A short story about getting lost

Starting the Deville-Maisoncelle loop hike

More hiking? Why not? I get some work done on the blog now that the internet is back up, Mario packs a lunch, and we head down to the Deville-Maisoncelle loop near Petit-Canal. It's not the most exciting, or challenging, but we've realized that we are nearing a grand total of 100 km hiked on this trip, so what's one more trail, right?

Tree covered in epiphytes

This hike is relatively easily, flat, runs through a protected forest and some farm fields. One of the highlights is the concentration of epiphytes - air plants - that grow along the trail. Every tree is a host, and their branches hang heavy with the plants, like leafy green Christmas ornaments. Some are even too much for the trees to support, and the branches come crashing down, strewn on the forest floor under our feet.

There is no videogame challenge this hike - the challenge today is just following the actual trail! It seems someone has taken possession of land in the middle of the route recently, and the markers have been moved to reflect the new route, but none of the maps, online of otherwise, have been updated to reflect this change. So when we get to a crucial intersection,  the posted signage steers us in one direction, but the app we are using begins yelling at us that we have taken a wrong turn, and neither trail looks very cleared or well-travelled. 

We follow the app only because we can see ourselves using the GPS locator, get turned around in the middle of a hot, dry field, and miss the entire last section of the trail, but we end up back at the car park anyways, and that's all that matters. Moral of the story? Always confirm trails in a crowd-sourced app with those on OFFICIAL websites before leaving, and follow the trail markers above anything else, as they USUALLY right.