If you got lost hiking, what's your best survival advice?

Share this page

Don't panic.

And before you even start your hike, always let someone know where you are going and when you'll be back.
 
It's too easy to say, "You should have watched Survivorman before going into the woods".

I'd say knowing which direction you're traveling in is the most important, followed by building a shelter and fire.
 
Don't panic, review your map again for last positive location for yourself. Review contour lines on your map for clues to where you are. Use your compass to pick a direction and try to orient yourself to the map. Review your GPS. Call for help, sit tight. Get the best possible shelter and out of the wind and try to stay dry. Hopefully you were smart enough to give someone your hike plan so they will know if you're over due. 3 blasts on the whistle you brought for this situation can alert people nearby of your distress...Or put down the blunt, look to your left at the refreshment stand and realize your still in the parking lot.
 
It depends. Am I lost in a 5 mile by 5 mile patch of woods while hunting or hiking or a 10,000 square mile piece? Do I have gear/equipment? Am I in street cloths with no jacket and subzero temperatures approaching?

"MOST" hunters or hikers have some level of woodcraft and have some gear or equipment to deal with a night or two in the woods.

So much to know in a question like that.

Anyway, stop, make a fire, eat a protean bar, make a shelter with available materials. Find a high point so you can get some type of birds eye view. As others have already said, don't panic. This is especially important if nobody knows you are there. You will have to think and act your way out of this jam and panic uses far too much energy.
 
Darth Despot said:
Water flows downhill.

walk downhill until you find water, follow the water.

DON'T PANIC!
Click to expand...

There is a book by a guy named Donn Fendler called Lost On a Mountain in Maine that tells the tale him as a 12 year-old boy (in 1939) who got separated from his Father on Mt. Katahdin when a sudden, blinding snowstorm hit and he was then lost for 9 days in Baxter State Park -- a place where I go backpacking every October. It's a huge tract of wilderness and people get lost in there fairly regularly.

He followed the "find a river and follow it" theory and that is what saved him and to this day Fendler visits schoolkids to talk about his experience. There are efforts underway to turn his experience into a feature film.
 
as soon as you think you are lost stop sit down have a snack relax. mark where you are with something visually obvious and start using that as your new "home location" as you systematically search for the trail you lost.

most trails are very obvious and its hard to get lost if you are hiking on established hiking trails.
 
As subroc mentioned, without more detail it's really hard to determine the correct course of action.

But what will kill you fastest in the wilderness is exposure to the environment. You can live without water for a couple of days, and without food for even longer.

If I'm lost in the wilderness and looking a spending a night outdoors, I spend all my time trying to secure the best shelter I can get. Something to keep rain/snow/wind from me, and a place to sleep that's not on the cold ground (e.g. a bed of pine boughs).

The above assumes that you're lost in a place where it gets cold at night. If you're lost in a desert or other high heat, low water resources area, then your priorities are different.
 
Smoke a joint and kiss your ass goodbye.
 
First decision is are you going to try and walk out or wait for rescue.

If you're in a relatively small area, and civilization is relatively close, the weather and terrain isn't extreme, and you're uninjured, then trying to walk out is probably the better choice.

Otherwise, stay put.

If you stay put you use less energy, you can make a shelter and stay dryer and warmer, and most importantly a stationary target is easier to find than a moving one.

If you're stationary, once the searchers check a grid, they can cross it off and not have to look there again.

If you're moving, they have to keep checking all the areas they've already searched.
 
My idea of hiking is to the elevator at a Ritz Carlton. :wave:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top