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Aklogcabin

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For us folks that like to walk around in the woods. Probably one of the best things in my life. I'm on some other places n they don't think much about me going out without a GPS n phone, gun.
I guess maybe because I never had one growing up, used a compass and there wasn't cell phones. Just mon hollering get out of the house. And I found the woods n fishing. Now we have a cabin I can go hang out where nobody is. And feel very comfortable.
Family bought me a GPS n phone. I tend to break phones and the GPS doesn't work dependably. This ain't the lower 48. Any other ol school folks out there that still go ol school when out hanging with nature. And hopefully you're beautiful wife or hubby are with you
 
No phone or GPS when I was 6 years old walking for hours in the woods crossing beaver dams and swinging on trees to cross creeks so never really even considered any different. I have my phone (if in range) just because I'm used to carrying it everywhere but never have been concerned about a need for compass or GPS. If I'm to be gone for days in remote wilderness I do carry a locater beacon which gives the wife a little peace knowing I have it.
 
That stuff didn't exist in my youth and I grew up in the bush. I had to go deep woods to escape the crap in my life and never ever had a concern about getting lost ect.

To this day I rarely carry the phone anywhere I go, never in the bush; it wouldn't work, anyways.

In the bush I always seem to know where I am relative to where I started. It all just registers in my head as I go. If I kick the bucket out there I am good with it. The bush is my 'safe' place.
 
My phone stays in the house, phones are fragile and I tend to do stuff that breaks them, also when I am in the bush I am there for peace, or firewood, which is kind of peaceful, but louder.
 
I left on my cruise with 3 GPS' onboard. I left from NY into the Mediterranean and back to the Caribbean. When I entered the Bermuda Triangle the first one broke, after two years of flawless performance. The second one, essentially brand new, a couple days later. I got through the Triangle with the third one. I still had my sextant. I never rely on electronics.

When the net goes down I'll miss you guys and gals.
 
Mostly rely on my internal compass and it seldom fails me. Not sure I'd trust it out in the open water though.
Phone may as well be a landline as often as it stays plugged in. I have a GPS but I haven't even put batteries in it in several years.
 
I failed Land Navigation in 1968 Army Basic Training.
That’s where we were supposed to get from point A to point B thru the woods of Georgia with just a compass and knowing how many paces it takes to cover 100 yards.
Oh, it’s more complicated than that, but those are the basics.

Today, when I go out back to the wood lot, I do bring my phone. To take pictures with.
 
I will usually carry my phone but only because Hubby gets mad at me if I don't. At one point he couldn't get a hold of me while I was mowing the lawn and said I needed to carry it on my person at all times. I flat out said no way! He can leave me a message. I just asoon it was attached to the wall. As far as out in the woods - not usually unless I'm alone - refer to above. And I give the directions in the woods about the same as in populated areas. Instead of take a right when you get to the blue house with an old red barn, it's head downhill until you see the big ol' pine tree with really red bark and take the deer trail to the left of the tree. I do usually know direction if I'm out of town. Get me in a town/city and I get all turned around.
PS I'm cool with walkie-talkies in the woods. I don't like the tracking features of cel. ph. (even if off).
 
I do carry my phone and an extra battery. I have used GPS and it works okay unless you get into heavy cover. I still carry a compass and a paper map because many of the places I go have restrictions.

I grew up in the desert and spent time in the mountains of Arizona, Colorado, and Utah and my internal compass always worked just fine...

When I moved here I discovered that we have heavy cloud cover about 1/3 of the time, and I you couldn't tell where the sun was, like being under a gray blanket. I found that unnerving and started carrying a compass.

I don't trust a GPS, the science is fine, but batteries will fail at the worst possible time....
 
The only time I used a GPS was when I was endurance racing. I used it to clock the mph of my horse at all her gaits. Once that info was set in my head, I could estimate the distance traveled during walk, trot, gallop and flat out bucking bronco crazy without any markers or electronic help.

I always knew how far I had gone at my own paces over different terrains. Experience over electronics. Having that stuff locked in is a game changer.
 
Pearl said:
I grew up on a ranch with 600 acres of woods! Never got lost, even as a little kid! The sun is my guide! If you put my address in most GPS devices, you will end up 3/4 of a mile away on a different road at someone else's gate! 🤔
Click to expand...
Now that is security!
 
While GPS is all the rage, and I have it on my cell, I don’t ever recall using it for navigation in the woods/wilderness.

All my army training and deployments were pre GPS, so I use old school methods. I did find GPS useful navigating the Canadian cities going up/down the ALCAN. Onx Hunt is useful to validate that where you are hunting and fishing won’t get you killed or in trouble. I have also used it to mark my cache locations, certain subsistence resource locations, and abandoned cabins, but I’d only use it if I suddenly turned stupid or if in a deep fog that sometimes blankets Alaska. Otherwise I use terrain features, map and compass.
 
This is old, old school. Harold Gatty was the navigator on the first round the world flight, Wiley Post was the pilot. Mr. Gatty also wrote the emergency navigation pamphlets supplied to the army air corp in ww2.

This book is amazing, even covers ocean navigation without a compass. Birds, mammals, insects and fish can all tell you direction on land and sea.

Me, I use cedar trees most often for year round land navigation, Juniperus virginiana. They stand like little beacons pointing the way south. In winter I sometimes use the shape of fire ant beds, just like cedars they point south. Also, a few times I’ve used grey squirrel nests. Their summer nests are on the north side of oaks, in winter they nest on the southern side.

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/t...without-map-or-compass”-by-harold-gatty.1120/
 
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When my brothers & I were kids, we lived in a semi-rural area in Greece with a lot of abandoned farmhouses, large tracts of vacant land, orchards, woods, gullies, ravines, streams, ponds, etc. We grew up roaming the area (including piney woods), climbing trees, catching lizards & frogs (to be released soon afterward), exploring old stone farmhouses and outbuildings, raiding unattended orchards, etc. All the outdoor things kids did back in the day, before the era of TV and video games as time fillers (or wasters). 😒

Fast forward to the Aaarrrghmy, and living in the woods a week at a time... then fast forward to our technical rock climbing phase, where we'd deliberately go remote to tackle crags, domes & spires off the beaten path. We'd often camp in remote places for 3 or 4 nights in a row, and sometimes we'd factor in dirt biking and other activities. Needless to say, we became proficient at making our way through wilderness areas, understanding terrain features on topo maps and in the real world, recognizing landmarks and putting them to good use... 🤔

So I feel comfortable in the wilderness, and I notice things like Peanut just mentioned... moss on the north side of objects, animal tracks when there is no developed trail, direction of prevailing winds, etc. I'm pretty good at using the sun, moon & stars to orient myself, but I can use map & compass as well. I don't usually take my flip-phone into the wilderness (it stays in the vehicle), my friends & I have a philosophy: if you can't find your way around and extricate yourself from any situation which might occur in the wilderness, then you don't belong there. Just the way it is... 😬
 
I guess I am qualified as "Old School" never owned or used a GPS or a Cell Phone. Guided hunters professionally all over Alaska, accept South-East Alaska for 38 years, and hunted and fished Alaska for 53 years. Spent many decades driving one passenger aircraft all over Alaska, I admit I have been "BADLY" lost flying PA-18-150. I ferried aircraft back and forth from lower 48 states, I did get nearly fatally lost driving a Cessna 180 from Billings, Montana to Birchwood, Alaska. I thought I was "hot-snot" flying IMC in a VFR equipped aircraft. STUPID.

The times I have been lost on the ground, a compass or GPS would have not helped. Was too foggy to even move, just and wait.
 
I’ve relied on nature since getting the Gatty book. I spend a lot of time in the woods, far more than most people. Since I use nature exclusively I no longer consciously think “ah, a cedar tree” “squirrel nest”. I’m simply aware of nature’s many clues and they continually updating my mental gps as I walk. If I’m in a new area I might pause occasionally and check my bearing but I haven’t carried a compass in 15yrs. There is no cell service where I live or many of the places I go hunting medicine plants. I carry a phone just for photos.
 
DrJenner said:
We are living in the deep woods. One bar for cell service. Road washed out today, Good times.
Click to expand...
Glad you are on the right side of the washout. Do you have a satellite phone?

Remember, if we are ever in a shooting war the GPS will be adjusted so that the enemy can't use it against us for targeting or navigation. Early GPS and Loran would intentionally send incorrect signals so that only the military could use them accurately. Merchant Marine and aircraft raised a ruckus and got major corrections made but the military retained the ability to broadcast GPS as inaccurate signals, with the flip of a switch.
 
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