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Tried a 'shortcut' on the John Muir Trail and ended up adding 4 miles
Back in 2019, I was hiking the JMT and got to a section near Evolution Valley. My old paper map showed a faint trail that looked like it cut off a big switchback, maybe saving an hour. I took it. The 'trail' vanished after half a mile into a nasty boulder field. Spent 3 hours bushwhacking and scrambling just to get back to the main path, adding about 4 extra miles to my day. I learned that a visible line on a map doesn't mean a viable route, and my GPS was useless without a real trail to follow. Anyone else have a story about a map shortcut that totally backfired?
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val_singh22d ago
Honestly, that's the universe charging you a stupid tax.
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the_james22d ago
Ever wonder if the stupid tax has different rates? Like a small fee for forgetting your keys, but a full audit for trying to plug in a toaster while standing in a puddle.
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