Find North using a Stick and its Shadow - The Easy Way

Let us just assume that you are somewhere without access to a compass or a GPS. Let us also assume that you know which way you need to go, but do not know which way that is. Maybe you have some friends waiting for you North of your position.

Assuming it is a sunny day and you have a little time on your hands, here is a simple way to determine which way is North. We will break it down into a few easy steps.

1. Find a clearing where the sun is shining.
2. Find a 2 - 3 foot straight stick.
3. Drive the stick into the ground at the center of the clearing.
4. Note the shadow and mark the end with a rock or twig.
5. Wait an hour or so.
6. Mark the end of the shadow again with a rock or twig.
7. Draw a straight line between both rocks or twigs.
8. This line will be an East to West line.
9. Walk North and find your friends.

How about a little more detail:

The sun rises in the East, and sets in the West in the northern hemisphere. This is a good rule to remember. So, in the morning you set out to find a clearing to drive a straight stick into. Drive it as perpendicular to the ground as you can. As the sun projects the shadow of the stick, place a mark at the very end of the shadow. Shown here in the color RED.

Now just wait an hour or so and the sun will start climbing the sky until it reaches the farthest point that it can. At this point we will call it noon, the sun is as high as it will get. So now mark your point at the end of the shadow. Shown here in RED.


Wait a little while longer and the sun will start to fall. This we will call afternoon or evening. It is starting to get darker out. Now you will place another mark at the end of the shadow. Shown here in RED.

All that is left to do now is to connect each mark in a straight line.
This line will be from East to West. Your first point in the morning being West and your last point in the evening being East. North and South being perpendicular to this line.

Now pack up and go find your friends to the north.