Minecraft wiki entry for Time-saving_tips, associated text: Whether above ground or below, mark your routes in some way. Use torches on fence posts, blocks of colored wool, flowers or mushrooms, redstone, railway tracks, gravel pathways, lit netherrack, or anything else you please. Get used to placing torches only on the left cavern wall or the right, or always place them on the side of a block so that they are angled towards the exit. This way you will know for sure which direction you came from. Particularly, put signposts at key junctions! The time saving given just by not going astray as you move about your world can be quite significant.