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rafe
03-21-2016, 09:33
There's a thread elsewhere about whether or not a compass is necessary on the AT. I'll bet folks have stories to share about being disoriented on the trail, and perhaps even walking the wrong way (by accident.) I can't remember if that ever happened to me, but I do remember a few occasions wondering whether I was in fact walking in the right direction. Usually on cloudy days, flat terrain, where the trail is twisting and turning, and no views of the horizon.

OneDoesNotSimplyWalk
03-21-2016, 09:50
There was one time me and my girlfriend were hiking to the Rock Gap shelter and night fell before we could reach it. We had flashlights, but in the dark it was hardly possible to tell the difference between the trail and the woods. We knew the shelter was around somewhere, but weren't really sure if it was further ahead or if we had passed it. Looking for water we ended up on a blue blazed trail that just so happened to go right to the shelter, but we had left our packs at the beginning of the trail, so we had to hike back up to get them! That and actually finding where the water was took all of about 30-45 minutes. x'D

colorado_rob
03-21-2016, 09:59
Yes, a few times, once on the AT, and thankfully I had a compass.

Not applicable to the AT, but one time descending off of Mt. Elbert here in CO (the highest point in the state, 14,4xx feet) in January in a semi-whiteout condition, a group of us, all mountaineering instructors for the CO mountain club, were just yakking away and hadn't noticed we were heading south instead of east (we had ascended the "east ridge" route). The terrain all looks the same up there. Our ascent steps had already filled in with blowing snow.

Suddenly we came to a little cirque we didn't recognize. Woops! We realized our error and the penalty was we had to climb a full thousand feet on loose rock to regain our proper east-ridge route. A quick glance at a compass before we descended would have prevented this error.

So I guess my overall point is that practically anywhere it is not only very handy to have a compass, it is also important to occasionally USE it, even with just a quick glance.
As I said before, having the simplest of compasses and just knowing the cardinal directions will occasionally save some grief, and I would guess occasionally save a life.

ALLEGHENY
03-21-2016, 10:04
One sunny day I came off of Race Mountain NOBO and took a wrong turn. Not seeing any blazes, I retraced my steps and started climbing back up the mountain SOBO following the white blaze. Two other hikers that I passed earlier asked me why I was going back.

Puddlefish
03-21-2016, 10:08
Yes, a few times, once on the AT, and thankfully I had a compass.

Not applicable to the AT, but one time descending off of Mt. Elbert here in CO (the highest point in the state, 14,4xx feet) in January in a semi-whiteout condition, a group of us, all mountaineering instructors for the CO mountain club, were just yakking away and hadn't noticed we were heading south instead of east (we had ascended the "east ridge" route). The terrain all looks the same up there. Our ascent steps had already filled in with blowing snow.

Suddenly we came to a little cirque we didn't recognize. Woops! We realized our error and the penalty was we had to climb a full thousand feet on loose rock to regain our proper east-ridge route. A quick glance at a compass before we descended would have prevented this error.

So I guess my overall point is that practically anywhere it is not only very handy to have a compass, it is also important to occasionally USE it, even with just a quick glance.
As I said before, having the simplest of compasses and just knowing the cardinal directions will occasionally save some grief, and I would guess occasionally save a life.

Yakking away has caused me to drive by many a highway exit, and the occasional trail turnoff. I've never managed a complete 180 however.

displacedbeatnik
03-21-2016, 10:12
Walking to the Rocky Run shelter in Maryland, when I got to a Lambs Knoll (a sneaky name for a pretty major road if you ask me). Straight ahead was a logging trail. About 60 feet to the right was the Appalachian Trail. Guess which one I took? It was the widest section of the "Appalachian Trail" I had ever seen and straight downhill. When I hadn't seen a white blaze for about 3/4th of a mile I thought I might as well follow it through to U.S. 40 but then it started to get narrow and I heard gunshots (this part of the trail runs through state game land). So I walked back uphill for 3/4th of a mile back to Lambs Knoll and took the trail. When I got to the shelter, people who I had seen on the trail earlier in the day said to me, "we didn't think you were going to make it when you disappeared."

I should have known by the giant tree gate I had to step over that I was definitely on the wrong trail.

rafe
03-21-2016, 10:14
I usually try to refer to my map frequently and to have a sense of where I am (or where I should be) by dead reckoning. Last summer on the Tully trail in western MA, I missed a turn, but after maybe fifteen, twenty minutes of that, I knew I'd missed it; my internal/mental GPS was yelling at me. It happened on a roadwalk, so no big deal. One of the few occasions where I've used my phone's GPS to help sort it out.

If you use a map, you know which milestones or trail junctions you should expect to hit. And if you have a decent sense of your forward speed, you should be able to estimate when you'll reach the next milestone. If something's amiss, attend to it. Sooner rather than later.

English Stu
03-21-2016, 10:27
I think it was in Pennsylvania that I managed to get turned around. I came to small climb in rocks which looked like steps so I stopped and thought this doesn't feel right. I looked around and saw a blaze and thought there is the trail and off I went. After short while I thought those footprints look familiar, oh shoot I think they are mine. So I back tracked and climbed the steps thinking how did I get that wrong.

illabelle
03-21-2016, 10:59
Yes, a few times, once on the AT, and thankfully I had a compass.

Not applicable to the AT, but one time descending off of Mt. Elbert here in CO (the highest point in the state, 14,4xx feet) in January in a semi-whiteout condition, a group of us, all mountaineering instructors for the CO mountain club, were just yakking away and hadn't noticed we were heading south instead of east (we had ascended the "east ridge" route). The terrain all looks the same up there. Our ascent steps had already filled in with blowing snow.

Suddenly we came to a little cirque we didn't recognize. Woops! We realized our error and the penalty was we had to climb a full thousand feet on loose rock to regain our proper east-ridge route. A quick glance at a compass before we descended would have prevented this error.

So I guess my overall point is that practically anywhere it is not only very handy to have a compass, it is also important to occasionally USE it, even with just a quick glance.
As I said before, having the simplest of compasses and just knowing the cardinal directions will occasionally save some grief, and I would guess occasionally save a life.

Another important overall point is to individually take responsibility for knowing where you are and where you're heading instead of blindly following a leader. Something for the mountaineering instructors to add to their curriculum, maybe? :)

I remember a few times heading off the wrong way, usually out of a shelter, and my husband corrected me. It's a good thing he was paying attention.

Spirit Walker
03-21-2016, 11:06
On western trails, which aren't usually blazed, I've gotten off course fairly frequently. I usually have a pretty good sense though of which direction I'm supposed to be hiking so I notice when I'm hiking a different direction. On the CDT the compass was very useful for checking whether we were actually heading south east or not. On the AT, with the ubiquitous blazing, it's a bit harder to get off track, but still possible, especially in bad weather.

On my first thruhike in Grayson Highlands I was hiking in dense fog. Couldn't see 10 feet ahead of me. I followed one of several trails, which turned out to be horse paths, not my hiking trail. When I realized the trail had disappeared, I turned around. Fortunately, when I reached the trail junction again, the fog lifted enough to see a blazed tree going in the right direction.

In VA, near the James River, we were talking and not paying attention to the trail, which was on a dirt road. We stepped over a couple of branches and, by looking at our feet, missed the double blaze on a tree. We kept going up that road for about a mile before we realized there were no more footsteps in the dirt. Looking at our map, we realized where we were supposed to have turned, and that there was no possibility of doing a cross-country hike to get back to the trail. So we turned around. That was a long day.

Another time, in SNP, I turned off on a very faintly blazed yellow trail (horses). It took a while before I realized that the blazes weren't just dirty white.

Slo-go'en
03-21-2016, 11:10
On the AT I think it's more common to loose the trail by taking a wrong turn (or not making a turn). Which I guess qualifies as going in the wrong direction. We've all probably done that at least a couple of times. I know I have.

I've met a few hikers who left a shelter well before me in the morning and then have them come up behind me later in the day while I'm taking a break. I'd ask how the heck did you get behind me and they would sheepishly admit they went the wrong way when leaving the shelter and went a mile or two before noticing!

saltysack
03-21-2016, 12:07
There was one time me and my girlfriend were hiking to the Rock Gap shelter and night fell before we could reach it. We had flashlights, but in the dark it was hardly possible to tell the difference between the trail and the woods. We knew the shelter was around somewhere, but weren't really sure if it was further ahead or if we had passed it. Looking for water we ended up on a blue blazed trail that just so happened to go right to the shelter, but we had left our packs at the beginning of the trail, so we had to hike back up to get them! That and actually finding where the water was took all of about 30-45 minutes. x'D

Reason I never drop my pack!!!


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saltysack
03-21-2016, 12:10
I did miss the trail alittle before wayah bald tower....I veered off to left on another trail....after seeing no blazes for a few hundred yards I back tracked...problem solved... Compass wouldn't have done much good without a good map.


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Seatbelt
03-21-2016, 12:15
I took a wrong turn in Grayson Highlands last fall and hiked about a 1/4 mile until I came to another trail sign then realized I had to backtrack. Also right before I got to Wise shelter, in the dark, I had some trouble finding the trail because leaves had blown all around covering the trail.

WingedMonkey
03-21-2016, 12:15
My most memorial wrong turn was at least still going north.

On a thru hike, I kept going past Maine Junction with the Long Trail until I got to Tucker-Johnson shelter. About a mile each way at that time.

I picked up the shelter log, started to read, and had a "oh sh#@" moment.

I blame it on a late start out of the The Inn At Long Trail.

:p

Dogwood
03-21-2016, 12:32
Left the Mauna Loa Lookout TH under 94* 5 mph breeze sunny bright blue clear skies with a late afternoon start expecting to reach Red Hill Cabin right around sundown. Dillly dallied some checking out some lava pits, trees, etc. Soon was above treeline with only cairns to follow. Went to 40* in a high wind in two hrs with a thick fog with visibility getting less and less until I couldn't see my outstretched hand in front of my face around dusk. Then it started misting. Then rain. Then whiteout snowfall in heavy wind in sub freezing weather. I was getting drenched and could have easily gotten lost wandering off into some dangerous places under zero visibility. Couldn't see the cairns. Compass on ATM watch failed due to loss of solar battery charging capability and me not having it fully charged before heading out. Not sure how much a compass would have helped anyway because I didn't know exactly where I was without elevation and not being able to see a map in zero visibility. Hunkered down where I thought was right next to the "trail." There really was no trail though just a route from cairn to cairn to cairn...when you can detect the cairns on the Martian monotonous resembling terrain. Snow getting deeper. No shelter. Pertex Quantum shell sleeping bag shortly soaked through. Got even colder. Sleeping bag froze. All my wet stuff frozen with rime. Started shivering despite wearing all I had. Decided I had to pack up and descend. I had to get moving to warm up. Thought I was descending. Had patches of greater visibility as the snow started falling in waves. Couldn't detect anything on the mountain though. Couldn't find the route or cairns. So disoriented I was astonished that I was actually slightly ascending right to Red Hill Cabin not knowing I was going in that direction until I was less than 100 ft from the cabin. Wandered into the cabin a 4:30 a.m. shivering almost uncontrollably. Dry extra sleeping bags were at the cabin. Next day it was in the mid 90*'s again and the snow was all gone by 1 p.m. and my drenched down sleeping bag was fully dry.

dudeijuststarted
03-21-2016, 13:04
I was struggling going NOBO out of NOC toward Cheoah Bald. I stopped at a lookout and when I jumped back on trail I went the wrong direction. After about an hour of descending another hiker passed me by northbound, and after some discussion we concluded that I was going the wrong way. He suggested I "get my bearings." From that point on, when I stop, I draw an arrow in the dirt with my trekking pole or at least make a very good mental note of which way I need to go!

saltysack
03-21-2016, 13:12
I was struggling going NOBO out of NOC toward Cheoah Bald. I stopped at a lookout and when I jumped back on trail I went the wrong direction. After about an hour of descending another hiker passed me by northbound, and after some discussion we concluded that I was going the wrong way. He suggested I "get my bearings." From that point on, when I stop, I draw an arrow in the dirt with my trekking pole or at least make a very good mental note of which way I need to go!

I almost made that mistake at the same spot while night hiking...I ended up looking at the guthook guide I'd downloaded..saved my arse...


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GoldenBear
03-21-2016, 13:41
And I'm amazed at how many times I missed VERY clear clues that I was going the wrong way.

I was going up a hill and was about to reach the top, when I got two meters off The Trail before recognizing my mistake.
Then I started going DOWN the hill -- for reasons I'll never know.
It wasn't weather (clear & sky-blue), impatience (I was in no hurry on this day-trip), or inability to concentrate. Plain & simple, I screwed up.

I had a map showing that the top of the hill was fairly flat; thus, there was no way I would get to the top and then IMMEDIATELY start going downhill.
More than once I passed stuff that made me think, "How odd -- I saw something like this while going up the hill."
My mind kept telling me, "Are you sure you're going the right way?" But I was too stubborn to admit my mistake.

I got almost to the bottom when I sat on log that, by an incredible coincidence, I had sat on before starting my first climb. The identical feeling I had while sitting was the final clue that I had made a mistake. I reluctantly re-climbed the hill, losing about 90 minutes due to a two-second error.

With the Guthook app I now use, I can't imagine doing anything near as silly as this again.

Grandscale
03-21-2016, 13:56
Once around Rausch Gap Shelter. I had a lot on my mind that morning and took off on a day hike in the wrong direction. I figured it out a few miles in. It ended up being a really nice hike. It wasn't a big deal because it was just a day hike (out and back). Either direction would have been fine although I had originally planned on going the opposite way.

rafe
03-21-2016, 14:00
I passed by a small summit (Silers Bald, I think) in the Smokies on a cloudy day. Eyes forward, I missed the blaze that was painted on the rock, right smack on the summit, but I was following some sort of path, because others had clearly gone that way. Within a few dozen yards the trail re-entered the woods, but the "trail" was filled with gnarly brush and insanely steep. But clearly, others had made this same mistake, there were clear signs of that happening -- footprints, broken-off branches, etc. After several minutes of cussin' and swearing I decided this had to be a mistake. Retraced my steps to the summit, and only then did I observe the blaze telling me to turn 90 degrees to the right.

Actually, when I started the thread, I was thinking more about cases where one actually walks the wrong (reverse) direction from what one intended, for whatever reason. Many times, after a break by the side of the trail, I found myself trying to remember which way to go.

tagg
03-21-2016, 14:23
I stopped for a snack on a sunny rock somewhere near the GA/NC line and ended up napping for 30 minutes or so. After hiking on for about an hour, I passed a spring where I had gotten water before my nap. Welllll, crap. I got to know that two mile stretch of trail well.

BuckeyeHiker
03-21-2016, 15:29
I got turned around near the boulders just north of Doll Flats. Had not seen a blaze in a long time and honestly wasn't paying much attention. I came across sticks someone placed on the trail that I couldn't figure out if it was an arrow pointing the opposite direction or an AT symbol. Out of curiosity I turned back the way I came until I found a blaze. In between there were no other trails only steep dropoffs. I only backtracked 1/4 mile at the most.
Long story short I dont think a compass would have helped in my case.

Busky2
03-21-2016, 15:51
Well, way back when...... two guys 17 1/2yo were dropped off in the dark near Snickers Gap with the intentions of going north. They hiked by moonlight (full moon) thinking it was cool but because they slept in the car they did not know the car had made a U turn prior to their getting on the trail. As the sun started to come up on the wrong side of the Earth, go figure, those poor dumb hikers started to think something was amiss. Rather than backtrack and lose a day and the night's mileage they continued SOBO without really knowing where they were or where they were going. Gas station maps were all they had but they were for the North with the trail marked on them. There were no guides like we have today available back then. It was interesting and fun and full of strange stories and a few stranger peps.

billreillyjr
03-21-2016, 16:30
Once I used the sun to determine north,it turned out the trail was going south on the way north.

rafe
03-21-2016, 16:36
Once I used the sun to determine north,it turned out the trail was going south on the way north.

Which it does quite frequently. ;)

Leo L.
03-21-2016, 17:12
Not on the AT, but in the mountains around here in the middle of winter.
We hiked up to an Alpine hut, heavy backpacks, intending to spend New Year up there.
We both didn't know the way very well, but had a feeling that we must be pretty close to the hut, but just didn't make it before it got foggy and dusk and started to snow. Hiked on for another hour or two in the increasingly deep snow until we were on the edge of exhaustion. Finally decided to bivouac huddeled together under a huge fir, shivering through the night, memorizing poems and inventing nonsense jokes to pass the time. In the middle of the night the sky opened, and we had a bright view over a wide stretch of open snow field with some hills in the distance - a desert-like landscape, as lonely and never travelled as it could be. The moon had come up - but wait, it was in the opposite direction of where it should have been. We started a big quarrel, my friend insisting the moon would travel just opposite of the sun, raising in the west, setting in the east - then the appearence of the moon would have fit. Me, I was sure the moon was going from east to west, so the moon definitely was on our wrong side.
Clouds closed in, and the snow storm picked up again. We continued shivering, memorizing and quarreling.
We finally made it until dawn.
Looking down over the vast open snow field, it was a basin we had crossed hours before we had stopped for the night, and by accident had made a U-turn on the far side of the basin, had hiked back on the near side of the basin to stop for our bivouac just a few meters off the track (covered by fresh snow now) we had made some hours before.
Yes, a compass, a map and some cool mind in using it would have saved us.

Malto
03-21-2016, 17:24
I made a wrong turn at tricorner shelter in GSMNP. We arrived at the shelter in the dark in pissing rain and then over night it had snowed. The next morning I hit the trail in the dark and quietly realized that my hiking partner was nowhere to be found. I backtracked, found his prints and I was back on track. Luckily it was only a hundred yards.

egilbe
03-21-2016, 18:02
You know that you can be a nobo hiker on the AT and still be heading either North, East, West, or South. Having a compass isn't going to help when the trail loops around like that.

earlyriser26
03-21-2016, 18:27
Hiking North bound into Port Clinton I wasn't paying attention and took a right short side trail. I walked only about 0.2 of a mile and hit a gravel road and I saw no blazes, so I looked at my map and it showed a gravel road 0.2 from where I mistakenly made the turn. The showed the trail turning right on a gravel road for 0.3 0f a mile so I made a right turn. I clearly waked more than a mile on the gravel road and was about to turn back when I came to the AT. I turned right again and soon found that I was on a part of the trail I had already done. How was I going backwards? I sat for an hour before I finally figured it out. I had made a complete circle. I should have realized when I didn't see a blaze at the road that I was lost.

evyck da fleet
03-21-2016, 20:18
Yes at the top of the mountain passed the James River in Virginia. Left in, left out only works when you don't walk past the viewpoint and decide to go back to take a picture. About five minutes after I started to descend I questioned if I was going the wrong way when the views looked a little too familiar. I stopped for a snack break, pulled out the guidebook, checked the weather on my phone which I never do and decided to keep going when no one else had come along. Sometime later I heard someone call out my name. It was hikers I had met while stopped for a break at the shelter at the bottom of the mountain. I just stared at them confused until they told me to follow them. I lost about an hour in total retracing my steps and never did figure out where I got turned around.

On the AT I frequently missed turns, think gravel roads along the trail and stepping over branches, but I always noticed within five minutes. Usually less when I suspected I might be going the wrong way.

I did almost get lost in the woods when nature called. I had to walk around a fallen tree going in and took a bad angle back out towards the trail in PA. The brush was only about two feet and I should have been able to see the trail had someone come by. But I had to turn around, walk back to the tree and picture the angle I saw it at coming in to judge where to go back out. I found the trail but still missed the point I entered by about 40 yards. After that I always left my pack at the point I was about to lose sight of the trail and keep it in sight as I went outside of the viewing area from the trail.

trpost
03-22-2016, 09:04
You know that you can be a nobo hiker on the AT and still be heading either North, East, West, or South. Having a compass isn't going to help when the trail loops around like that.

In 1990 somewhere near Pogo campsite I came across Ed Garvey. He was staring at his compass, unsure of the direction to travel. It seems he had gone for water and when he returned couldn't remember the direction he had left the trail. I told him I was head north, and had not left the trail. He told me that his compass said that the way I was going was south. After I took out my map and showed him where we were, he followed me. A compass on the trail is only truly useful if you have maps to go with it.

I personally got turned around really badly one evening while hiking back from watching the sunset on Old Rag mountain. Just as I hit the fire road in the dark, my flashlight bulb burnt out. I didn't have a second light, so couldn't see to change the bulb, so I started toward the parking area in the dark. Got to the streams with multiple foot bridges about 1/2 mile from the parking lot, crossed everything, and walked for over a mile when I realized I was on a metal bridge, and I knew there were no more bridges between the streams and the parking lot. Seems I had gotten turned around. An hour or so later finally got to my car and found a pay phone (before cell phone days) and got in touch with my dad just in time to keep him from calling search and rescue.

Puddlefish
03-22-2016, 09:16
After that I always left my pack at the point I was about to lose sight of the trail and keep it in sight as I went outside of the viewing area from the trail.

This seems like a good idea, I'm going to include it in my routine.

Trance
03-22-2016, 10:35
Coming down Blood Mountain to Neels Gap I kind of lost the trail and veered off to the left along the ridge.

Recalc
03-22-2016, 11:36
My trail name is Recalc for a reason, history has me making a lot of wrong turns. The problem came from my history as a runner. I like to get into the zone and crank, one step at a time without looking up much. That caused me to miss more trail turns than I care to admit. When I made a point to consistently look up from time to time, the ability to follow a trail improved. Paying attention is making me a better hiker.

Spirit Walker
03-22-2016, 12:05
When we were heading into Delaware Water Gap on our NOBO thruhike, we met a couple that asked us "How far is it to Sunfish Pond." We told them that not only were they going the wrong direction, they were in the wrong state.

CamelMan
03-22-2016, 12:11
Coming down Blood Mountain to Neels Gap I kind of lost the trail and veered off to the left along the ridge.

I did this twice. In 2010 and 2013. But the second time I remembered what was going on, and found the trail again pretty quickly.

Once coming out of a shelter I turned the wrong direction and proceeded a few yards, but it looked too familiar so I took a compass reading and corrected myself. I just could not remember if I turned left or right onto the shelter side trail. I was lucky that the piece of trail went in the "correct" directions. I suppose eventually I would have noticed or run into somebody to ask.

runt13
03-22-2016, 12:22
5 sometimes 6 days a week i walk the wrong direction, to my truck to drive to work!

RUNT ''13''

soumodeler
03-22-2016, 12:24
With the AWOL Guide (not sure about the Companion, but it probably is) the shelters and many landmarks are always listed East or West of the trail. This is a general direction for hiking the trail northbound. So if you get confused or need to make sure, it is easy to determine which direction to turn out of the shelter by looking at the guidebook. Traveling north, you turn right if you were on the east side and left if on the west side.

TexasBob
03-22-2016, 18:30
............ admit they went the wrong way when leaving the shelter and went a mile or two before noticing!

Guilty, but it was only a couple of hundred yards before I figured it out.

Postmark
03-22-2016, 18:47
I went in the wrong direction once but it was planned.. :sun:D

Alligator
03-22-2016, 23:22
.evah I seY

rocketsocks
03-22-2016, 23:32
I've been temporarily misplace, but only momentarily.

Traveler
03-23-2016, 07:14
You know that you can be a nobo hiker on the AT and still be heading either North, East, West, or South. Having a compass isn't going to help when the trail loops around like that.

I've used a compass for this very thing a few times. Getting a feeling you are not going the right direction or have left the trail can be the only notice you have. With a compass with a decent map you can likely find yourself on the map fairly quickly. If there are several turns of the trail that you can be on that are south for example, you can compare where you are with the terrain shown on the map.

While a compass without a map may not provide instant help, not having one doesn't give anyone an advantage.

rocketsocks
03-23-2016, 07:43
You know that you can be a nobo hiker on the AT and still be heading either North, East, West, or South. Having a compass isn't going to help when the trail loops around like that.verwy verwy twue. I GA ya head East... Then West. In NJ you head nor east, then South.

rocketsocks
03-23-2016, 07:45
verwy verwy twue. I GA ya head East... Then West. In NJ you head nor east, then South.Maine has a few hooky hooks as well. The AT is anything but Point A to point T

greensleep
03-23-2016, 10:51
For the last 40 years; next year I'll be headed in the right direction finally.

greensleep
03-23-2016, 11:08
slow learner

Bearleg
03-23-2016, 11:21
The big question is do miles walked in the wrong direction count toward your 2000 mile badge?

Traveler
03-23-2016, 11:27
The big question is do miles walked in the wrong direction count toward your 2000 mile badge?

Good question! To compound that with another great philosophical one; if one day hikes the entire trail in a year; from a parking area at one end of the day hike that has to be returned to on the same trail, creating both a north bound and south bound hike; does that qualify for both a NOBO and a SOBO in the same year?

Seatbelt
03-23-2016, 11:47
The big question is do miles walked in the wrong direction count toward your 2000 mile badge?

Sorry, they just count toward your education.

English Stu
03-23-2016, 17:12
After a stop to make sure of the direction to go I make twig arrows, even at lunch stops.

sheepdog
03-23-2016, 17:25
I walked 5 miles south when I wanted to go north my first day of a section hike north of Erwin. When I got to the wrong shelter I turned around and walked 15 miles to the proper shelter. Got there tired in the dark and rain.....wah hoo.

shelb
03-23-2016, 22:40
I had a lot on my mind that morning and took off on a day hike in the wrong direction. I figured it out a few miles in. It ended up being a really nice hike.

Been there. Done that.