That shortcut near Eagle Creek took me 6 hours longer than I planned

I was hiking the Eagle Creek loop in Oregon last fall and decided to take this "alternate trail" I found on an old blog... turned out it was barely used and I had to bushwhack through a huge blowdown area. Took me from noon until almost dark to cover what should have been 3 miles. Anyone else ever follow a trail that looked fine on paper but was a total mess on the ground?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_robin24d ago

Oh man, I've been there. I took a "shortcut" on the Appalachian Trail once that was marked as a blue blaze on an old map but in reality it was just a game trail that ended at a beaver pond. Took me two hours of backtracking through super thick brush to get back to the main trail (and my legs were scratched up like I'd fought a bobcat). Now I always screenshot recent trip reports on AllTrails before I go, because paper maps lie more than I'd like to admit. You end up learning that a "shortcut" is often just a longer path with more suffering built in.

the_spencer24d ago

Oh man, that's rough. So did you actually make it through to where you were going that night, or did you end up camping out there in the dark? I'm always curious how people handle that moment when they realize the "shortcut" is way worse than the main trail but they're already committed. Like, when do you finally admit defeat and turn around? Because I've definitely pushed through stuff I shouldn't have just because I didn't want to admit I made a bad call.