Have you ever walked in the wrong direction?

[rafe]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Dogwood]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.