JOHN PEPIN

“Please don’t bury me down in the cold, cold ground,” – John Prine

Standing there, looking all around me, and seeing nothing but tag alders, I was confronted with the realization that I was probably lost.

I say probably because being lost is like that.

There is a confusion inherent to feeling lost that takes hold as my mind works to try to figure out what happened. My brain turns itself over, twisting like a cerebral Rubik’s cube, while I am left to pause, standing there, kind of waiting and looking around.

It seems to be a similar phenomenon to other brain wave wipeouts that occur, like when I find that I have walked into a room, and I am now stopped, standing there thinking: “What the hell did I come in here for?”

I’d like to be able to just blame my brain.

Wasn’t it my mind that created this circumstance?

For one reason or another, like being distracted with other thoughts, didn’t my mind skip like a needle out of its groove, creating a temporary memory dump that caused me to lose track of information it had collected and stored that now prevents me from recognizing my surroundings?

Well, it’s not exactly that simple.

Scientists think our innate sense of direction is based on an internal spatial positioning grid in our brains, but there’s more.

In Japan, using brain scans, researchers studied people who were working to solve virtual, three-dimensional mazes. The study suggests that as humans, previewing where we are going in our minds is a very important part of finding our way.

An article on the study published in The Daily Mail said the scans in the research study showed the same brain activity – reflecting the participant’s preconceived expectations – even when they were wrong.

That would mean that the preconceived directions we formulate can be so strong that they override the logical choice about which way is the correct way to go.

The article said this might explain why some people can be so sure they are going the right way, even when they are wrong – “subjective belief can override objective reality.”

I’ve done that more than once. I’ve been thinking I am headed in the right direction, but then ended up someplace I hadn’t expected or intended.

However, that is more often when trying to navigate my life rather than finding my way geographically across a landscape.

On land, I’ve got my compass, maps, what I’ve been told is a good sense of direction and the position of the sun, rivers to follows and other cues from nature to guide me.

In life, I’ve never found the path forward especially clear to follow. In that regard, it does most often involve a lot of previewing in my mind where I’d like to be, visualizing that goal and then heading toward it.

In either circumstance, I more than once have arrived at a place to find a bridge washed out, a road barred with a locked gate or “No Trespassing” signs and fences.

For me, it’s harder to get lost in the wintertime because if I get confused, I can usually turn around and follow my tracks in the snow back to a familiar place where I can then reassess my direction with confidence.

The times I do get lost or turned around, it’s usually when I am attempting to ground truth something I’ve seen on a map or a satellite photograph, but it’s a place I’ve never been before.

The worst cases of losing my way seem to occur with the “best” technology. Global positioning satellite devices used to direct automobile travel are notoriously wrong.

Not only have I been misdirected more than once, but I’ve heard stories of people getting lost in the woods following the devices, truck drivers heading down a seasonal road ending up buried in snow and stuck or motorists being instructed to turn straight into oncoming highway traffic.

I think it’s interesting what happens after first realizing I might be lost.

There often is an immediate tendency to panic, followed by looking at the sky or my watch to see how long it is until sundown.

However, I learned long time ago that the best thing to do is to stop my mind from racing, take a few deep breaths, try to remain calm and reassure myself that I cannot be that far off my intended path.

Sometimes, just sitting down for a few minutes allows my brain to reset and figure out where I might have taken a wrong turn – like unplugging a computer to let it reboot itself.

I think it’s strange how the fear of being lost can emerge even when I end up only a few dozen feet off the right path.

I think that trigger reaction must have been partly imparted genetically over numerous past generations and partly developed having heard countless stories of those who have gotten lost and wound-up dead.

Many people in those circumstances have never even been found.

So, before I head out anywhere, especially someplace new, I study maps and photographs to put some preconceived thoughts in my head about where I need to go to get to where I want to be.

As I’ve already said, this doesn’t always turn out the way I would like it to, but I think it’s far better than starting out with no clear idea at all, instead just pushing through the brush where the path looks the easiest.

In the end, the simplest things can be the most reliable and helpful, like following roads, rivers, paths, ridgelines, stars or other celestial bodies and having a primary idea of which way is north, south, east or west when you start to walk.

Always carry a flashlight and a fire starter.

There are other ways a person or group of persons can be lost.

Country singer Ronnie Milsap was “Lost in the Fifties Tonight.” In the 1960s, Will Robinson’s family, a robot and Dr. Zachary Smith were “Lost in Space” for three seasons on CBS. In the 1970s, the group Bread was “Lost Without Your Love.”

Then there was that whole scene on “Gilligan’s Island.” I think the odds of getting lost anywhere with a millionaire, a professor, an old sea captain and a movie star are about as slim as they get – unless it’s Las Vegas.

Then, it’s just a lost weekend.

I’ve never been seriously lost while out in the woods, but I know people who have been. I’ve also been at scenes when searchers were trying to find people who still haven’t been located today.

In a lot of cases, there are extenuating circumstances involved, like people being debilitated by injuries or health problems, like heart attacks. The duration a person is lost can also play into how likely it is they will survive.

Storms and other changing weather conditions, or accidents like trees falling, trails giving way underfoot and other challenges can all lead to complicating the circumstances for those who become lost.

On the other hand, luck can play a significant role in aiding people in finding their way back to a vehicle or a familiar road or trail. Often this luck can come in the form of serendipity – passersby, hunters, anglers or others who happen to be going someplace else and happen upon someone lost.

Staying put, starting a fire for warmth and detection, and availing yourself of available water and berries or other foods are among the best things to do if you do become lost.

Back in the tag alders, I had been out fishing when I missed a turn at a stump and walked this way into the tall brush, looking for the river instead of that way. I knew the river wasn’t far away. I could smell it.

But I was headed into thick growth with little or no way to get through. Instead of proceeding with my notion that I was headed in the right direction, I recognized that this scene did not look the way I remembered that it should.

I instead turned around and looked for an opening in the tree cover that would show me where the river was flowing.

I found that the water was closer than I had thought. I got down along the river’s edge and followed the stream up to a place I recognized where I had fished many times.

The situation might not have been as easy to counter had it been closer to dark.

Getting lost in the woods always remains a possibility, especially if I am distracted by a warbler flitting away through the woods or following a creek through several splits, always around one more bend.

I think the best a person can do is to be prepared to encounter the circumstance if it does present itself.

Meanwhile, there is an incredible world out there to explore and discover.

And if by chance I was lost out in the woods and couldn’t ever be found, I could accept being swallowed up into the arms of nature.

I can think of a lot less-desirable ways to go.

Editor’s note: Outdoors North is a weekly column produced by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources on a wide range of topics important to those who enjoy and appreciate Michigan’s world-class natural resources of the Upper Peninsula.