I thought I was lost once. The trail left the woods, crossed a wide meadow, and went back into the woods on the other side. There were no blazes, cairns, or signs in the meadow. I consulted the map, got what I thought was the bearing, and set off across the meadow. Got to the other side: no blaze. Walked right about a hundred yards, then left a hundred yards. No blaze. I could feel the panic rising. Luckily, I'd read a book, and it's advice was perfect: when you start to panic, sit down, eat some GORP, and think about things; if you can't figure it out, turn around and head back to known territory. So I sat down under a tree, ate a snack, puzzled things out on the map, and calmed myself down. I had a plan; I stood up to execute it, turned around - and saw the blaze on the tree I'd been leaning against. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

I never forgot the panic feeling, and realized how it could lead to problems. So, when several of us began teaching others to backpack, we ran a drill that called for each participant to walk about a half mile by themselves (with a map and compass.) The route took them to a trail intersection; they had to decide which way to go. (We stationed a leader about a quarter mile down the right trail, to stop them and get the group back together; another leader was about a quarter mile down the wrong trail, to corral those who chose poorly and take them back to figure out where they went wrong.) This forced them to choose, all alone, and then deal with the panic they invariably felt as a result of being unsure they had taken the correct trail. Better to get them used to the feeling in controlled environment, we felt. It seemed to work.