Even then, a 12 year old would not likely have that kind of experience.
I grew up in Northern New England. There is really only one place where you can get REALLY lost…and that is if you get turned around in Northwest Maine.
Everywhere else, if you know how to walk in a straight line, you will cross a road in 5-10 miles. Of course, the inability to walk a straight line might cause you to get lost in the first place. ha ha.
Of course the best advice when you are lost in the woods….sit down. Stop moving. You will be easier to find.
I grew up in Montana and did two hikes in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. Here was the hiking schedule when I was 11 and 12:
Day 1: 10 miles uphill
Day 2: 10 miles uphill
Day 3: 10 miles uphill over 8500' pass
Day 4: camp at 6500’ elevation with a 12 mile round trip hike without backpacks
Day 5: 20 mile downhill and out.
It totaled to 62 miles of backpacking in 5 days and none of us got lost.
I recall paddling on Chuesuncook lake at age 15 on a camp trip. We were right underneath Katadin. Dense trees, no houses anywhere, no lights at night. The stars were amazing. I can see getting lost up there.
“...if you know how to walk in a straight line...”
And therein lies the problem for most folks.
I also grew up in eastern Maine. I’ve hunted, fished, hiked there for years along with my father. He’s the one that taught me the survival skills at an early age.
For awhile in my younger days, I was a hunting/fishing guide up there. To this very day, I can go to places up there right now that one cannot see or hear any sign of human life. Places where the woods are so thick that “IF you don’t know how to walk in a straight line”, you’re pretty much finished.
Just recently, an elderly couple was walking their dog one Saturday morning. Sunny day with mid 60 degree temps....a pretty autumn day.
The dog managed to get off the leash and chased after squirrel into the woods. They both immediately pursued the dog into the woods (their 1st mistake, the dog would more than likely come home). They somehow managed to get the dog back on the leash. Only problem: they were totally lost and “didn’t know how to walk in a straight line”.
In trying to find their way out, he managed to break an ankle going over a rock and could no longer walk. Now, in total panic mode, she took the dog and left him to try to get out as fast as possible to find him help. Needless to say, she walked in circles for hours and couldn’t find her way out, or even find her way back to her husband. That Saturday evening, a cold front pushed thru that area with the temps quickly dropping from the mid-60s to low the 40s/high 30s with a lot of gusting wind and heavy rain as it passed on thru.
Family and friends noticed they were missing on Monday and notified authorities and a search was initiated. They finally found her on Thursday morning, huddled in the fetal position, suffering from fear of death and hypothermia with the dog next to her which probably kept her alive. Her husband perished from hypothermia.
The sad part: The straight line distance from where she was found to their house: maybe just over a mile.
It’s some rugged thick woods in certain areas up there that can be pretty dangerous, especially when nasty weather rolls in, if one doesn’t have a clue how to survive in it.