Clearly I have no clue what I am doing

#outdoors #lost

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Decided to try my hand at orienteering, I picked oak lake. I figured it’s 1.5km directly north of a logging road with a quad trail around 1/3 the way it should be easy. So armed with a map and compass I set off into the bush headed north. First .5km cake walk. Next 100m generally unpleasant swamp but nothing terrible. Next 50m was some nice pine forest which would make a solid camping location….. we discovered what we hoped would be pine forest the rest of the way to the lake was in fact muskeg. I’ve never had the pleasure of trying to dead reckon a trail straight through muskeg before…. 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨 after a long time travelling at a pace that could only be described as glacial, I learned some things. First the ground is not the ground. It is in fact sponges on top of popsicle sticks on top of water with no bottom. Second everything even soft things are sharp, the shower after this adventure was a game of why does that part of my body sting??. Third 1.5km per hour was far too optimistic. Although that place was the embodiment of “nature hates you and wants you dead” I can’t wait to go back and try again, albeit with some changes to route, gear, technique and the understanding that I need a lot more time. Maybe my return to hiking should have been on an easier trail, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.