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TIL a washed-out bridge in the Smokies turned my 3-day loop into a 20-mile road walk.
We had to bail off the planned Hazel Creek route near Bryson City and spent a whole afternoon trudging down a gravel forest service road because the spring floods took out the only crossing, which really makes you appreciate having a backup map section.
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veraramirez1mo ago
A backup map wouldn't have magically fixed that washed-out bridge, would it?
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grace9261mo ago
Right, because a backup map is famous for its bridge repair skills. It's a piece of paper, not a construction crew. The map did its job, it told you where the bridge was supposed to be. The problem is the bridge decided to take a vacation. Next time maybe we should laminate the map and hope it holds back the flood waters.
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josephf1023d ago
Wait, is that what I've been doing wrong this whole time, hoping my paper map would sprout legs and build a new bridge for me? Man, I gotta stop asking so much from my gear. You're right though, the map did its job perfectly fine, it just doesn't come with a magic bridge-repair wand. I guess my big mistake was thinking a forest service road would be a nice shortcut instead of a 20-mile death march. Next time I'll just pack a canoe in my backpack for the river crossings, that'll show that washed-out bridge. Honestly, I'm starting to think I should just tape a laminated map to my GPS and call it a day.
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