see the marks if you have to turn around. Many adventurers have gotten
hopelessly lost because they forgot to do this.
If you don’t have an object on hand that will slice pieces of bark, you can
also blaze your trail by bending or breaking branches. Make sure you bend
the branches at eye level and point them in the direction you’re traveling.
Blazes are most effective when placed at eye level so that you can see them from a dis
tance without actually looking for them. Make as many as your physical strength and
circumstances allow. Traveling in a Straight Line
MOST PEOPLE WALK IN CIRCLES WHEN LOST, generally clockwise. We often move
to the right because that is the side that people usually keep to when walking
down a hallway and climbing stairs. A righthanded person’s right leg is usu
ally less flexible than the left, causing the left leg to take longer strides.
As a result, traveling straight in a survival situation is not as easy as
you may think. Here’s a good strategy: Consciously move in alternating
directions around obstacles in your path. Go around them sometimes to
the right, and sometimes to the left.
(^244) | Survive!