An overlay communication system (120) aides determining a route between nodes (101-103) in an underlay communication system (110). In particular, when a first node (102) wishes to discover a route to a second node (103), the first node notifies the overlay communication system, which notifies all nodes in the underlay communication system of the desire. Both the first and the second nodes begin flooding the underlay system simultaneously. When a node in the underlay system hears both the flood messages from the first and the second node, the overlay communication system is notified and stops all flooding. The route information is then provided to the first and the second nodes via the overlay communication system.