Found a shortcut on the Pacific Crest Trail that saved me 3 miles and a ton of elevation

I was hiking through the Sierra Nevada section near Kennedy Meadows last summer and kept seeing these faint side trails off the main PCT. Turns out some locals had flagged a route that cut around a huge switchback, dropping my day from 12 miles to 9. Has anyone else found random unofficial trails that actually worked out better than the official path?

3 comments

3 Comments

terryrobinson21d ago

Did you check if those flagged trails were actually legal to use?

carter.hugo21d ago

@terryrobinson probably fine. People get worked up over nothing.

richard11021d ago

Nah @carter.hugo, those short cuts are usually fine if you know what you're doing.