For the third time this past summer I traveled through an area of wilderness known for its beauty, remoteness, and dense forest. This pocket of forest is wedged between a series of other more popular areas with easier access, higher profile vistas, and better maintained trails. I think of this area as almost the wildest place I know – not because it is remote and often empty, but because the maps of the area haven’t been updated in over 40 years – and today are wrong.

The first time I got lost in the area, it was early in my hiking days and I met my husband 4 hours later than planned. I was nervous, scared, and anxious to find my way out. The second time, armed with a higher resolution map, I approached the area much more cautiously, but still managed to get lost, crossing streams that weren’t cited and seeing peaks not noted. I started to make notes on my maps so I could navigate around and keep myself sane.

Why I am so trusting of pieces of paper that I know from experience are full of bad information? Why haven’t I given up on this area? This trust comes from the belief that information shared from reliable sources should be accurate. We know from experience however, this isn’t always the case. Mistakes happen or other agendas get in the way of accurate information. In this case, a lack of funding on a little known area of wilderness had led to information that was likely once accurate, to be grossly inaccurate 4 decades later.

In life, I have a few rules to live by for travel. Experience has taught me these – not maps, text books, or travel guides.

1 — Trust your Gut. If it doesn’t feel right, it likely isn’t. Don’t check into a hotel that makes you uncomfortable, find another one. If you are sharing a cab with someone who creeps you out, get out. Food on the salad bar look questionable? Skip it.

2 – Use Common Sense. Airline in a remote foreign country telling you all the flights are canceled unless you are willing to pay double and then and only then can they get you in the air? No – they are just trying to rip you off. Lock on your hotel door not working properly? Insist on another room.

3 – Learn from your mistakes. Paid the tourist price for the bus when everyone else paid 90% less? Paid extra for the deluxe hotel room only to find out all rooms are the same? It happens. Just remember it for next time.

The third time I returned to the wilderness area, I took friends. Lost within the first few hours, we turned the weekend into an adventure, stumbling upon unexpected lakes, vistas, and camping we didn’t expect. While the weekend didn’t end up as planned, we made it work and had a great time doing it. Between the three of us, we pulled on our previous experience and common sense to figure out how to get us back to the car on the last day, map or no map.