Bridge or river crossing - I picked wrong near Mt. Whitney

Last summer I was hiking the JMT section near Mt. Whitney and hit a spot where the trail forked. One way went over an old wooden bridge that looked like it was held together with hope and spit. The other way was a rock hop across a creek that was running high from snowmelt. I figured the bridge was gonna collapse under me so I went for the rocks. Big mistake. I slipped on the second rock, went knee deep into freezing water, and spent the next 4 hours hiking with wet boots. Blisters were brutal and I lost feeling in my toes for a good while. The bridge was probably fine, turns out the ranger I talked to later said it's inspected every spring. Has anyone else taken the dumb route when the obvious choice was right there?

3 comments

3 Comments

avery_lopez8d ago

...and that's exactly why I always make myself stop and actually look at the bridge before deciding. You had all the info right there but chose based on fear instead of facts. How many times have you done that same thing in other parts of your life, picking the hard way just because the easy way looked too good to be true? I've been there too. Slipping on wet rocks is a rite of passage, but soaking your boots for hours is the kind of mistake that sticks with you. Did you at least check the bridge on your way back, or did you just assume it was still sketchy?

avery_lopez8d ago

You said "soaking your boots for hours is the kind of mistake that sticks with you" and that's exactly it. I think we all do this thing where we trust our gut feeling over what's right in front of us, even when the evidence is clear. Like how I'll avoid a sale because I'm sure there's a catch, then later find out it was legit and I just wasted money buying full price somewhere else. It's like our brains are wired to think easy = suspicious, and we end up making things harder on ourselves for no good reason.

hugoh558d ago

Yeah but isn't that just our brains trying to protect us from getting burned? Like we've all been scammed or made a bad call before so now we overcorrect and avoid anything that seems too smooth. I do the same thing with used cars - see a great deal and immediately assume the engine's about to blow up. Then I end up buying something twice as expensive from a dealer who's just as shady but charges more for the privilege.