How to navigate in the forest
libre 10
Navigation in the forest is quite an interesting task for both travelers and sportsmen In this article you will learn the basic techniques of orienteering in the forest by trees. 
Orienteering by tree bark
To determine where north and where south is in the forest, you can use the bark of trees. The side where the bark is lighter and harder will be the south side. On the north side, tree bark is usually darker and covered with moss. To be sure, you should examine several trees. 
Orienteering in the forest by the moss on the trees
It is easy to determine the countries of light and on the bark of deciduous trees. For example, the trunks of aspen and poplar trees from the north are often covered with lichens and greenish moss. If lichen has spread all over the trunk, there is still more lichen on the northern side, it will be more moist and dense.
This is especially noticeable at the bottom of the trunk. Thus, knowing these peculiarities, you can greatly simplify orientation in the forest. 
Orienteering in a birch forest
Is there a lovelier tree for us than the birch? The trunk of the birch is clean, white, visible from afar at any time. In summer, in its upper room - birch grove - spacious and fresh, light and cozy, a lot of strawberries and mushrooms.
Birch is a kind tree. It does not shun other forest dwellers, as, for example, spruce. Its crowns do not close over your head, as in a spruce forest, do not darken the blue sky. In the birch grove boldly settle shrubs, flowers, soft grasses, birds nest in it.
Birch is distributed throughout the European part of our country to 65 ° north latitude, almost throughout the forest-steppe zone of Siberia, in Transbaikalia, Altai and in the east on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan, is also found in the mountainous part of Central Asia and the Crimea.
Birch is an excellent tree for orienteering on the terrain. It loves the light, its bark is always whiter and cleaner on the southern side. Cracks, irregularities and growths are found on the northern side of this tree. Birch knows how to adapt to excessive heat.
So, in the Crimean reserve-hunting farm in the upper Ulu-Uzen above the waterfall Golovkinsky preserved the only birch grove in the Crimea. Once here, as if you are transported to the northern forest with its characteristic representatives of woody vegetation and moss cover.
But this birch forest has an interesting feature: the trunks of birch trees, hiding from the hot rays of the sun, leaned in a northerly direction, some even touch the ground with their branches. Only those shaded from the south by the crowns of pines, aspens or other trees stand vertically.
Orientation in the forest by tree crowns and annual rings
The branches of a tree are usually thicker and longer on the southern side, and the annual rings on the stump of a cut tree are usually wider on the southern side and narrower on the northern side. However, these signs cannot be used to determine north and south accurately, because in the forest, trees located to the south of the observed tree often cover it with their shade.
For the same reason, the longer and most dense branches of trees in the middle of the forest may face not only south, but also west, east and even north (to a freer place). 
Once the author of these lines, being in the town of Talgar, in the foothills of Zailiyskiy Alatau (Southern Kazakhstan), paid attention to single stumps from recently cut trees. The stumps had sharply marked thickening of annual rings mainly on one side.
The compass showed that the thickening faced north, not south. The trees were far apart, and they received enough heat and light. Yet their crowns were wider and denser on the northern side.
It turns out that in these sunny places, as in other areas with a dry climate, there is plenty of heat and light for the growth of trees, but not enough moisture. The shady side of the tree retains moisture better. That is why tree crowns are denser and the growth of wood of annual rings is greater on the northern side than on the southern side. As we know, the situation is different in the north, where heat and light are much less than moisture.
Trees here develop better on the southern side. Here is what the famous writer M. M. Prishvin wrote about it: "An excellent compass is the trees themselves: on the northern side the limbs on them grow badly, and by them you can unmistakably determine north and south".
The annual rings of tree growth found on the stumps of felled trees growing in the open are wider on the south side. Thus, to determine the sides of the horizon without a compass, you should take into account all the features and compare several signs (signs).
Natural weathervanes
As it was mentioned in the article about orienteering by wind, the wind affects the position of branches and the width of annual rings on trees. Branches are always longer and denser on the leeward side and the annual rings are wider. Birch trees, which are more sensitive to wind, sometimes have trunks tilted to the leeward side, for example, in Trushki tract of Bilotserkovsky district of Kiev region due to frequent north-west winds - to the south-east.
In the east of the Turfan depression along the southern foot of the Tien Shan, under the influence of frequent north-western winds, different-leaved poplars grow behind the Shona-Nur lake, tilted to the south-east under the influence of frequent north-western winds. The north-western part of their trunks has no bark. Apparently, it is erased by sand grains carried by the wind.
In Khabarovsk Krai, especially in the area of southern spurs of Dzhug-Dzhur, bare half-dried trunks of larch trees lean to one side. This is the result of cold winter winds blowing here mainly from the north-west. Along the southern side of the trunks, from the roots to the top, there is a thin strip of bark covering the vital part of the wood.
Some animals, such as squirrels, building their dwelling in trees, take into account the direction of the wind that is constantly blowing in the area. Flag-shaped crowns are sometimes formed under the influence of prevailing winds, because on the non-windy side of trees buds dry up and branches do not develop.
Flag-shaped, lopsided cedars grow in the valley of the Kan River in the Idar White Mountain (Eastern Sayan). The flag of the crown has the direction of the wind blowing constantly up the Kan valley. There are many pines with flag-shaped crown on the Nikitskaya yaila (pasture) of the Yalta Plateau.
In the coastal suit of Gurzuf there are whole groves of such pines. Their crowns are located towards the south in the direction of often blowing on the yaila sharp northern winds, which through the gorge break into the valley. 
When exposed to cold air currents from certain directions, the pine is tilted to the south and has a flag-shaped crown. Charles Darwin called such flag-shaped trees "natural weathervanes".
There are many of them on the Cape Verde Islands, in Normandy and elsewhere. A curious example of the influence of constant winds on vegetation is the uneven overgrowth of lakes in the Baltic States. The western, leeward shores of the lakes are peaty, as the water is relatively calm. The eastern, wave-surfed shores are without overgrowth.
One can also orient oneself by windfalls.
In the Northern Urals, for example, due to strong north-western winds, windfalls are usually directed to the south-east. Wooden buildings and poles turn darker and collapse faster on the windward side. Aleppo pine grows in Crimea, on the South Coast, from the Belbek River to Sudak and from Gurzuf to Foros, as well as in Transcaucasia. Its name comes from the Syrian city of Aleppo (Aleppo), in the vicinity of which it is widely spread.
This tree is 10-15 m tall with irregular, often umbrella-shaped crown, drought-resistant, grows well on rocky calcareous and sandy soils. It is used for afforestation of dry open places in the Crimea and Transcaucasia. Aleppo pine is planted on the northern side of roads along the Black Sea coast.
It is very light-loving, and therefore its distinctive feature is a curved and always southward sloping trunk. Only specimens closed from the south deviate from this direction by 9-12°. For this ability it is called a "compass tree".
We hope that after reading this article, orienting in the forest with the help of trees will be easier and more accurate for you. Subscribe to our website updates and get interesting articles directly to your e-mail.
