The instinct on realizing you are lost is to keep moving, usually faster, usually downhill. That instinct is responsible for a large share of searches that take longer than they should, because a person moving is harder to find than a person staying put and every wrong turn compounds the last one.
The established advice is to stop the moment you become uncertain rather than after another twenty minutes of hoping the trail reappears. Our guide to navigating without GPS covers avoiding the situation.
A Safety Note
This is general information rather than wilderness training, and it cannot substitute for a course or for local knowledge. If you are lost and have any means of contacting emergency services, do so early rather than after conditions worsen. Calling for help is not an overreaction, and rescuers would rather come out than search later in the dark.
Quick Answer
Stop moving, sit down, and think before acting. Assess what you have and where you last knew your position. Stay put if you cannot navigate reliably, make yourself visible, and prepare to spend the night.
Stop First
The widely taught response is often summarized as stop, think, observe, plan. The order matters, and the first step is the one people skip.
Stopping does two useful things at once. It prevents the additional distance that turns a small problem into a large search area for rescuers, and it interrupts the panic response that makes clear reasoning unreliable.
Sitting down helps more than it sounds. Physically changing posture breaks the momentum of walking and makes it easier to actually think rather than continue reacting.
Drink some water and eat something if you are carrying anything. Both dehydration and low blood sugar degrade judgment measurably, and by this point you may have been walking hard for several hours without noticing either.
Work Out What You Actually Know
The last certain point
Where were you last confident of your position? A junction, a stream crossing, a signed post. That location is the anchor for everything else.
Time and direction since
Roughly how long have you been walking and in which general direction? Even a rough estimate narrows the possibilities considerably.
What you can see
Ridgelines, water, valley shape, and the position of the sun all give information. Compare them against the map before concluding it is useless.
What you are carrying
Water, food, layers, light, and any means of communication. This determines whether the priority is moving or staying. Our roundup of hiking daypacks covers carrying it.
Stay or Move
Staying put is the default in most guidance, and it is correct more often than people expect. If someone knows your route and expected return time, a search will begin, and searchers work outward from your planned route rather than from wherever you have wandered.
Moving makes sense in narrow circumstances: you can see a known landmark and reach it before dark, you are on a trail that certainly leads somewhere, or your current position is genuinely unsafe from weather, water, or terrain.
Retracing your steps is the exception worth considering early. If you became lost within the last few minutes and can reliably reverse your route, doing so immediately is usually better than waiting.
What almost never works is heading downhill on the assumption that it leads to civilization. It frequently leads into steep drainages, dense vegetation, and terrain that is difficult to walk out of and difficult to be spotted in.
Make Yourself Findable
Move to open ground if you can do so safely, since a person in a clearing is visible from the air and a person under tree cover is not.
Bright clothing or gear laid out on open ground creates a visual signal that keeps working whether or not you happen to be awake and looking up at the right moment.
Three of anything is the recognized distress signal: three whistle blasts, three shouts, three flashes of light. Repeat at intervals rather than continuously, since you will need the energy and the battery.
Our note on hiking watches covers the methods in detail.
Prepare for the Night Before Dark
Do this while you can still see, not when the light has gone. Shelter, insulation from the ground, and warmth are the priorities, and cold is the thing most likely to cause harm on an unplanned night out.
Insulation underneath matters more than most people assume. Ground conducts heat away faster than air does, and dry leaves, pine needles, or a pack placed under you make a substantial difference.
An emergency bivvy or blanket weighs very little and is the single most useful item to be carrying in this situation. Our roundup of compasses for hiking covers them.
Stay dry. Wet clothing in cold conditions is considerably more dangerous than the temperature alone suggests, and changing into anything dry you have is worth doing before you get cold rather than after.
Water and Food
Water matters considerably more than food over the timescale of most searches. Ration what you are carrying, and locate a source if there is one nearby that can be reached safely without wandering further.
Untreated water carries a risk of illness, and dehydration is a more immediate problem than a stomach upset that develops days later. If the choice is untreated water or no water, most guidance favors drinking.
Food is a much lower priority than most people assume. A healthy adult manages several days without eating, although both morale and the ability to stay warm benefit from having something to eat.
Preventing the Situation
Tell someone your route and expected return time, every time. This is the single measure that determines whether anyone is looking for you at all, and it is the most commonly skipped.
Carry a map and compass and know how to use them, since a phone is a single point of failure with a battery.
Check your position regularly rather than only at the point where something already feels wrong. Catching a wrong turn within a hundred meters is trivial to correct; catching the same wrong turn two hours later is an entirely different situation.
Our note on planning a hiking route covers preparation.
Getting Lost Hiking FAQ
What is the first thing to do?
Stop moving and sit down. Continuing to walk enlarges the area searchers have to cover and compounds each wrong turn, and stopping interrupts the panic response that makes clear thinking difficult.
Should I stay put or try to walk out?
Staying put is the default, particularly if someone knows your route and expected return. Moving makes sense only if you can reach a known landmark before dark, are on a trail that certainly leads somewhere, or your position is unsafe.
Is heading downhill a good idea?
Usually not. It frequently leads into steep drainages and dense vegetation that are hard to travel through and hard to be seen in, which makes both walking out and being found more difficult.
When should I call for help?
Early rather than late, if you have any means of doing so. Rescuers would far rather respond in daylight to someone who is uninjured than search at night in poor weather for someone who waited.
What is the distress signal?
Three of anything: three whistle blasts, three shouts, three light flashes, repeated at intervals. Spacing them out preserves your energy and your batteries, both of which may need to last.
How do I stay warm overnight?
Insulate from the ground first, since it draws heat away faster than air. Dry leaves, pine needles, or your pack underneath you help considerably, and an emergency bivvy weighs almost nothing for what it provides.
Should I drink untreated water?
Dehydration is a more immediate danger than a waterborne illness that develops days later, and most guidance favors drinking if the choice is that or nothing. Purification tablets weigh very little and remove the question.
What is the best prevention?
Telling someone your route and expected return time. It costs nothing, takes a minute, and determines whether a search begins at all. It is also the step people skip most often.
Sources
- National Park Service. Hiking safety and search and rescue guidance. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/hiking/safety.htm
- U.S. Forest Service. Know Before You Go: hiking and backcountry safety. https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/know-before-you-go
- American Hiking Society. Hiking safety resources. https://americanhiking.org/resources/
Recommended Reading
See our note on bear spray for hiking, and emergency bivvy and shelters, and hiking first aid kits, and paracord for survival, and survival knives bushcraft, and preventing and treat blisters on a hike, and recognizing and treat heat exhaustion on the trail, and signaling for help in the backcountry, and why do i get blisters hiking.
