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Mother Natures Son
07-08-2017, 15:39
On our hike today, we went down the trail and hiked our usual route. (Horseshoe Trail Map 6 ) Near Seglock Run we found a new trail that was well used and unmarked. We end up taken the route and it turned out to be a great trail given the fact it wasn't even on the map! My question is, has anyone taken a route that wasn't on the maps just for the fun of it?

Dan Roper
07-08-2017, 16:36
Some people enjoy bushwhacking. Knowing the area well and knowing how read and use topographic maps are key skills. A compass is also helpful.

I bushwhack frequently, and I'm sure there are many others here that do too. But bushwhacking is a declining subset of the hiking community and the population in general. Many hikers, backpackers and outdoors folks are fearful of departing from marked trails.

egilbe
07-08-2017, 16:41
I dont know if its fearful so much as it is that creating herd paths is hard on the environment in some areas with a large population of hikers. Bushwacking may have been a needed skill once upon a time, now, not so much. Most views have trails broken out to them.

Dogwood
07-08-2017, 17:42
Sure! It's called adventure embracing the unfamiliar going where the herd doesn't, where there's no guidebook. Gotta be careful though as in some places well used trails are just well used animal trails leading to a cliff through jungle like what happens in Hawaii from pigs that's not noticeable there's a cliff until you're right on top of it. Same in Big Horn Sheep or Mountain Goat country where on traverses ya can get into some really precarious cliffed out situations or in cattle country in places like Utah or Montana that lead into brush choked canyons or along creeks where what you thought was a human trail explodes into multiple wildlife use trails going off into so many different directions or leads to a dead end or a pour off. These animals which are basically free range being herded into a dead end, even cattle, don't always appreciate this.

In Hawaii and elsewhere, like Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, N. Carolina, S. Carolina I find great pleasure ascending creeks and waterways up mountains to pour offs, waterfalls, into hollows, bluffs, cliff faces, rock houses, unmapped caves, etc. Often it's the only way to experience things. The Japanese have a word for doing this but it escapes me at the moment. It can be done in dry or mixed wet/dry canyons in Utah and Arizona as well. Sometimes you have to climb up waterfalls or find ways around them. It's the same with dry pour offs. Obviously, it has a higher level of associated risks but for me the rewards are so worth it. Sometimes ya have to be able to rappel. It's really neat stuff. In places like these you don't find Spaghetti O's dumped into a fire ring or for that matter a fire ring. Might find century old remnants of mining or logging activities though. It can be done in places like GSMNP as well. Lots of old trails and brushed over manways to explore. Others here on WB now infinitely more about these in GSMNP than myself though. Maybe a couple will chime in.


Hmm?

Dogwood
07-08-2017, 17:44
I dont know if its fearful so much as it is that creating herd paths is hard on the environment in some areas with a large population of hikers. Bushwacking may have been a needed skill once upon a time, now, not so much. Most views have trails broken out to them.

Not always! So many awesome views on the AT like through GSMNP that all it takes is a willingness to get off the beaten AT hiker super highway ascending 100-200 ft to a ridgeline overlook that prolly has never been done before.

Heliotrope
07-09-2017, 13:18
I've typically planned adventures around a bushwhack in Olympic NP and the Cascades where off trail routes above tree line provide wonderful vistas. Also a nice way to create loop routes.


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Dogwood
07-09-2017, 13:23
I've typically planned adventures around a bushwhack in Olympic NP and the Cascades where off trail routes above tree line provide wonderful vistas. Also a nice way to create loop routes. ...

Bailey Range Traverse!

I'd like to hear about your off trail N. Cascades loops off trail. The only one I partially experienced was along Lake Chelan. PM me if desired.