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Update: A missing trail marker in the Wind River Range turned a 2-hour hike into a 6-hour ordeal

I was trying to connect from the Big Sandy trail to the Cirque of the Towers, but a key cairn was gone where the path splits near Clear Lake. My partner and I spent four extra hours bushwhacking up the wrong drainage before backtracking and finding the real route. How do you all prepare for when trail markers just vanish in remote spots?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor_flores20h ago

That photo trick from @richardknight is smart, but how do you even practice reading a paper map before you're lost?

richardknight1d ago

Man, that's rough. It's like when your GPS loses signal in a weird part of town and you're just suddenly guessing. You realize how much we rely on these little signs, a painted blaze on a tree or a stack of rocks, and when they're gone you're back to square one. I've started taking a picture of the trail map at the kiosk with my phone, the old school paper one, because it shows the shape of the land better than my blinking dot on an app. That and actually looking at the land itself, not just the path, so you know which valley you're supposed to head up.