Quote Originally Posted by Traveler View Post
As Owen points out, using a topographical map along with a trail rating I can usually pin down the difficulty for me with the gear I plan to carry.
The purpose of my post was to illustrate that things the topo does NOT show can significantly affect the difficulty(perhaps "required time" would be more apt) of a trail. It's easy to forget, and need reminding of, for people who don't hike much in rough terrain, or on less well maintained trails.
Experience in a given area can help, but I've been handed some big surprises by trails that seemed quite innocuous when looking at the map, because it only shows things in 2 dimensions.
Some of the slowest miles I've ever done were a "shortcut" via unfamiliar trails that rarely crossed a contour line on a map with a contour interval of 50ft. Having what looks like a 2hr route take 4.5 is not what you want when racing the setting sun!