Lost In The Woods!!!!!

......... and yeah, it pretty much sucks as much as you'd think it would. Hey, I do this stuff so you guys don't have to!

I was going to take my Mom out to lunch yesterday, but TIB and TIB's hubby took her up to the lake for the day. So, I decided to go for a walk instead. I decided on a state forest I had never been to before, grabbed my map, and off I went (insert ominous music here).

I drove out in the boonies for several miles, and the road went from paved, to oiled gravel, to dirt. I finally reached the turnoff for the forest and had to drive another mile down a dirt access road to get to the turn-around where the trails started.

It was not a good sign that I was sharing the turn-around with a rotting deer carcass, a "no target shooting in this area" sign that had the obligatory bullet holes in it, and not one other car. Hey! More room for me! 500 acres all to myself!

My guide book said the trails were marked, but ...... yeah ........ not so much. Not one trail marker. But the trail I elected to take was actually an old logging road, so it was nice and wide. Hard to miss. Now let me say, I started off down this trail and got a creepy vibe. A Pet Cemetery kind of vibe. Like the banjo-playing kid from Deliverance was going to pop out around the next corner. But it was a beautiful day, and I elected to keep walking. I walked and walked and walked, and then started back. Except ...... after a while I was passing stuff I was sure I had not passed before. Like a creepy, tarpaulin-covered lean-to. (insert Deliverance banjo music here.) Oops! So I started backtracking. And then I got pissed off.

Let me say this: I have been doing weekend walks for over ten years, oftentimes in large, isolated areas, and this is the first time I've ever gotten lost. And it really sucks, and I was mad at myself. Not too scared, because hey, this place was only 500 acres. There is a limit to how lost you can get yourself in 500 acres. And the trail I had been on originally had ended at a paved road, so I knew that if worse came to worst, I could just walk back until I got to the road and then take the road back to my car. And yes, I do carry a cell phone, which was actually picking up a signal out there (you bet I checked).

I started marking the trails which I knew were the wrong ones, and pretty soon, I was back on the access road and heading for my car. Which I was never so glad to see in my life. It turns out that on the way back, I had gone wrong at a trail intersection not more than 100 yards from my car.

So! That was my big idiotic adventure yesterday. Will I be going back there? Not on your life. Or at least, not until they mark the damn trails. And probably not then. Because that place? Was creepy.