The first impulse of any lost person is to keep moving. Wrong? The best strategy is usually to stay put and signal for help. Find a way to give consecutive signals - shouts, whistle blasts or smoke columns, for example - to serve as an SOS. On a sunny day, use a mirror to flash signals, but if you don't have a mirror, use a knife blade, a piece of glass or any reflective surface. The International Distress Signal is six flashes or blasts per minute, followed by a minute's pause.
If you must find your way out of where you are, first sit down and get your bearings. Try to remember the last spot where you knew where you were. Then try to recall distinctive landmarks between that spot and where you are now. Ask yourself: which way do the streams run? The roads? In which direction am I likely to find help?
Choose a direction and stay on course by using a compass or by walking from landmark to landmark. Within your line of sight, find two land-marks a good distance apart in the direction you wish to go, before you reach the first, look for a third one that lies beyond the second.
As you set out, glance behind yourself to keep track of how things look in case you have to backtrack. Build small cairns with stones or leave twigs set in the ground. If you stop to rest, sit or lie down facing the direction you've chosen. If you take a nap, scratch an arrow in the dirt to remind yourself which direction you're following.
