>>1974152One technique we often use in New Zealand is "aiming off".
(Pretend the bit I scribbled out in blue isn't there - just 2 rivers with one confluence.)
Hypothetical route in pic. Green follows a ridge (this is where we're coming from), so you can easily see on your map where you are.
Destination is red square.
When you hit bush, you're going to have zero visibility apart from what's right in front of you, and GPS can get a bit hit and miss.
Most direct route is just to follow ridges down orange dots. But let's say you choose one ridge incorrectly on the way down. You get to the river and can't see a hut.
It's getting dark, you're hungry and cold.
Do you go upstream or down?
Using a combination of following your route as you go, and a quick time/speed estimate, you can put yourself pretty accurately "About 300m downstream", and this is as accurate as you need to be - 300m is a pretty big margin of error, so even if you really messed up, chances are you're more like 100m downstream - you still know which way to go.
Also because we're coming down between 2 rivers, if it's flowing towards us on our LH side, we're on the wrong river. Towards us on our RH side, we're on track.
There are many other things to know, that get used regularly, but this is kind of a shotgun approach to not getting lost in the first place, and you can actually get by with this a huge amount of the time without even needing your compass. Just use landmarks like coast, lake, cliff, river etc. that must mean "you're more or less here" but because you intentionally went to one side of it, you know where to head next. Also we're wearing a watch, so know pretty accurately how far we've gone.
*I'm a couple of beers deep, but I think you get the gist?
