Tackling the Great Outdoors : Find Your Direction Without a Compass

You've been hiking all day in Colorado and you thought you were on the right trail, but for some reason it's longer than you expected. You can go any direction you want from the trail and you just want to get back to the car, but how do you tell with way is south?

All you need is your analog wristwatch. Point the hour hand of the watch at the sun. The point in the middle of the hour hand and the number twelve is due south. This works regardless of the time of day.

When you are in the northern hemisphere of the world the sun is usually to the south of you. The relationship between the placement of the sun and the time of day correlates so that an noon it is most accurate. It is accurate to within 20 degrees of true south.