Can we talk about the time I got lost on the Pacific Crest Trail near Donner Pass

I was hiking the PCT last August and took a wrong turn around Donner Pass... ended up following a use trail that faded into nothing after about half a mile. My GPS was dead and I had to backtrack 2 hours with no water left because I didn't fill up at the last creek. That day taught me to always carry a paper map and mark waypoints on my phone before heading out. Has anyone else gotten totally turned around in that section?

3 comments

3 Comments

lisa514d ago

Getting turned around like that is scary, no doubt about it. What always helped me was taking a moment to sit down and breathe before doing anything else. When I got lost near Mount Whitney last year, I forced myself to check the sun position and look for any landmarks I recognized from the map. That time I had a paper map tucked in my pack, and it saved me from wandering in circles for hours. Your trick of marking waypoints on the phone ahead of time sounds solid, I started doing that after my own scare and it makes a huge difference. Staying calm and treating it like a puzzle instead of a crisis really turned things around for me.

wyatt5215d ago

2 hours with no water is insane, I would have panicked hard. I did a section south of there near Sonora Pass last year and my gps died too, freaked me out for a solid 45 minutes. That loss of direction feeling hits different when you're alone and the trail just disappears.

sammoore14d ago

Last year I did 18 miles in the Sierra without a filter cause I forgot it and just drank straight from snowmelt creeks. No giardia, no issues. Panic is a choice, and most people lean into it way too fast. GPS dying is a tool failure, not a survival crisis - you still have a map, terrain, and sun position. The trail disappearing is just a good reminder that trails are maintained by people, they are not permanent features. 2 hours without water is uncomfortable but your body can handle way more than you think. People hiked these mountains for thousands of years without GPS or water filters.