Survival Myth Busted! Finding Directions By the Moss on Trees

Moss grew on the west side of this stump.

One of the pervasive folk legends about finding directions  in the wilderness or woods, is that moss grows on a certain side of a tree or rock.
Just find your way by observing where the moss is,  according to this theory, and you won’t get lost. According to this traditional old “wisdom,” the moss is thickest on the north side of a tree in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, the moss is thickest on the south side. Or so the story goes. I took my compass, and went to several different ecosystems; desert, rain forests, conifer forests and deciduous forests in the southeast to test this theory.
Here is what I found.

Three Maps You Should Carry

Great minds (apparently) think alike. I was working on a story about what maps to take into the wilderness to stay found, when Lucas from Survivalcache.com posted a related story.
The circumstances we’re writing  about are a little different, and so are our map choices, but I’ll weigh in later. (I will put my two cents’ worth: A map is just one part of the staying-found equation. Also have a compass along, and a GPS with spare batteries. None of these tools are worth anything if you don’t know how to use them!)
To read the story, click here.

Navigating a Topographical Map

Do topographical maps seem confusing? Do you view most maps as a mass of squiggles, color splotches and undecipherable gibberish, with terms like: datum, UTM,  WGS84 and NAD27?
In this article, land navigation expert Blake Miller explains how to make sense of your topo map!