What to do if you get lost in the wild with no gear
If you were wondering what to do, if you, for whatever reason, find yourself lost deep out in the wild, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s talk about what you should do in that situation. Also in this particular guide, we will assume that you have no gear, your phone is dead, and you are not familiar with the area.
1. Gather yourself
The first thing you need to do, is to stop. Sit down, calm yourself, and gather your thoughts. This might seem unnecessary and you may not think you’re lost or panicking at first, but your body is. You start walking faster, your judgement gets clouded, and before you know it, you made a bad situation worse.
That’s why it’s of utmost importance to just sit down for five minutes to compose yourself and start creating a plan, if you get lost in the wild.
2. Get to high grounds
Once you have calmed down and are able to think clearly and strategically, look around for anything that could be used as a lookout. It’s extremely important to get a sense of your surroundings and getting to high grounds will help you do just that.
This could be a hill, mountain, cliff, boulder or even a climbable tree. Be very careful not to hurt yourself trying to get to your vantage point.
When you’ve reached it, have a good look around, 360 degrees. Look for any signs of humans: smoke, housing, campsites, trails, water, especially rivers and streams, an ocean even or train tracks, tunnels, current/abandoned logging camps or clearings.
If you can find anything like that, great news! Head towards the area you judge is most likely to lead you back to civilization. Even old, abandoned things logging sites or train tracks are likely to lead you to something non-abandoned, plus, following a path, even if it’s old, you are able to move faster and cover more ground while using up less energy.
Of course though, if you see something that looks like recent or current human activity, head there.
3. follow the water
In case you don’t see any kind of human activity at all, make notice of any running water, such as rivers or streams. Even if you can’t see any water directly, there could still be a river. Look at the tree tops, if there’s anywhere it seems like there’s a kind of gap, stretching a long distance, that’s almost certainly a river or, better yet, a road.
Head to the river and follow the water in the direction of the stream. Streams often lead to a river, rivers often lead to the ocean. And humans like to settle near rivers and oceans. Therefore you are more likely to find civilization and be saved.
Another important thing to note, is that humans are not the only ones who like to hang around water, so even though animals are likely to be scared of you and avoid contact, you should still be wary of your surroundings while walking. Especially near rivers.
A tip to scare off animals before you stumble upon them is to make some noise. To maximize your chances of being found at the same time, you could regularly yell “HELP!” while walking. You never know if someone might hear you and is able to respond and follow your voice.
Preventative Measures
To help prevent getting lost in the woods and putting you in the best possible position, we recommend you also watch this video by NatureMentor.
You can watch it directly on here, or follow this link to watch it on youtube and check out his channel.
To support us, please