In my last post I talked about why everyone should be able to navigate without a GPS.

So what if you can't find your own home without a trusty GPS by your side?

Fear not! I'll share with you some easy tips that help me find my way around when I don't want Google to know where I am going...

1. Plan ahead!

This seems obvious, but it is undoubtedly the most important step in flying by the seat of your pants. Before you go somewhere (let's assume you are driving somewhere or walking in a city), look up the directions on the map program of your choice and study the route. Check out the turns, the general direction, etc. I like to visualize it, think about each turn in my head before I go, and then see how it all looks in real life. This can be tricky if it is somewhere you have never been before, but if it is the city you live in then it won't be too hard to think about the scenery or roads that you will pass by.

As a bonus, just study maps when you are bored. I sometimes do this and it can help get a better feel for an area, especially if you have never been there before.

2. Find a "bracket" 

What is a bracket? Think of a scenario where you need to drive down a main street and then turn off on a sidestreet to arrive at your destination. Chances are, the sidestreet may be hard to spot if you are going fast on the main street or changing lanes. There is a good chance you could miss the turn! So, take this into consideration in your planning process and find a waypoint before and after the turn. The waypoint before the turn will let you know you are getting close and you need to look extra hard, and the waypoint after will be your indication that you missed it and need to turn around. Waypoints can be anything, the easiest being a perpendicular main street (preferably one with a traffic light at the intersection). Be careful about using landmarks, as they can sometimes change (that KFC that the internet said was before the turn may have become a Wendy's overnight), although landmarks are usually easier to spot than streetsigns, so if you find a good one go with it.

3. Know your cardinal directions

I hope you know these, but if you don't, they are North, South, East, and West. If you look at a map, North is usually at the top, South at the bottom, East on the right, and West on the left. Going with #1, try to have a general idea of where your origin and destination are, as this will give you an intuitive sense of where you are going (and if you are going the wrong way). Which brings me to #4...

4. Know which direction you are going

This is harder, but not out of reach. The easiest way is with a compass, but I don't know too many people that carry a compass around with them these days. Some cars have a digital compass on the mirror or the center screen. If your car has a compass, I suggest you use it. If it doesn't, or if you aren't in a car, then you will need to utilize the next few tidbits.

Know where the sun is: The sun is an excellent way to tell direction. In case you didn't know, it rises in the East and sets in the West (as long as you are on the surface of the Earth and not too close to the poles). So naturally, if it is dawn or dusk (or within a few hours of these times), then you can easily tell (within a medium margin of error depending on where on Earth you are) which way East and West are and derive North and South from there.

What if it is late morning or early afternoon? Well, did you know your watch can tell not only time but direction? No, not just a fancy survival compass watch, ANY watch or clock can be used to tell direction if you can see the sun. How? Point the hour hand of your watch in the general direction of the sun (if you are in a car you may have to imagine you are doing this so as not to crash. Safety first). Then, imagine another watch hand between the hour hand and 12:00. This direction is approximately South if you are in the Northern Hemisphere and North if you are in the Southern Hemisphere (if you don't know which Hemisphere of the Earth you are in, then you either live right on the equator or need to consult someone about your poor navigational skills). Don't believe me? Let's check, assuming the Northern Hemisphere: if it is dawn then it will be approximately 6:00 a.m., so a hand between 6:00 and noon would point to 9:00. If it is dawn, then the sun will be in the East, so 9:00 points to the South! Success! If it is noon, then you won't need to draw an imaginary line, because in the Northern Hemisphere the Sun will be pointing South at high noon.

Look for moss: an old camping adage is "moss always grows on the North side of a tree." This actually isn't true in all cases, so be careful, but the reasoning behind the saying is sound. As with above, this will be the case for the Northern Hemisphere and opposite for the Southern Hemisphere. So, why does this happen? Moss needs a cool, dark, damp environment in order to grow. A tree in the Northern Hemisphere will see the sun on it's East side in the morning, South side in the late morning and early afternoon, and West side in the evening. For all times of year for locations not near the equator, the North side of the tree will never see sunlight as intense as the other sides! This means the North side is most likely to have an environment that would allow moss to grow. But, if it is a dense forest and/or in a canyon, then the other sides could still grow moss! So, if you are in the woods, take a look at several trees near the top of a hill and see if the moss is generally growing on the same side of all of them, and this could very well be the North side.

Use landmarks: depending on where you live, there may be some prominent landmarks that you can use to tell direction. In the city where I live, there is a big mountain to the North, so I can use that to my advantage whenever I am in town. If you are in a small town then there may be something like a water tower. In a big city there will probably be some skyscrapers (one time I followed a skyscraper until I found familiar territory). Any of these are useful.

Whew, that was alot of info for those fews ways to tell direction, but it is good to know because direction is important. Now, if you are driving at night or it is a very cloudy day, then the first two methods will not be very helpful. You could of course use celestial navigation, which is where you find the North star and other constellations, but that can be difficult and is not recommended if you are driving. You may just have to know which direction you are going when you start out, and then be careful to keep track of your turns (driving on winding roads makes this difficult).

5. Get an idea of the layout of the city (or lay of the land if you are in the wilderness)

This, of course, goes with #1. Most cities are laid out in some sort of fashion. Some are on a grid (where the streets are perpendicular), which makes navigation pretty easy especially when combined with the knowing direction methods. Other (usually older) cities are built along a river and expand outward from it. These can be tricky, but if you can keep track of where the river is and which side of it you are on then you can at least have a way to get back to the city center (knowing which way the river flows is a plus, but beware of rivers that change direction with the tides). If your city is on a coast, then see if you can find the ocean. If you are out in the wild, then are there mountains near you? What about lakes or rivers? These guidelines are certainly more general but can be useful if you are completely lost.

6. If all else fails, ask for directions 

People usually don't like to do this because it signifies defeat or "unmanliness," but if you are really lost and there are people around, use them. Now, whether or not those people give you accurate or clear directions is another story, but it is better than going in circles.

I guess this would be the point where you could also cave and break out the ole GPS, but I say resist the urge and try out your "talking to strangers" skills. No one likes to talk to strangers these days because technology allows us to talk to fewer and fewer as time marches on, but talking to strangers in general is a good thing to be comfortable with, and there is no better time to do it than when you are lost.

So, I know these are all pretty basic things (or maybe they aren't, seeing as how no one can find their way around these days), but when applied well they can be quite powerful and will make you feel like your great ancestors that once sailed across oceans and traversed desolate lands. Make them proud and go forth into the great big world!