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Pro tip: I saved a full day on the Teton Crest Trail by using a specific creek crossing I found on an old map.
I was trying to avoid the crowded Paintbrush Divide route last August and found a faded note on a 1990s topo map about a stable logjam across Death Canyon Creek, which cut off about 7 miles of backtracking and got me to Alaska Basin by lunchtime, so has anyone else found a legit shortcut that isn't on AllTrails?
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jordan_webb16d ago
Man, that's the real treasure right there. Those old maps are full of little secrets the digital age just glosses over. It makes you wonder how many of these shortcuts are out there, known only by a few people who wrote them down on paper. Finding one feels like you've been let in on a club that doesn't exist anymore. That's way cooler than just following the blue dot on your phone.
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karen_roberts416d ago
But is it really that deep? Most of those old map notes are just someone's weird lunch spot from 1990. I found one that said "good fishing" and it was just a muddy ditch behind a gas station. Sometimes a shortcut is just a forgotten driveway to a house that isn't there anymore. It feels special until you realize you're basically just reading old trash.
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