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Finally linked the Full PCT section in Oregon without a single wrong turn

Three years back I tried to hike the Oregon stretch of the PCT from Cascade Locks down to the California line and I got so turned around near Timothy Lake that I bailed at a forest road and hitched into Government Camp feeling like a total idiot. Last month I went back and did the same 455 miles in 21 days, and this time I actually finished without pulling out my phone once. The thing that made the difference sounds dumb but it was logging every junction and water source in a paper notebook as I went, then comparing it to the guide at night instead of trusting one source. I also stopped trying to do 25 mile days and just did 18 to 20, which kept my head clear enough to read the trail markers coming into the burn zones. There is one spot north of Santiam Pass where the trail takes a hard left and every map I had showed it going right, and I nailed it because a section hiker at a spring told me to look for the orange ribbon on the tree. Nothing fancy, just slow and boring and correct. Curious if anyone else here has a stretch they failed once and had to go back and beat, because I want to know what finally clicked for you.