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Lost the trail near sunset on the Appalachian in Pennsylvania

I was hiking a section near the Lehigh Gap around 4 PM and the blazed markers just vanished. Turns out I missed a turn where the trail goes over bare rock and the spray paint was totally faded. I spent 45 minutes scrambling in the wrong direction before I pulled out my phone and checked the offline map. Has anyone else run into bad trail markings on that section or is it just me?
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2 Comments
ruby_lane
ruby_lane1mo ago
Trail markers disappearing on the bare rock section, that's like the trail playing a really mean game of hide and seek. Who thought faded spray paint from 1987 was good enough for a major thru-hike route? I probably would have ended up in New Jersey before I admitted I was lost. Next time I'm packing a roll of bright duct tape to leave my own breadcrumb trail because apparently the official ones can't be trusted.
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ruby_lane
ruby_lane1mo ago
Those missing markers probably got scraped off by ice climbers' crampons.
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