Discovered a shortcut on the Appalachian Trail that saved me 2 days

I was hiking the northern section near the White Mountains last fall and kept hitting these brutal rock scrambles that added hours to each day. After talking to a guy at a shelter who was like 70 years old, he showed me this old logging road that bypassed the worst of it and cut my time by almost half. Has anyone else found hidden trails or old paths that changed how they look at a route?

3 comments

3 Comments

amy_anderson1mo ago

Hold on, I gotta push back on this a little. Using old logging roads and unofficial cutoffs is how you end up on private land or damaging fragile alpine vegetation that takes decades to recover. I've seen hikers stumble onto what they thought was a "shortcut" and actually mess up trail maintainers' work or get themselves into real trouble when the road dead-ends at a washed out bridge. Part of what makes the AT hard is those rock scrambles, they're there for a reason to keep you on stable ground and away from sensitive areas.

jakejones1mo ago

Yeah, I read somewhere that some of those old logging roads were actually mapped incorrectly decades ago and lead straight into bogs or private property lines. It's wild how a "shortcut" can end up costing you hours of backtracking if the bridge is out or the road just stops. Feels like you're gambling with your time and the trail's condition for maybe saving 20 minutes lol.

lilya761mo agoMost Upvoted

And honestly that's the same thing I see everywhere now, not just on trails. People are obsessed with finding shortcuts in every part of life and ignoring the fact that the hard way exists for a reason. Like how everyone wants a life hack to get rich quick or a trick to lose weight fast, but the actual proven methods are boring and take effort. Same deal with those rock scrambles, they're part of what makes the AT experience real even if they suck in the moment. Skipping them means you miss the whole point of being out there.