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How to Easily Tell Your Direction Without a Compass

When spending time in a remote location, such as the woods or mountains, it is often useful to figure out the cardinal directions in order to use maps of the location. The coordinate directions are north, east, south and west. When a map is held right side up, north would be at the top, east to the left, south at the bottom and west to the right of north. A compass star, or symbol with abbreviations for the cardinal directions, may appear on the map. While a compass is the easiest method of finding the directions, there are other methods.

Instructions

- 1
  Check a watch that isn't digital, if available. Point the watch towards the sun, lining the hour hand up with the sun's location. Check what direction is indicated by the point midway between the hour hand and the number 12 and that will be south. Figure out the rest of the directions from that. For example, north is the exact opposite direction. Note that this works for locations in the northern hemisphere; in the southern hemisphere, the direction indicated between the hour hand and 12 will be north.
- 2
  Make note of where the sun is in the sky before noon and after noon as it rises in the east and remains there until noon, when it moves to the west where it will set. Note that the directions are most obvious closest to sunrise and sunset.
- 3
  Place a three foot long stick into level ground so that it will stand on its own. Look at the shadow the stick casts and mark the end of the shadow in the dirt. Wait 20 minutes and mark the end of the new shadow. Draw a line between the two marks and this will indicate west (first mark) and east (second mark).

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