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Got completely turned around in the Smokies last fall after a creek crossing washed out the trail.
Spent 4 hours bushwhacking with a paper map before I found a fire road. Anyone have a go-to method for staying on route when the path just disappears?
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margaret_kim136mo ago
Oh man, that sounds super stressful! I always thought just having a map was enough, but a similar thing happened to me and I changed my whole system. Now I always have a digital map on my phone with GPS, like Gaia GPS, as a backup to my paper map. It shows your exact little dot moving so you can see if you're drifting off the trail line even when you can't see the ground path. That combo has saved me a couple times when trails got faint or washed out.
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kai_park6mo ago
Yeah, I was totally in the "just a paper map is fine" camp for a long time. Felt like using a phone was cheating or something. But getting turned around once in some thick brush with a map that just didn't show enough detail completely changed my mind. Now I see the phone GPS as just another tool, like a compass. It doesn't replace knowing how to read the paper map, but that moving dot gives you instant feedback you just can't get otherwise.
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black.pat6mo ago
Four hours?! I would have lost my mind after the first hour. Bushwhacking through thick brush with just a paper map sounds like a special kind of torture. I can't imagine the relief of finally hitting that fire road. That's the exact kind of story that makes me double-check my own gear before heading out.
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