Most of the time, the trail maps that you can download from here are pretty accurate. The majority of the time, the roads on the regular maps on your GPS are also pretty accurate.
But sometimes….not. Take for instance, a hike I once took with a friend. The red squiggly line was clear as day on our GPS units and we took off from the main trail to take the steeper, but shorter trail. Only, it didn’t exist and we found ourselves scaling cliff walls where trees grew up, right alongside the ground. Ever want to know what it feels like to be a fly on the wall? Follow that red line. Want to see some of the most amazing views of waterfalls ever? Follow that red line. Want to hike safely on a trail? Don’t follow it.
More recently, I explored a new-to-me area of the tree farm, looking for a road that connected one group of caches with another. I came at it from one direction and then another, and figured out some roads on my GPS did not, in reality, exist, and that loops on the map are actually dead ends on the ground.
One more attempt, this time in several inches of snow, which made for an interesting hike. I seemed to be getting close to where the other road would connect, at least I’d hoped so because I’d hiked for miles without seeing many signs of civilization other than the road I was on (but not on my GPS) and an open gate. Then I come around a corner.
This….this….place was not what I was looking for, nor expecting. Yes, I found a connection from the upper to lower caches. But I found something else, something I found to be cache-worthy so I placed it and then hoofed it back up the hill cause I had run out of time for exploring.
Enjoy your visit to this unique place in the PTF. You can access it from up above or from down below.