Vent: That 'shortcut' on the Lost Lake Trail cost me 2 hours of backtracking

I tried to save time by taking what looked like a game trail off the main route near mile marker 4, thinking it would cut over to the ridge. Turned out it dead-ended into a steep ravine after 40 minutes, and I had to bushwhack back through thick brush. The whole detour added 2 hours to my day and I ran low on water before reaching the lake. Anyone else learned the hard way that sticking to the marked path is always faster?

3 comments

3 Comments

rubys8014d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah totally! I started carrying a compass and checking my phone map before leaving the main trail.

faith_carter11d ago

Gotta admit I followed a deer trail once thinking it was a shortcut. Ended up in a muddy bog up to my knees, looked like a total idiot trying to climb out with my backpack all soaked. My buddy still brings it up every time we go hiking, calls me a human swamp monster. Guess animals really do know more about their own routes than I give them credit for. At least my phone map worked that day, but of course the battery died right after. So yeah, I'm officially sticking to marked trails from now on.

wells.karen14d ago

Read somewhere that game trails are actually made by animals (who have totally different destinations than humans), so following them is basically a gamble every time. It's a hard lesson, but I bet you'll never trust a deer path again (which is a good thing, honestly). Sucks about the water situation though - that's the real dangerous part of a detour like that.