John Foster had just scratched the last peak off his New England’s Hundred Highest List. With his son, Dan, at his side, the satisfied climber plopped down on a rock. Crunch. Their compass cracked in his rear pocket.

The pair made it down the mountain—but wound up four miles from their car. The experience proved it pays to have contingency plans in the outdoors.

“The sun, that’s the first fallback,” says Dan Foster, a navigation guru. “After that, I use a map and compass. [Then] I have a GPS.”

Experts agree that a combined approach to location-finding works best, whether on land or sea.

SOAK UP THE SUN  For starters, look no farther than the sky. Orient yourself with the sun, which rises in the east and sets in the west. It reaches due south at its highest point around noon. Bear in mind that it will move about 15 degrees an hour over the course of your hike or paddle, according to Phil Sadler, the F. W. Wright Senior Lecturer on Navigation at Harvard University.

“At nighttime, the thing to use is [Polaris, or] the North Star,” Sadler says. “It never varies by more than a degree from the North Pole. It’s very accurate.” The easily spotted Big Dipper leads you to it. A line drawn through the two stars at the end of the dipper’s bowl points to Polaris. The moon, much like the sun, also provides clues, signaling due south at its highest.

The sky isn’t foolproof, however. Remember your last snowstorm. “On a clear day, the sun is great. On a day like [that], good luck,” laughs Chris Post, who teaches navigation courses for REI’s Outdoor School. In such cases, wind can offer guidance if it blows consistently from one direction.

READ INTO IT  Weather notwithstanding, “you get a lot more information from maps,” says Post, a member of AMC’s Board of Directors. “They’re not gonna go out of style any time soon.”

Learning to read a detail-rich topographic map isn’t rocket science. “It’s really just getting familiar with it,” he says. “The trick is to always have [one] in hand.” Start by finding the trailhead or launch site; identify landmarks like lakes along the way. Apply the contour lines to your surroundings, spotting areas at the same elevation.

A compass, whose rotating needle indicates magnetic north, further helps. A good map will include the degree of magnetic variation (aka declination) between you and true north.

GET WIRED  If you own a GPS unit, bring it. “It’s a matter of safety,” Sadler says. The handheld devices, which receive satellite signals, can deliver exact locations. They run about $100 and up.

But “never rely on a GPS as your only means of navigation,” warns Foster, whose company TopoGrafix produces navigation software. “The batteries will always die when you need them.” (Bring an extra set as a precaution and carry a map.)

As for that other popular gadget: “A cell phone is definitely not the backup people should have,” Sadler says. Still not convinced? “The first thing [rescuers] are going to ask is, ‘Where are you?’ ” Foster notes. In emergency situations, hikers often don’t know. Make sure you do!