There And Back Again...Walking in Circles ©

 

 

Following a trail, photograph taken along the Earl Cardot Eastside Overland Trail, October 20, 2014, by the Author.

 

This is the is the third in a series of articles.  The first article “There and Back Again...Finding Your Way©”, can be found HERE, and the second article “There And Back Again...What in the Blazes?!©”, can be found HERE. – Authors Note.

Round and Round...Walking in Circles

 

For at least the last one hundred years, and probably far longer than that, it has been said that people lost in the forest or trackless wilderness, wander in circles, eventually returning to their starting point, still lost, and now worn out and desperate.  And it is true!  Human beings do tend to walk in circles, unless they are using a compass or practicing “beelining”, which is when you keep two easily identifiable landmarks, that both lie on your line of travel, constantly aligned.  In fact, in “Walking Straight into Circles”, by Jan L. Souman et al., the author noted that blindfolded people can walk a short distance, up to 65 feet or 20 meters, to a previously seen target, however, at greater distances they begin to veer away from the target.  Souman and the other researchers stated that “Without the use of external directional reference, humans (like any animal) are not able to maintain a fixed course”¹, since all of those tested, who were either blindfolded or walked when there were no visible landmarks or, when the Sun or Moon were not visible because of clouds, veered off course.  And they further stated that humans “...tend to walk in circles when traversing unfamiliar terrain without reliable directional references”², as more than half of the test subjects walked in circles.

 

But why?!

 

An article from the Mining and Scientific Press, titled “Why Lost People Walk in Circles”, March 25, 1893, found HERE.

Researchers in 1893, just as do a great many people today, assumed that the reason that humans tend to walk in circles is a biomechanical one, a matter of “biomechanical asymmetry”³, in which one leg is slightly longer or slightly stronger than the other, and because of this they veer in the opposite direction of that leg.  So, for example, a person with a slightly longer left leg would tend to veer, and therefore circle, towards the right.

 

An excerpt from page 313 of the Professional Guide’s Manual, by George Leonard Herter.

However today, researchers do not believe that the reason that humans tend to walk in circles is because one leg is longer or stronger than the other.  So, if it isn’t “biomechanical asymmetry”, what is it?  Currently, the researchers believe it is because of vestibular imbalances of the inner ear, which shapes a person’s “sense of straight ahead”.  If the vestibular system in the inner ear malfunctions in the absence of visible directional references, then with each step a person takes, a random error is introduced into a person’s subjective sense of straight ahead, causing it, and them, to drift farther and farther away from the actual, true straight ahead and the person begins to veer and then to circle.

 

So, what do you do about it?

 

An excerpt from Better Ways Of Pathfinding, by Robert S. Owendoff, page 14.

Interestingly, Souman, et al., noted that if there were visual or auditory clues, such as landmarks or the position of the Sun, which provided an outside directional reference, then people can walk in a straight line, even an area full of obstacles such as a forest.

 

So, to keep from walking in circles, “beeline”, find two prominent landmarks that align with your direction of travel, or use the position of the Sun to help guide you.⁴

 

An excerpt from Plane Safety And Survival, by Eric Anderson, page 75.

You can either use the Sun to help you find the approximate cardinal directions, or you can use its relative position to guide you by noting where the Sun lies on your face as your nose points in the directions that you want to travel.  Don’t forget that the Sun moves 15^o every hour and that every hour you should re-point your nose in the direction you want to travel and note again where the Sun falls on your face.  Later, if you must backtrack, just simply turn around so that the Sun is now shining on the exact opposite side of your face.  So, for example, if as you start your walk the Sun is shining on your right ear and after an hour it is shining on the corner of your right eye, to backtrack turn around so that the Sun is now shining on the corner of your left eye.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “The Top Ten Wilderness Survival Skills...Number One©”, where we will talk about the importance of making, communicating, and keeping to a trip plan when you wander in the wilderness.

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ “Walking Straight into Circles”, by Souman et al., page 1539

 

² Ibid

 

³ “Is ‘Circling’ Behavior in Humans Related to Postural Asymmetry”, by Emma Bestaven, Etienne Guillaud and Jean-René Cazalets

 

⁴ Remember, because of the Earth’s rotation, the sun and the stars all rise in the east and set towards the west, in a clockwise fashion.  However, the Sun only rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the west on two days during the year, the spring and fall equinoxes.  On all other days, the Sun rises somewhere between north-east and south-east and sets somewhere between north-west and south-west.  For more on using the Sun to find your cardinal directions read “How to Find Your Way Without A Compass, Part One, Orientation By The Sun©”, HERE, “How to Find Your Way Without A Compass, Part Two, The Watch As A Compass©”, HERE, and “How To Find Your Way Without A Compass, Part Three, The Shadow-tip Method©”, HERE.

 

 

Sources

 

Anderson, Eric G., M.D., Plane Safety And Survival, [Aero Publishers, Inc, Fallbrook, CA, 1978] p. 51-63

 

Bestaven, Emma; Guillaud, Etienne; Cazalets, Jean-René; “Is ‘Circling’ Behavior in Humans Related to Postural Asymmetry”, September 2012, Volume 7, Issue 9, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0043861, accessed on September 15, 2021

 

Herter, George Leonard; Professional Guide’s Manual, [Herter’s Inc., Waseca, Minnesota, 1971], pages 312-313

 

Mining and Scientific Press, “Why Lost People Walk in Circles”, Volume LXVI, Number 12, March 25, 1893, [Dewey Publishing Co., San Francisco, California], https://books.google.com/books?id=m5E5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA186&dq=%22why+lost+people+walk+in+circles%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUzJLNkaPzAhUgElkFHSc3BJIQ6AF6BAgJEAI#v=onepage&q=%22why%20lost%20people%20walk%20in%20circles%22&f=false, accessed September 28, 2021.

 

Owendoff, Robert S.; Better Ways Of Pathfinding, [The Stackpole Company, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1964], page 14

 

Soniak, Matt; “Do People Really Walk in Circles When They’re Lost?”, October 29, 2012, [Mental Floss], https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/12892/do-people-really-walk-circles-when-they%E2%80%99re-lost, accessed September 28, 2021

 

Souman, Jan L.; Frissen, Ilja; Sreenivasa, Manish N.; and Ernst, Marc O.; “Walking Straight into Circles”, Current Biology, 19, pages 1538-1542, [© Elsevier Ltd., September 29, 2009], https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0960-9822%2809%2901479-1, accessed September 28, 2021

 

Wolchover, Natalie; “Why Do Humans Walk in Circles?”, August 05, 2011, [© Future US, Inc., 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10036], https://www.livescience.com/33431-why-humans-walk-circles.html, accessed September 28, 2021