I finally tried a shortcut on the Timberline Trail and it totally backfired lol

So last weekend I was doing the full loop around Mt. Hood and decided to cut off a couple miles by taking the unofficial 'Palmers Spur' trail down to the river crossing. I'd seen it marked on an old paper map and figured it would save me an hour. Big mistake. The trail was basically a steep, overgrown slide of loose scree and downed trees. Took me twice as long to navigate down, and I ended up with a small tear in my rain jacket from a sharp branch. The lesson? Sometimes the official, longer route is the better one for a reason, especially when it's maintained. Has anyone else gotten burned by a tempting shortcut on a big loop hike?

3 comments

3 Comments

robinl902mo ago

Oh man, that sounds rough... reminds me of trying to find a "faster" way through the woods behind my old place. Ended up in a patch of thorns that tore up my jeans pretty good.

emma_young2mo ago

Ugh, that's the worst! Did you at least find a decent path after the thorns, or was the whole trip a bust? Sounds like a classic shortcut fail.

ivancoleman1d ago

Jump right into how these shortcut fails mirror a bigger pattern I've seen play out a lot. Seems like every time I try to cut corners in any part of life, whether it's skipping steps in a recipe or taking a new route to work, I end up paying for it with extra time or hassle. Like that one time I tried to save 10 minutes by ignoring the instructions on a flatpack furniture project. Ended up having to take the whole thing apart and start over, which took twice as long. My guess is that these "shortcuts" are just the universe's way of reminding us that doing things the proper way usually works out better in the long run. Your mileage may vary, but I've started just sticking to the beaten path most days.