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I tried an old paper map on the Colorado Trail last summer and it totally changed my pace | Backpacking Routes - Free To Speak

emeryc21•6mo ago

I tried an old paper map on the Colorado Trail last summer and it totally changed my pace

I mean, I've been using GPS apps for years, right? But last July, I decided to bring this old National Geographic map of the Collegiate West loop as a backup. I got it at a garage sale for like two bucks. The first day out of Twin Lakes, my phone died after I took too many photos, and I had to actually use the paper one. It was weirdly hard to figure out where I was at first, but then I started noticing small landmarks the map showed that I'd always just zoomed past on my phone. I ended up taking a different side trail to a creek I never knew was there and found this perfect campsite. It added maybe an extra mile, but it felt like a real discovery instead of just following a blue dot. I guess I learned that having to work a little harder to navigate makes you pay more attention to the place you're actually walking through. Has anyone else gone back to old school maps and had a similar experience, or am I just being nostalgic?

4 comments

4 Comments

wendy8206mo ago

My buddy swears by his old DeLorme atlas for the whole state. He circles things in pencil, like a weird rock formation he saw once or a spot where he got great cell service. His map looks like a diary now. I tried it once and spent twenty minutes figuring out which squiggly line was the actual road, but I noticed way more farm stands. You don't get that from a blinking dot telling you to turn left.

adams.uma6mo ago

Oh man, that's so true. It's like we traded all the little messy details for pure speed. I mean, my phone gets me there faster, but I miss spotting things. Like, I used to know which gas station had the good coffee just from the shape of the exit on the map. Now I just get told the closest one, and it's always the bad one. The map had a feel to it, you know?

amy_west4mo ago

My phone died once and I had to use a gas station map that was probably printed before I was born. I spent so long trying to fold the stupid thing back up that I almost missed my turn.

betty_carter6mo ago

Totally get that feeling of finding a hidden spot. Just a heads up though, the Collegiate West loop is actually part of the Continental Divide Trail, not the Colorado Trail. They share some of the same path for that section, so your map probably covered it. That's a common mix-up.