Don’t expect me to lead the world to the remains of any globe-trotting adventurers. I tend to stay on the trail, whereas the guy who triggered the Fossett plane discovery was hiking way, way off the main trails leading out of Devil’s Postpile National Monument and into the Minarets country of the High Sierra. (By the way, the picture above is not from the Sierra; it’s the trail up to Mount Shasta; I’ve still never made it up to the trails around Mammoth Lakes).

There’s a certain itchy discipline about staying on trail in the Bay Area: all temptations to bushwhack are tempered by the tangles of poison oak standing between us and more enticing terrain. And there’s always the charming prospect of fleeing somebody’s marijuana plantation in a hail of gunfire. Plus, it’s kinder to the roughed-up near-urban environment to just stay on the path and give the rest of woods a chance to be, well, woods.

But I can see how things would be different in vast open country like the High Sierra. Ecosystems that recover from punishing storms every winter can no doubt recover from the depredations of the occasional hiker.

I like trails because they get me back where I came from — I’m not even sure I’d be able to enjoy myself off-trail because I’d be devoting too much attention to avoiding getting lost. I’d like to hear from the more adventurous among you: how do you stay found? What are the major pitfalls to avoid? What are the benefits compared to the risks?

Chime in via the comments form.