have. But I think the op is wrong about magnetic north shifting to the east. It's been to the east all of my
life. If the magnetic pole is drifting into Russia then it will be west of "true north", at least here in North
America.

For all of my life I've always had to set the "true north" indicator on my compass dial
counterclockwise 4 degrees since that was the difference between the indication of magnetic north in
Canada and "true north". Now we'll just have to move our indicators clockwise to match the difference between a magnetic north in Russia and "true north". That's simple enough.

Or even more basic, if it's a sunny day, put a stick vertically in the ground, put a mark where the sticks
shadow ends then repeat in 15 to 30 minutes. Draw a line through the two marks. That's your east-west mark. (The first mark made indicates "west".) Draw another line at 90 degrees through the east-west mark and that's your north-south mark. Now, even if you don't know where you are you'll know where you're going.

Does it work any hour of daylight? Is there a difference between a 15 or 30 minute measurement?


Now my wife won't get pissed 'cause I won't ask for directions. I just get my stick out of th --- wait. I already have hiking poles. Don't need no stick.

shadows are real long and can be a little indistinct for accurate marking. The longer we wait to make our marks the farther apart they'll be and then it's more likely for our first line to be more accurate. I learned this by doing it and it works great. (I learned it in a college course on wilderness survival.)
If this interests you then you might also be interested in hearing or learning about using a piece of plastic, some string, a small rock and a small container to make a solar still to get some fresh water.

Last edited Mon Dec 23, 2019, 03:28 PM - Edit history (1)

The diagrams in the full article are useful:





Anywhere with a red line through it has magnetic north east of true north, blue west of true north. Green is the line where they match - currently going through Britain, and the middle of the USA. The line through Britain is moving west (but not necessarily the one through the USA). When a magnetic pole is close to the true pole, this gives a pattern divided into 4 quarters, like at the north pole; when it's further away (like it is at the moment in Antartica), you get a pattern divide into 2. A world map look like this:



I think their claim that "all compasses will point east of true north" is wrong; pretty much by definition, if it's east at one place, it'll be west at another. But Beggan is from the British Geological Survey, and it should be the case that all compasses in Britain will point east, where we've had them all pointed west for a few hundred years until now.

just a mite bewildered for a couple hours or so......

"at least in North America". I always try to provide the best information I can, unlike some others... In
any event, a stick and a sunny day will give you an accurate result without any argument!

Northern Hemisphere: point the hour hand at the sun, and draw a line halfway between the hour hand and the '12' on the watch face. That's a north-south line.

Southern Hemisphere: point the '12' at the sun, and draw a line halfway between the hour hand and the '12' on the watch face. That's a north-south line.

Caveat: In daylight savings time, use the '1' instead of the '12'.

It'l screw up the screen for everything else, but you won't get lost.

app for it.

Everybody sit perfectly still and there will be no problem.

Now I’ll never get out of the wilderness!

Easy way to re-orient yourself if you lose direction.

So, I had heard that moss grows on the North side of trees. All the trees had moss on all the sides.

Then I remembered if you get lost fire 3 shots in the air. Wait a few minutes and repeat. I kept doing it until I ran out of arrows and no one came looking for me.