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Can we talk about the day I got turned around on the Colorado Trail near Twin Lakes?
I missed a crucial cairn and ended up bushwhacking for two hours before finding the trail again, which taught me to always double-check my map at every marked junction.
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phoenix_lewis2mo ago
Oh man, that sounds rough. I mean, two hours of bushwhacking is basically a free bonus hike you didn't sign up for. Those cairns are sneaky little things, they just blend right in sometimes. At least you got a good story and a solid rule out of it. I've definitely learned similar lessons the hard way, just staring at a map wondering where it all went wrong.
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wade2502mo agoMost Upvoted
Honestly though, is getting lost for a bit that big a deal? Like @the_hayden said, you just end up with a funny story. It's not like you were in real danger, you just had an unplanned adventure. Sometimes I wonder if we make these small trail mistakes into a bigger thing than they are.
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sagecooper1d ago
Whoa wait, only a quarter mile? That's actually kinda terrifying. I always figured people were miles deep in the wilderness when they got lost. Knowing you could basically be a stone's throw from safety and still not find your way back makes me feel a lot less cocky about my own navigation skills. Now I'm wondering how many times I've been that close to the trail and just didn't know it.
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the_hayden2mo ago
Yeah, it's crazy how fast a trail can just vanish. I was hiking in the Smokies last fall and took a "shortcut" that turned into a mile of crawling under fallen rhododendron. My map showed a clear path, but on the ground it was just a wall of green. You ever just sit down on a log and laugh at yourself?
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sean8541d ago
Read somewhere that getting lost in the woods is actually one of the oldest human experiences, like people have been wandering off trails since we first started making them. Makes sense I guess. That "staring at a map wondering where it all went wrong" part hits hard because every hiker I know has that exact same moment of confusion. A buddy of mine who does search and rescue says most lost hikers are never more than a quarter mile from the trail, they just can't see it through the trees. It's wild how the landscape can play tricks on you when you're standing right in it.
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