How to Find Trail if Lost Hiking

Video Transcript

"Hi. This is David Jackel on behalf of Expert Village. And, I'm here to talk to you today about how to find the trail if you get lost when your hiking. Now, of course, you want to find the trail because the trail is your ticket home. But, if you're going to find the trail, the first thing you have to do is make sure you don't get even more lost than where you started. So, what you do is you make your own trail first. As you go back in the direction you think the trails going to be, you want to put markers up. We're talking about making piles of stones that point in the direction of where you're going. So, you know, okay, I came from this direction. I was going in this direction. You know, maybe, every hundred yards or so. So, you get a sense of where you are. Or, you can cut marks in trees. Although, I think the stones are probably a much better way of seeing, of having something that's visible. Generally speaking, you want to walk in the direction that you had been coming from when you realized that you were lost. Because, logically, that's where you started off and that's where the trail is going to be. As you go in that direction, you want to look around and look for any signs of a trail. Now, we're talking about, first of all, markings on trees. Often times, trails are marked with squares that are painted. Of course, you're looking for signs, too. But, more likely, you're going to see some sort of mark. Sometimes they have white marks on the rocks as you're walking around. You want to go downhill. Because there are going to be more trails downhill. Because that's where the trails converge. And, there are going to be more trails downhill because that's where some of the easier hiking areas are going to be. You also want to look for any kind of area that looks cleared out to you. Anything where it looks like people have been walking. You're looking for footprints. You're looking for trampled undergrowth. But, once you find the trail, if you're that lucky, you don't know if you're actually on the right trail. So, what you want to do is, first of all, go downhill. Because you're more likely to encounter people that way. Then, once you're going downhill, you can run into somebody that can say, "Oh, you're looking for the base camp over there. This is where you have to go." And, one more thing you can do if you're looking for a trail is to get into clearing where you can look around and see lots of land around you, look down, and you may see a trail in the mountain. It's not likely, but it's a possibility that you're actually going to see the trail running along somewhere. Especially if you're up above the tree line, you can see the trail more easily. You're not going to be able to see the trail through the trees probably, but if you're up high, you can see little piles of stones here and there or just a little winding path."