Took a wrong turn on the Superior Hiking Trail, ended up 3 miles off course

Was near Split Rock Lighthouse last Saturday. Missed a cairn marker in the fog. Walked an extra hour before I realized. Had to backtrack through a muddy section. Made it to camp right at sunset. Anyone else have navigation fails on that section?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah_black1d ago

Gotta disagree a little bit here. Missing a cairn in fog is totally understandable (that section gets socked in pretty often), but backtracking through mud was probably the right call to stay on a known trail. Better to lose an hour than take a wrong spur trail that could dump you in a bog or worse.

thomas_johnson351d ago

lol honestly I kinda think people overblow how dangerous trail navigation is. Yeah getting lost sucks but it's not like you're gonna die if you take the wrong spur for 20 minutes. Most of these trails have other hikers or cell service within a couple miles anyway. People act like every wrong turn is a survival situation when really it's just an annoying walk back.