In an emergency or survival scenario knowing a few improvised methods of direction finding can save your life. Pick up nearly any survival manual and you’ll find several methods described to one level of detail or another. One method you’ll find in nearly all of them is the shadow-stick method, which uses the Sun and a stick to determine direction. The concept is rather simple, but there are some things that can get you into trouble that the manuals don’t tell you.
Since the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the shadows it casts provide telltale signs of the cardinal directions. To start, find a clear area with full view of the sun and insert a stick of at least 8 inches in length into the dirt.