Primitive Off-Trail Camping, Getting Back to the Trail

[Nathan L]

Hey all,

This is probably an easy question for most.  I will be on the trail for 15 – 16 days in June/July.  My wife is worried about me primitive camping (200 ft. from trail and water sources). She heard that story of an A.T. hiker that went off-trail to go to the bathroom and couldn’t find her way back to the trail and died.  I really couldn’t find anything on this subject by searching.

So how do you get back to the trail?  Compass, tie his-vis tape leading back to the trail, landmarks?  I have always used a landmark and compass, if needed in the past.

[Ben C]

Landmarks make it pretty easy.  Compass or your phone’s gps could be used too.  Often, there is a little use trail or something, depending on where you camp.  I’ve never worried too much about it as long as I have my gear on me.

[Ken Thompson]

If you were as sad a case as Geraldine Largay I wouldn’t let you out of the house.

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/lost-found/

 

[Matt Dirksen]

Here’s a BPL discussion about a year ago:

Geraldine Largay

 

[Michael Sirofchuck]

Take a quick compass bearing if you head off trail – just knowing the correct general direction should allow you to cut trail at some point.

 

[MJ H]

If I’m really worried, I’ll hit the waypoint button the GPS. I’ve never had to use that, but it reassures me.

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

Watch for a well beaten deer trail crossing the trail. Follow it 200 feet into the woods and then follow it back out.

[Michael Sirofchuck]

Nighttime after dark dumps are my worst fear of getting lost; to that end I use reflective guy lines on my shelter and have reflective tape on my trekking poles.  What really works is having a Luci Lite which I hang inside the tent and leave on when I sally forth.  Makes it pretty easy to find my way back.

[James Marco]

Yeah, getting out and back from a midnight run can be a pain. I have a fair sense of direction, but at night, with only a globe of lighted area around you, this can sometimes be inadequate. Use a red light. This will not spoil your night vision. However, if you have a campfire, this won’t work, since the light from the campfire will ruin your night vision anyway. I mark my trail by a quick glance up into the trees. I spend a second or two looking and more’r’less memorizing them. Then, I turn around and do the same. I know where I am headed by moving from spot to spot, though I dislike moving around that way. I always head uphill at night, easy enough to do and it puts me in more or less the correct direction back, just walk downhill to my first return spot. Before dark, I do a 5-15 minute spiral scouting walk. IE, I just walk around the site, in the woods, to see how it looks as things get dusky and where non-obvious return trails or openings can be found. I wear my compass around my neck, always. I get thin plastic ones and a piece of string and wear it like a necklace. At night, it glows, so this will also tell me direction without spoiling night vision … using a red light helps, too. Just glance at it as you head out. Throw a bunch of sticks on the fire. This should burn rather brightly for about 10 minutes.

Like I say, I have a fairly good sense of direction, anyway, but these are some of the things that are part of a good sense of direction.

[Sam Farrington]

Almost always camp in isolated locations, sometimes called ‘stealth’ camping, where no one else is camping, or likely to be anytime soon.  Also, must have been blessed with the ability to dump on schedule, which is in daylight before breakfast, and well away from anyplace where folks coming along might choose to camp.  But have trouble seeing how one could get lost in the dark just stepping a short distance away from the tent to P in the forest.  Have noted, however, that when setting or returning to a food cache, always need to make a detailed map, showing number of paces in each direction with clear landmarks and bearings at turns, since I want the cache to be well away from any place where it might be visible.  (Additional precautions are taken in case someone does come bushwhacking along and spots the cache).  So for longer distances, agree that care must be taken to chart the route, with or without a GPS.

One morning, after I found an out of the way place to dig a cathole, my two dogs waited until I was incapacitated, came to the location, and danced around me making what I am sure was laughing in dog language.  They were very amused to see the old man doing it their way.  But they had their fun, and never acted that way again.  If only people could be that way more often.

Am sorry to hear about the person who strayed too far.  Don’t think trekking is a solitary sport for newbies in the wilderness.  After gaining experience with  partners, groups, scouts, outing clubs or what have you, only then is it a good time to safely venture out alone.  Even so, there have been some pretty close shaves.  Nimblewill Nomad’s (Eb Eberhart’s) book, “Where Less the Path is Worn,”  is a good read and covers this subject well; but I see that used copies on Abe Books are now going for hundreds.  Yikes.  But his website is free:  https://nimblewillnomad.com/

 

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