Field notes on route finding
We compared the common approaches to route finding and kept only what held up in practice.
Check the conditions you will actually face; most problems come from planning for the wrong ones. It matters most on longer trips, roughly anything over 37 kilometres.
A simple checklist prevents the mistakes that happen when you are tired or in a hurry. It matters most on longer trips, roughly anything over 30 kilometres.
Keep a small budget in reserve for the surprises that every plan eventually meets. Readers who tried this reported fewer problems with route finding within 3 days.
Weight, cost and durability pull in different directions, so it helps to rank them before comparing options. We revisit this every 37 weeks and adjust as conditions change.
None of this is complicated, but doing it consistently is what separates good outcomes from lucky ones.