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PSA: check trail junction signs before trusting your map app
Last month on the Ozark Highlands Trail I followed a map app down a side path for 3 miles because it showed a shortcut. Got to a dead end at an old logging road. The actual junction marker was 20 feet back, covered by a fallen branch. App was showing a user-created trail that had been closed since 2021. Now I stop at every junction sign and cross reference with the paper map before moving. It added maybe 15 minutes a day but saved me from turning an 8 mile day into an 11 mile push in the dark. Has anyone else hit a ghost trail on an app that looked legit?
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michael_green446d ago
Different take here, but 3 miles is hardly a crisis. Checked the calendar, and on the Ozark Highlands Trail you're never that far from a road or another trail. Logging roads usually lead somewhere, even if it's not where you planned. It sounds like you learned the actual lesson, which is don't trust the phone when the ground says otherwise. But 15 extra minutes a day seems like overkill when a 30 second glance at the junction sign would do it. Used the paper map for years before apps, and honestly, a quick compass check does the same thing without stopping. Maybe the real issue is just that you like stopping at signs.
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cole_flores446d ago
Man, I get where you're coming from, but I've been on that exact stretch of the OHT and a logging road can dead-end real quick, especially after a rain when the ruts wash out and the brush closes in. I ended up having to backtrack through some nasty briars once because I trusted a "shortcut" on the map that wasn't on the ground anymore. Fifteen minutes of pacing yourself is a pain, but it beats spending two hours bushwhacking in the dark, trust me on that one. I do agree the phone is the first thing to ignore, but that compass trick only works if you actually stop and take a bearing, which most folks skip when they're tired.
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