Traveling

[DocG]

^^^^^This^^^^ Remember to look back often.

If you're looking for some inspiration before you can wander freely, there's part of one of Grey Owl's books that addresses being lost in the forests of north Ontario. "The Men of the Last Frontier" is an entertaining read, albeit a bit "purple" at times. That said, I'm really enjoying revisiting Grey Owl at present.
Good luck with your story.

 

[DocG]

When I lived in BC, my best mate and I spent a day carefully navigating through hilly second growth to find a fishing spot that we had heard about. Neither of us was new to bushwacking and we'd both spent several years getting to know the particular area as hikers, fishers and paddlers.
After about 6 hours we hit an unexpected logging trail so paused to look around. About 10 metres from the spot we had emerged from the trackless green hell we found a two tone strip of logging tape that, to our surprise, exactly matched the unique blend of colours we had made for our expedition ...

 

[bearbait]

"The Art of Travel; Or, Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries" by Francis Galton has some stuff on getting lost and finding one's way on expeditions. You'll find a copy on Project Gutenburg, and elsewhere I'm sure.

 

[henchy3rd]

There's a good book called Natural Navigator by Tristan Gooley, you could have the character pick up some of the tips and tricks in the book organically to build their internal compass, a month of observation would develop some good skills.

If they need to get to a particular point on the river (Food Cache?) there is a trick to getting to a point on a linear feature. Say the river is running north to south and you head east from a particular point. On the return if you guess where west is you will either end up upstream or downstream from the point you left, meaning you don't know to turn left or right to get to where you need to be. If you take west by south or west south west on the way back you know for certain when you hit the stream you will be downstream of where you need to be and you know to turn right and travel upstream to the point of departure.

Christian tooley, walkers guide to outdoor clues & signs.
I lost mine in the woods

 

[Tengu]

I think it might be helpful to find out what the characters are trying to achieve

 

[C_Claycomb]

Just to point out, ReasonSharp, the person who started this thread, joined up way back in 2015, but hasn't been back on the site since 9th June 2020. Further advice doesn't seem like it will matter much.

 

[Fadcode]

Could be lost in a forest.