Basically at this point if I can’t find it on a map, it doesn’t exist.

I’m so humble, I know.

But it is amazing how looking at tens of thousands of points, parks, conservations areas, trailheads, trails, campgrounds, paths and tiny, unlabeled and unnamed forest roads can re-arrange one’s brain and optimize it for certain tasks.

The other day my partner was looking for a place on Google Maps. She’s actually better at navigation than I am, but now I am better at finding things (two slightly different skills). I looked at the map for about two seconds and said, “The trailhead is right there.”

And sure enough, it was.

A year ago I might have had to look for it for 10 minutes. Maybe 15. And I might never have found it. But now, I can just “see” in a way I couldn’t before.

It might be a fairly useless superpower, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.