Quote Originally Posted by davedove
I hate it when that happens.

As long as I have an indication of where the sun is, I can give a basic direction. Sometimes on really cloudy days I can get turned around though.

All the modern technology is great, but you never know when the battery in your GPS is going to die. If I have a decent map I can usually orient myself pretty well.

Yes, GPS may be great...but electricity can't be found in tree bark or under a rock. Over the last 18 or so years, almost every year one of the younger chaperones ( on my survival trip) decides to take a quick look at a flower, some colonial foundation or use the latrine, and gets lost. Almost everytime it time winds up being four or five of us ( older chaperones) heading off into the woods, spliting up and finding the poor kid a few hundred yards off the trail. Had he wandered farther without a compass, it is very possible that he could wander for several days without seeing another person or sign road.

Never head off into the woods ( for a long hike ) without at least a compass.