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Spent 45 minutes crossing a river I thought would take 5
I was on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia last fall and hit a creek that looked easy to rock hop across. Took one step and sank knee deep into mud, then spent the next 40 minutes finding a safe spot to cross upstream. Ended up walking almost a mile off trail to avoid getting swept away. Has anyone else had a simple water crossing turn into a huge time sink?
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troythompson1mo ago
A 45 minute delay on a thru-hike is nothing, honestly that sounds like a pretty efficient crossing for how unpredictable the AT can be. You could have spent hours backtracking or even gotten hurt trying to force it, so that creek probably saved you some real trouble down the line.
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elliotadams1mo ago
Yeah, "efficient crossing" is a good way to put it honestly.
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Read somewhere that the average AT hiker spends like 10% of their day just dealing with water crossings, so a 45 minute delay is pretty standard. Ever had a crossing where you just had to take your shoes off and wade through?
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