus Christ.

For the next hour I just checked the GPS every 5 minutes to stay headed in the right direction. My hunting partner said it best, “It feels like we are fighting the GPS”. Though the GPS was keeping us on the ridge, it always felt like we were hiking off of its sides.

My thoughts are this ridge is lumpy and wide and once you are on top it ceases its slope up, and is without any clear flanks. The timber on top is thick. Visibility was 75 yards, and no topography in the distance could be used as a benchmark. It was snowing and blowing hard. I don’t know what else to say. The only analagous thing I can think of is an inner-ear issue, where you so lose point of reference, that you are adrift in terms of direction.

It really felt unbelievable, and it was humbling. We walked over our own boot tracks twice in the first two miles of our hike. Had I not had a GPS, much the same as the first decade of my hunting life, we probably would’ve ended up in some drainage we didn’t even expect, and would’ve had a long walk back to the truck. I spend a fair amount of time outdoors, and regard myself as better-than-average at orienteering and I was turned around as hell, so maybe I shouldn't.

Our tracks. For most of those first two loops, we thought we were walking in what was generally a straight direction:

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The clearest it got that morning and the opening in the center of the loop we walked at first:

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The timber we were hiking in:

View attachment 246199

Anyone have any stories of times they got turned around in the woods?

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We call the desert behind the house the Owyhee Triangle.

 

[one ate E grain]

I used to get lost a lot when I was a kid, but never as an adult. I pay no attention to where I'm going anyway unless I'm close to private. I'm nosy, I'll follow a yote track for an hour just to see what he's up to, also human tracks. About 3 or 4 in the afternoon I start heading for the truck.

Don't like big water, no gills.

My folks lived way down the end of a dirt road in some big woods, grew up getting lost.

 

[Boarmaster]

All my life I have thought of myself as a outdoorsman but I never once bragged about my sense of direction. I have a buddy I hunted with for years as well as rode atvs in the rockies and black hills and I was always amazed as to how he always had a sense of where we where. Me ,lost in space without my gps.

 

[manitou1]

As a kid I would get turned around quite often while raccoon hunting at night. The big, featureless river bottoms were always the worst.
In the mountains of the West where I hunt now I have learned to be OCD with GPS and Onx as-well-as more attentive as I move. A mistake out here could prove to make for an uncomfortable night... or worse.

 

[Lost Arra]

I used to have a photo of two iphones sitting side by side on the ground (mine at the time and an elk hunting buddy's)
Both were on the Compass app and showing different directions for North.
We just stopped, sat down and ate a snack. Fortunately the snow stopped, the fog lifted and we walked out but through a straight-line, nasty route.
I ALWAYS carry a magnetic compass now. I actually had one then but forgot it was in my pack.


Another time I shot an elk about two hours before sunset. I was solo and by the time I got the elk quartered and hung it was pitch dark.
I apparently got disoriented while dealing with the meat because after about 20 minutes of walking I saw off in the distance, maybe 50 miles+, the red lights on those big wind turbines (Wyoming) and knew I was walking almost 180 degrees the wrong way. I pulled out the compass and fought my internal compass all the way back to camp.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Bewildered a time or two. Not lost because I knew I was in Oregon, or Alaska, or Montana. So I knew where I was just didn’t know where the truck was. Worst time was when some son of a bitch moved the float plane to the other side of the lake. That was not funny.

 

[Tradewind]

The fog is incredibly debilitating. Nothing looks the same or familiar.

 

[Aperventure]

Memorable surreal moment getting “lost” when paddling out of BWCA early one morning (fires had rangers in float plane tell us to leave) in the smoke a fog. We (group of 3 Canoes) decided to follow the shore back and not go open water due to limited visibility. Thought all was well till an hour or so in, someone said “ hey did you guys see the sun rise twice over the land?” He realized we were paddling around an island!

5 guys didn’t notice. No gps or compass, only 3 portages in and in familiar spot with my dad and his buddies who’ve been going to BWCA for 45 years.

We really were shocked. And maybe a bit hungover cause no reason to pack out booze when told to leave early. But still, was eye opening.

 

[Gr8bawana]

We've never been "turned around" but a couple of time we couldn't remember where we parked the truck.

 

[FairWeather]

This is why I bring a compass and figure a panic azimuth to the nearest road before I start heading in to the woods. I also keep OnX running pretty much the whole time I’m out (in airplane mode to save battery). I don’t getting lost somewhere that I’m unlikely to be found quickly.

 

[Trial153]

Only time I got really turned around was running hounds in Maine North west of Jackman. That was back pre GPS collars when we ran hounds. By the time collected the dogs and figured out where the hell I was I ran out of light about a two miles from the road we had one truck on. I had to stop when I came to a river and I couldn’t see well enough to ford it. The dogs and were resigned to spend the night in the woods and we settled in. At about mid night or so I spotted a light on the other side of the river and it was my buddy walking in to find us. He figured I would be coming out that way came looking for me.

 

[devon deer]

The fog is incredibly debilitating. Nothing looks the same or familiar.

I would say where I live it's pretty unlucky if you get lost, Dartmoor, a kind of wilderness and national park is one place people get lost.
Fog, combine it with panic and people can find themselves in trouble quickly.
I was trekking with my mentor in fog on Dartmoor, came across a stream and he said 'its flowing the wrong way!'
After a few expletives from me he checked map again with the compass and quickly realised his stupid mistake, and he was teaching me

 

[1100RemingtonMan]

I have never been lost but I always have a pin on ball compass on my coat and never had a GPS till I met a man on the mountain with a meat saw and I said you must of got one and he said No. He said his brother-in-law shot one and called him and gave him the Lat-Long. I thought that was a great idea.

 

[Mallardsx2]

My buddy got smart with me one time on a moose hunt. He was upset because we had to bushwack our way a half mile or so to a meadow I wanted to call from.

So, I left him lead the next day and he led us in a couple circles in the Canadian bush.

The following day he changed his attitude and asked me if I would take the lead. lol

 

[Flatbrimmer]

Three times, I wouldn’t say lost, but absolutely turned around. Even at 10 in the morning- it can haunt your mind to think even for a second, that you might be lost. I’ll type up 2

1) I was looking at my OnX and found a cool route I wanted to check out the following morning. I’d have someone drive me up the road, drop me at the trailhead near the ridge. I’d have to sidehill around the mountain and then crest over a small, distinct saddle to drop down the mountain, and back to camp. About an hour into the hike, I see a saddle above me to the left.. weird, I thought it’d be on the right… I climbed up and over, and although the view was stunning, it was a rolling park with dispersed patches of trees. It was supposed to be a relatively steady decline, and surely I was supposed to be able to see camp down below. I had to drop back behind the saddle and hiked maybe another half mile before coming in between two mountains, with the correct saddle. I literally sighed with relief when I came over the top of that one.

2) an overweight friend wanted to wait at the truck while my other buddy and I wanted to climb this monster of a mountain in front of us. We followed the foothills up the easiest path and eventually straight up the mountain. When we hit the ridge we followed it for a bit, admiring the views below. I glanced at OnX and said “we should just need to go down this one and up that one, and then we will be looking straight down at the truck!”
Down we go, up we go. About an hour later we’re at the top and all we see is more mountains. Turns out there were two ups and downs, the first one being the little one. I felt bad for my overweight buddy, and thanked him for his patience…