Inktober 2024 - 27 - Road

I've heard that when you're lost in the wilderness, you should look for a road. And when you're safe and sound, at home, or at the very least surrounded by people and/or civilisation, that sounds logical. That sounds like rational advice to give out. It sounds like it makes sense. But does it really?

Roads are a good point of reference because almost every human culture has them in one form or another. And, by design, they are things that cover a lot of ground, so it should be statistically more likely to come upon them that anything else, even when you have no idea where you are or where you're going. Not to mention, roads happen to lead somewhere, which is handy when you're trying to find your bearing; if you follow a road long enough, regardless of direction, it's eventually going to take you to another better point of reference, or at the very least people, who should be able to give you one.

When you think about it, roads are essentially the concrete — pun intended — manifestation of what connects us in the physical world, as a species. We use roads to trade, to travel, to communicate. Mostly positive things. Reversely, ill-intentioned people usually try to avoid roads. So yes, upon first consideration, finding the road does sound like a good plan when you're lost.

But really, is it ideal to be looking for one of the flattest infrastructure known to man? When you're lost, dangerously lost, and you obviously have no way of contacting anyone, I don't care how dense the network is, finding a line a couple of meters wide at most, zigzagging across the area you are lost in, does not seem like the easiest thing to do. It's not even guaranteed it is going to be lit up in any kind of way. Or that there is going to be any noise on it, depending on the traffic on the particular stretch you have a chance of coming upon. And there is no reliable natural indication that you're going towards it rather than away from it, is there? It's a needle in a haystack. Are your odds of finding a road really higher than your odds of being found?

I'm beginning to think that the best thing to do is to avoid leaving the road altogether. And if you must, if you have not other choice, that your life depends on it, then you should be equipped. Have a map, a solar-powers satellite phone, a compass, the works. And be prepared, too. Learn to read the stars for the region and season you're in, and familiarise yourself with the landscape. And after all that, if you get lost anyway… get as high up as you can, and try to attract attention from as far as possible. Because let's be honest, if there is any road in the vicinity of someone getting lost, it's most likely going to be one of the less traveled ones, isn't it?