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Tried a 'shortcut' off the Colorado Trail near Twin Lakes and ended up bushwhacking for two hours.
The line on my map looked clear, but the actual slope was a dense mess of downed trees and scree. Anyone have a good rule for trusting those dotted lines on older topo maps?
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matthew_owens92mo ago
Yeah those dotted lines are a total trap sometimes. I mean my buddy and I got totally lost following one up by Holy Cross, map made it look like a clear game trail but it was just a brutal slide of loose rock.
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sarahsullivan1mo ago
20 years old was the last time I saw a topo for that area that was actually updated from the ground. The thing is, those dotted lines are usually old logging traces or animal trails that got swallowed by regrowth. I wouldn't write them off completely though because they can still give you a rough sense of the terrain if you factor in a decade of vegetation history. The real trick is to check the map's revision date and see if the line follows a ridge or a drainage. My rule is if I can't see trail sign or a clear path in the first 50 feet I need to turn back and find another way around.
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