That shortcut near Eagle Creek almost got me stranded last weekend

I was hiking the Eagle Creek Trail in Oregon last Saturday and decided to take the old cutoff route past Tunnel Falls. Thought it would save me 2 miles but the trail was completely washed out from the spring melt. I had to backtrack 3 miles in the dark with a dying headlamp. Has anyone else had a supposed 'shortcut' turn into a nightmare out there?

2 comments

2 Comments

amy_coleman2127d ago

My buddy Mark tried that same cutoff last June and totally regretted it. He thought he was being smart skipping the main trail but ended up on a narrow ridge with loose rocks that just crumbled under his boots. He slipped and slid about 20 feet before grabbing a tree root, scraped up his whole arm and leg pretty bad. His phone had no signal out there so he had to just sit and wait for another hiker to come by an hour later. He said the "shortcut" added like 4 miles total between the backtrack and the detour. Now he just sticks to the main route no matter what, calls it the "longcut" joke.

the_eric26d ago

Oh man, that sounds rough! My friend Jenna tried something similar on the Saddle Mountain trail a couple years back. She saw a "shortcut" marked with cairns and figured it was legit, but it dead-ended at a cliff. She had to bushwhack through thick salal and blackberry vines, got her jacket all ripped up, and her dog stepped in a hole and twisted his ankle. Took her almost 2 hours to get back to the main trail, and she still brings it up every time someone mentions a shortcut.