No one plans to get lost, but it does happen and often when you least expect it. Whether your GPS leads you down a path deep into nature’s backyard, or you find yourself in a city landscape after an emergency situation, you need to find a way to attract others to your location. Well, you’re in the right place. Below, you’ll find a variety of signaling tips to directly enable people nearby to take notice and hopefully come your way. Some techniques may work, others may not, but with a varied arsenal of options at your disposal, your time alone will hopefully be incredibly brief.

Signaling Tips to Ensure Your Rescue!

Contrasting Colors

No matter what type of environment that you find yourself in, signaling to others using contrasting colors is an absolute must. Simply put, whatever colors dominate the landscape of your immediate area, use fabrics, dyes, or smoke that are distinct opposites of those colors. For example, in a green and brown woodland-like area, colors such as bright orange, hot reds, and distinct blues, can catch the eye of overhead planes or helicopters. In snow-covered terrain, nearly any bright color will attract attention, and in urban environments, natural green color offers contrast against the concrete buildings and landmarks.

It’s wise when actually planning your trip (as opposed to unexpectedly being stranded somewhere) that you choose clothing and gear that offers contrasting colors for your intended location. It’s also a smart move to stock in your gear bag a variety of colored bandanas for signaling just in case you lose your bearings and need to be rescued. 

Make Noise

Alerting others to your location using some type of noise is another way of attracting attention to surrounding rescuers. However, the go-to option of many panicked people of yelling at the top of your lungs for help is not the way to go about it. Instead carry numerous whistles or horns for long-range audible signaling. Signal whistles are relatively inexpensive, so don’t go cheap and buy and carry only one, It can possibly get lost or broken, and you’ll severely decrease your chances of becoming rescued. Whistles come in plastic and metal varieties and can contain a pea (the small sphere inside a whistle) or be pea-less (pea-less will function in extreme cold, whereas those with a pea can freeze and become inoperative.)

Additionally, some survival-style gear like jackets and backpacks have whistles built into their zipper pulls, with others integrated into a belt buckle, knife sheath, or multi-purpose tool. Keep in mind if you use a whistle, or any other noise making item, be sure whistle three times in a row, which is the widely known as the universal signal for distress.   

Fire & Smoke

If something is burnable nearby you, then you can start a signal fire. However, not all fires do the job the same way or equally effective. A fire alone is not the answer to all your rescuing needs, but more so the smoke that it produces. Smoke, too, comes in two basic forms, white and black. Naturally, white smoke in the daytime light is not as effective as black. While it can attract others to your location, white smoke could be mistaken as cloud cover, fog or just a regular campfire.

Instead, you need to turn the white smoke black, and you do it with manmade materials that you may have nearby. Rubber, plastics, and other petroleum-based items can do the trick. These could be in the form of old, blown-out tires, usually found in ditches along the road or in urban settings, plastic bottles, or children’s toys. If you happen to be stranded in your vehicle, then you’ve struck gold, because so many interior car parts and accessories are often made from rubber and/or plastic. 

Spell it Out

For passive signaling, sometimes it’s best just to spell it out for rescuers that you’re lost and need help immediately. This can be done in a variety of ways depending upon your environment. In a rural setting, large rocks, tree boughs, or logs can be laid across an open area with the words, “Help Me” or “S.O.S.”  largely visible from the sky. Be sure to make your note large enough to be seen from the sky. Many times, at ground level, the words may appear large compared to yourself, but they are not big enough to be clear to overhead aircraft.

Adding a signal fire nearby offers a one-two punch to your signaling attempt, exponentially increasing your chances of being rescued. If you happen to be in an urban setting, spray or canned paint applied to rooftops or large walls can have the same results. Be sure to find (if possible) a paint color that contrasts the grey/white-washed concrete color found on buildings and manmade structures. You need your message to pop when others view it, and bright reds, oranges, and greens can do just that.  

Start Out Well Prepared

Often, no one believes they will get lost and need assistance. However, if a person ditches their ego and plans ahead, no options stated above will be needed. With today’s technology, most people can go about their day and if the worst happens and they’re stranded, help is only a phone call or a button-push away. Yes, cellphones can lose reception in the wild or even in a cluttered city, but a satellite phone doesn’t. These phones are much more affordable than they were in the past and will operate in any environmental condition.

Additionally, compact locators can be carried and activated if a person becomes lost and unable to find their own way out and back home. Rescuers will lock on to the unit’s GPS signal, and they will come to you as quickly as humanly possible. Both items may need a monthly subscriber plan, but if you often travel to unknown territory or distant locations, then it’s absolutely worth every penny for your survival.