The shortcut on the High Divide Trail almost got me lost for good

I was hiking the High Divide Trail in Olympic National Park last September and decided to take a cutoff I read about on a blog to save 3 miles. Turned out the trail wasn't maintained and faded into a deer path after about half a mile. I spent 2 hours bushwhacking through devils club and huckleberry bushes trying to find the main route again. My legs were scratched up and my pack got snagged on branches multiple times. I finally pulled out my phone and used GPS to backtrack to where I started. Now I stick to official trails and double check any shortcuts with park rangers first. Has anyone else had a bad experience taking a so called shortcut on a route?

2 comments

2 Comments

sullivan.finley26d agoTop Commenter

Two hours of bushwhacking and you had a phone with GPS the whole time... sounds like a pretty minor inconvenience honestly. I've taken shortcuts that turned into sketchy game trails plenty of times and it just adds to the adventure. A few scratches from devils club and some snagged pack straps doesn't really scream "almost got lost for good" to me. My buddy took a "shortcut" once and ended up cliffed out for four hours waiting for a rescue helicopter, now that's a real story. You had a cell signal to get GPS directions back, that's barely even a setback.

simonp4725d ago

Buddy of mine pulled that once @sullivan.finley, took him 3 hours to backtrack.