Hit the 500 mile mark on the PCT and realized I'd been walking in circles for 3 days

I was doing a solo stretch on the Pacific Crest Trail last summer and finally hit 500 miles from the start. Felt pretty good until I checked my maps and noticed I'd passed the same weird rock formation three times. Turns out I took a wrong turn near a creek crossing and looped back around twice before figuring it out. Anyone else ever hike an extra 8 miles just because you refused to pull out your compass?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim.xena1mo ago

Wait, 500 miles on the PCT is a HUGE achievement, but you didn't actually lose 8 miles. The trail is like 2,650 miles total, so you really just added a detour. Still, I've totally done that with the compass thing - I once went a half mile past a water cache because I was too stubborn to check my GPS.

troythompson1mo ago

Yeah, that's basically my specialty... taking a simple wrong turn and turning it into an unnecessary epic journey.

verar211mo ago

Haha omg @troythompson is probably my spirit animal then because I once took a "shortcut" on the Appalachian Trail that turned a 2 mile hike into like 6 extra miles of bushwhacking. GPS was dead too, so I just kept going in circles convinced I knew better. Classic!