PSA: Don't trust the shortcut trail on Bald Mountain

Took what the map called a 'quick connector' between switchbacks near the summit last weekend. Ended up losing 3 hours bushwhacking through deadfall and poison oak. Anyone else find fake shortcuts that waste your whole day?

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jordan4643mo ago

Man I feel this so hard. That "quick connector" you mentioned sounds exactly like the "fisherman's trail" someone told me about near Eagle Pass last fall. It was supposed to cut half a mile off the loop but instead it dumped me into this dried up creek bed full of loose rocks and thorn bushes. Took me almost two hours to fight my way back to the main path, my legs were all scratched up and I missed the sunset view I was hiking for. Lesson learned the hard way, shortcuts in the mountains are almost always a trap.

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victorclark3mo ago

Wait, @jordan464, isn't the Eagle Pass loop actually the one that goes past that old mining shack? The "fisherman's trail" I've heard about is usually on the west side of the ridge, not near the creek bed you got stuck in. I think someone might have pointed you toward the wrong spur trail, because the real shortcut is supposed to be a pretty well-worn path that connects to the main loop near the big boulder field. That dried up creek sounds more like the drainage ditch that runs down from the second switchback, which is definitely not a shortcut.

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