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Telling Time Using the Sun In a wilderness survival situation, knowing the correct time is about as helpful as having a pocket full of credit cards. Time is useful for determining direction, and in a general sense for determining when to prepare for darkness. Our minute by minute modern life does not have a place in a wilderness setting. Still, you can determine the time fairly accurately if the sun is bright enough to cast a shadow. To do this you need to construct a sundial. Making a sundial requires patience and assumes you are at a base camp and not on the move. Once completed, you would know the time whenever the sun is out. The entire procedure is complex but can be accurate to within minutes if you know your latitude and position relative to the timeline. Few folks would remember the geometry involved so this article will only deal with the basics, determining high noon and finding the north compass point. It is best to start this procedure during the morning. Begin by driving a stake into the ground in a flat open area exposed to the sun all day . Drive a small peg into the ground where it's shadow ends. Once every half hour or so, mark the new shadow location with another peg. Before long the pegs will begin forming an arc. (See drawing below.) You should scratch a line in the ground between the pegs. When enough pegs have been marked you can find the point where the arc is closest to the stake. Scratch another straight line from your shadow stick through the closest point on the arc. This is a true north / south line, usually accurate to within 8 degrees. It also represents 12:00 standard time whenever the shadow aligns with this mark. |
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Time until Sunset To determine how many minutes until sunset, hold your four fingers together horizontally, aligning the side of the little finger on the horizon. Each of your fingers now represents 15 minutes until sunset. |
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