S
Sunseeker
Guest
I'd knock about 7 off those numbers. IOW, a 13+ lets you go north. It's not like it's really that hard. OTOH, I'd probably ask for checks every hour or two to see if they can stay on course.
The biggest problem with traveling in any given direction is that the terrain is rarely clear of obstacles for long, which is often what gets people turned around.
EX: lets say you want to head south. You know that the Big River you are near travels south. Problem, Big River drops into Big Canyon after about a mile. The nearest path down is fairly circuitous and off to your left. So you travel (assuming the river was heading south at this point) East a little bit. When you get to the path down, you find it actually curves off into some smaller canyons, which may eventually meet back up with Big River, but there's no guarantee that you'll be able to continue to follow Big River, or that Big River is still actually heading south now.
OR: Lets say you're in a forest. You can see moss and stars so you can get a rough idea of North. Problem? Some areas are too heavily wooded to pass through, in other areas there are steep mountainsides or cliffs preventing straight travel. You follow the cliff hoping to find a path up, only to slowly be pushed West for several hours.
Repeat this process several times and you'll find you're very quickly turned around, even with guides like moss or stars. Even IRL it is fairly easy to get lost in the woods without locating devices. Add in magical complications and even locating devices may not help.
That is to say I'm not disagreeing with you, I just think a lot of people underestimate how easy it is to get lost in the woods, even if you're good at it! Skilled hikers and guides get lost all the time IRL.