Buzz
Knowing your travel direction can be a matter of life or death when lost in the wilderness. Even outside of survival situations, being able to determine where you're heading is crucial, whether you’re lost on the road or navigating through unfamiliar territory. For centuries, travelers have relied on the sun to find their way, and with some basic knowledge, you can easily use the sun to determine direction too.
Steps
Using the Sun
Familiarize yourself with the sun's path across the sky. Due to Earth's tilt and its movement through space, the sun generally travels across the sky from east to west. This method isn’t always precise; depending on the time of year, the sun's exact trajectory can vary, moving from northeast to northwest, east to west, or southeast to southwest in different seasons.
- A notable exception occurs at the poles, where extreme conditions create long periods of daylight and darkness, with some areas experiencing six months without sunlight!
Understand the season. Earth's movement through space is not just a simple rotation on its axis from west to east; the planet also tilts toward and away from the sun. This tilt creates seasonal changes by altering temperatures and, in turn, influences the sun’s general path across the sky. Knowing which season it is will give you a clearer idea of the sun's direction.
- During summer, the sun rises over the northeastern horizon. As the day progresses, it moves through the northeastern sky and sets behind the northwestern horizon.
- In spring and fall, the sun follows a more direct path, rising in the east and setting in the west.
- In winter, the sun rises in the southeast and travels through the southeastern sky, setting behind the southwestern horizon.
- NOTE: In the southern hemisphere (southern Africa, much of South America, Australia), the sun's movement is reversed. In summer, it rises in the southeast, and in winter, it rises in the northeast. Spring and fall are the same as in the northern hemisphere, with the sun rising in the east.
Use the sun to locate east. Now that you understand the sun's movement, you can easily determine where east lies. For instance, in spring, east will be directly where the sun rises. Simply face that direction.
- In summer and winter, you’ll need to adjust slightly to find true east. In summer, shift a bit to the right; in winter, move a bit to the left.
- Closer to the middle of the seasons, when the sun is more aligned to the north in summer or south in winter, you’ll need to adjust further right or left, respectively.
Locate west. The cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west—are evenly spaced on a compass, meaning east and west are opposite one another, as are north and south. If you're facing east, west will be directly behind you.
- It can help to visualize these directions with landmarks or a mental map. If this is difficult, draw a line in the sand or on the ground in front of you. The far end of the line will point to the east, and the near end will point to the west.
Identify north and south. While facing east, north will be 90 degrees to your left. To find it, turn left by 90 degrees and face north. In this new orientation: east is on your right, west on your left, north straight ahead, and south behind you.
- Using landmarks or a mental map can help you remember these directions. If visualization is tricky, draw another line on the ground, this time pointing north at the far end and south at the near end.
- If you've already drawn east-west and north-south lines, they will create a plus sign (+), with each line representing one of the cardinal directions.
Set your course to your destination. With your bearings in place, you can now use prominent landmarks in the distance to guide you to your destination. These could include tall buildings, mountains, rivers, large lakes, or other significant geographical features.
Using the Shadows Created by the Sun
Create a sun rod. A stick, pole, or branch can serve as your sun rod. Look for one that is as straight as possible and about 1 meter (3¼ feet) long. Take it to an area where the sunlight is good and place it upright into the ground, making sure it forms a 90-degree angle with the earth.
- If you don't have measuring tools, estimating the length may be tricky. However, as a rough guide, if you're an average-sized adult, the distance from fingertip to fingertip with your arms stretched out is about 1.5 meters (5 feet). You can use this as an approximation to trim the sun rod to the right length.
Mark the shadow at sunrise. To determine direction using shadows, wait for the sun to rise. When the first rays appear in the morning, mark the spot where your sun rod casts its initial shadow. This shadow will always point toward the west, no matter your location on the planet.
- Note that the shadow will point directly west only twice a year, on the Spring and Autumn equinoxes. After these dates, the sun begins shifting slightly either north or south, so the shadow will still point in a westerly direction but not directly to the west.
Draw your east-west line. Wait for about 15 minutes and mark the new position of your sun rod's shadow. It will have shifted slightly by now. Mark this new shadow, then draw a straight line connecting the two points.
- This line will indicate west in the direction of your initial mark, and east in the direction of the second mark.
Align yourself with the north. Stand on the line you’ve just drawn, with the first mark to your left and the second mark to your right. You should now form an L-shape with the line between these two marks. In this position, you’ll be facing approximately north.
- The line to your left will point toward the west, while the line to your right will point to the east. Behind you, opposite to north, will be the south.
Important Considerations
- The methods for determining direction using the sun and shadows only provide approximate bearings. If not executed carefully, these techniques can result in a deviation of up to thirty degrees from the correct path.
- Cloud cover can interfere with these techniques, making it either difficult or impossible to accurately determine direction using the sun and shadows.
