gavin_hill27•15d agoProlific Poster

DAE have a trail marker just completely vanish on them?

I was on the second day of the Lost Coast Trail in California, and the painted blazes on the rocks just stopped at a big slide area. I had to backtrack half a mile, find a high spot, and match the coastline to my paper map to get back on route. Has anyone else had to navigate a section where the trail just seemed to disappear?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlie_ellis15d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, that's the worst. Happened to me on a section of the PCT up north. One minute you're following cairns, the next you're just standing in a field of scree wondering what went wrong. That feeling of having to backtrack is such a gut punch. Good on you for using the paper map, that's the real move right there.

hunt.quinn15d ago

Get lost on a trail for a bit, it's not the end of the world. People act like a wrong turn is some big survival story. You backtrack, you find the path again, you move on. It's just hiking, not a life or death thing.

owens.cameron9d ago

Watched my buddy panic when the trail vanished near a creek last fall. He had that same "standing in scree" moment @charlie_ellis mentioned, totally frozen. Took us twenty calm minutes to spot the faded blaze on a tree and get back on track.