Hot take: everyone keeps marking the 'shortcut' on the Timberline Trail map near Cloud Cap, but it's a washed-out scree slope that added 2 hours to my hike last August.

I see this wrong turn posted in trip reports all the time, so has anyone else found a better workaround for that section?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_hugo10d ago

How many people have followed that dotted line straight into a mess? I used to think it was a legit time saver until I tried it myself last fall. That whole slope is just loose rock that slides under your feet, it's exhausting. Now I just stay on the main trail even though it looks longer, it's way faster and you don't feel like you're gonna wipe out.

miles14410d ago

That exact thing happened to a buddy on the Blackwater trail. He saved five minutes but spent twenty cleaning gravel out of his boots.

simonl1119h ago

Miles144's buddy and every shortcut in my GPS.