A goat ate my map on the Kungsleden and honestly it made the day better

Last August I was about 3 days into a 5 day stretch on the Kungsleden, somewhere between Saltoluokta and Kvikkjokk, when a goat wandered into camp and ate my paper map. Just straight up chewed the corner off while I was filtering water. I had a backup on my phone but no signal and the battery was at 14 percent, so I spent the next 4 hours walking by compass and vibes. Turned out to be the best navigation day of the trip because I actually paid attention to the trail instead of staring at a map every 10 minutes. Met a German guy named Klaus who pointed me toward a river crossing I would have missed, and we ended up sharing salami and crackers on a rock for an hour. Got to the hut right before dark, soaked but grinning. Anyone else had a piece of gear fail in a way that weirdly improved the route?

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blakem8212d ago

Imagine training a goat for weeks and it still costs you your map but not your day. Paying attention to the trail instead of the paper is a lesson most of us learn the hard way, usually with a dead phone in the rain. Klaus sounds like the real map here, and salami on a rock beats any laminated route any day.

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