How not to get lost in the forest

This is one of the basic rules that applies to any campaign in any composition. If you have not returned by the appointed time, they will definitely start looking for you. Remember this. 

The app store has a series of programs for navigating in the forest that work without an Internet connection:

• Spyglass
  
• GPS Tracker
• ViewRanger GPS
• "Compass 360 Pro Free"
  
• Location Detector (GPS)
  
• "Navigator. I'm going home."

If you have already gone to a new area, then take with you a person who knows these new places for you. If your desire is huge, and you have not found knowledgeable people, always try to remember the road you are following, even to the point that you mark it with a marker. 

If you and the company came to the forest for berries or mushrooms, be sure to decide who will go and in which direction, agree on what time you should return to the parking lot. If you get lost, it will help to start your search in the indicated direction in a timely manner. 

When going to the forest, be sure to take the most necessary things with you, namely:

• knife
• compass
• whistle
• a bottle of water
• matches or a lighter
• light spare clothes
• a tablet of dry alcohol to make it easier to make a fire
• if you are taking any medications, then you need to take them with you
• a small stock of products that do not require cooking and special storage conditions
  
• a charged mobile phone and a spare battery, aka powerbank (required – fully charged)

Rescuers advise to wear bright-colored clothes in the forest, and not camouflaged, as many do. The fact is that camouflage significantly complicates the search for the lost, and bright clothes will allow you to notice a person among green trees and bushes.

Wear things with long sleeves – they will protect you from branches and insects. Choose comfortable shoes with non-slip, stable soles.

Before entering the forest, find out where the main landmarks are: roads, rivers, streams, settlements in order to schematically imagine the boundaries of the area in which you will walk.

Use the compass to determine the cardinal directions to know in which direction you will be returning. Remember that the direction of the magnetic arrow always remains north.

If you didn't have a compass, then remember which side the sun is shining from. When returning, it should shine from the other side. 

If you realize that you can't navigate on the spot and don't know how to get out of the forest – don't panic, get together, remember basic knowledge about behavior in the forest and determine the order of actions for yourself:

1. Stop

If you realize that you are lost, then the most reasonable thing is to stop. Try to contact relatives, relatives or friends (with those with whom you came) and be sure to call the rescue service on the general "emergency" phone 01 or 112.

If you are unable to contact someone (there is not enough coverage area, the battery in the phone is dead, etc.) - do not panic!

2. Listen carefully

Remember where and how you walked, listen for sounds that indicate the proximity of people. Know that in silence (especially in the evening) the audibility of various sounds is as follows:

• conversation – 250 m
  
• loud scream 1 – 1.5 km
  
• rifle shot 2 – 4 km
  
• the movement of a car on the highway 1 – 2 km
• movement of a car on a dirt road 1 km

Do not rush to go to the sound. It is necessary to check its direction several times. The sound is better heard on the slides when the wind subsides.

3. Pay attention

• You may encounter linear landmarks: clearings, trails, forest roads. The quarterly glades are especially convenient for traffic. They run strictly from north to south and from west to east. They will look for you first of all on glades and trails, so do not go off them into the forest.
• Pay attention to the stumps – if there are characteristic traces of sawn, then somewhere nearby there is a trace of equipment that took out the fallen forest. These tracks will lead to a logging road, which means to people.
• Going out in the forest to a stream, a small river – go downstream, the water will lead you to people. 

When independently leaving the forest to a locality or to people, the lost person must provide information about himself.

4. Be heard and seen

• Find a thick stick and periodically tap it on the trunks of trees – this sound is heard at a greater distance, unlike the voice.
• Leave marks behind you: a handkerchief tied to a bush, a notch on a tree, stones folded in the shape of an arrow, an unusually folded chocolate wrapper, and so on.
• Make yourself visible – first of all, find an open place, preferably on an elevation.
  
• Stay in one place at night without moving anywhere. It is better to rest, gain strength by building yourself a bed for the night from leaves or branches near a tree.

5. Keep warm

If you have made yourself visible, then it is reasonable to build a hut for yourself, where spruce branches and moss will fit as a building material.  To keep warm, you can light a fire. 

In no case do not sit on the ground or a stone – in the forest these are the main heat stealers.

Even experienced mushroom pickers and berry pickers sometimes have to think about how to get out of the forest. Compass and phone, as well as signs of nature will help to do this:

• spring grass is thicker in the north, summer grass is thicker in the south
• berries growing in the north are greener than those in the south
  
• trees cast shadows in a northerly direction
  
• the anthill is always located on the south side of a tree or stump
  
• the intensity of resin release in coniferous trees is higher where the south is located