• If you're lost without a compass, you can still find your way.Black compass rose image by Makhnach from Fotolia.com
  
  Being lost in the wilderness or in the middle of nowhere can be a harrowing experience, especially if you don't have a compass to guide you. Being able to locate the four cardinal points--north, south, east and west--can be a life-or-death matter if you become lost. The United States Army has devised land-navigation techniques that can help you find the four cardinal points without a compass.
  
  

Use a Stick

• If you're without compass, a simple stick and the sun can keep you on track. Push a stick in the ground so that it's upright and casts a shadow. Mark the tip of the shadow with a rock or another stick. Let 15 minutes pass--the shadow will have moved slightly. Mark the tip of this second shadow line. Now, draw a line between the two shadow tips to create an approximate east-west line. Stand with the first shadow-tip mark (west) on your left: North lies in front of you and south lies behind you.
  
  

Find the North Star

• If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, the North Star, Polaris, will always show you the way north. Polaris never moves because it is directly over the earth's axis. To find it, locate the constellation Little Dipper: The North Star is the last star in the Little Dipper's handle. You can also locate the North Star by sighting from the Big Dipper. To do this, locate the two stars that form the front edge of the Big Dipper's ladle. Imagine a line running from the star on the lower edge of the ladle through the star on the upper edge, and track this line for about five times the distance between the two stars--it will point directly to Polaris. Keep in mind that the farther north you are, the higher in the sky the North Star will be.
  
  

Use a Wristwatch

• You can use a common wristwatch with an hour hand to find north during the day. In the North Temperate Zone (between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer), point the hour hand at the sun. If you are on standard time, the north-south line will be halfway between the hour hand and the 1200 hours position (or 12:00). If you're on daylight savings time, the north-south line lies halfway between the hour hand and the 1300 hours position (or 1:00). In the South Temperate Zone (between the Antarctic Circle and the Tropic of Capricorn), point the 12-hour mark (1200 hours position) at the sun. On standard time, the north-south line will be halfway between the 12-hour mark and the hour hand. On daylight savings time, the north-south line will be halfway between the 1300 hours position and the hour hand. To determine which end of the line is north and which south, track the sun, which will be in the east before noon, and in the west after noon.