Lost in the Woods

When I was a senior in high school, my friend Jessica and I decided to go hiking at our local park after school one day. The trails are clearly marked so we didn't see a problem. We met after school and started up the "backbone trail", which just happens to be the longest and most backbreaking (hence the name) trail in the park.

We were actually doing fine. It was hard, but we climbed up the mountain and over logs and whatever obstacles were in our way. We even saw a whole herd of deer running through the valley. Unfortunately it got dark - something we didn't factor in.

When dusk fell we realized we should get back. The problem was we didn't know which way was shorter - to finish the trail or to go back. We knew to go back that it would take at least an hour, so we decided to finish the trail. WRONG! It finally got so dark that we couldn't see the path in front of us - or behind us for that matter.

To make matters worse Jessica started whining and crying. So I had to take charge and lead the way out. We had to turn around and she kept saying she couldn't see the trail and we were going to die. I couldn't see it either but I wasn't about to let her know that. I kept telling her that I had really good eyesight and I could see just fine! She was panicked enough to believe me but that didn't shut her up. The whole way back down the path (and I really had no idea if we were on the path or not until we came to a massive tree that we had climbed over earlier) she was squalling like a two year old. I just kept walking and talking the whole way because I knew if I let her know that I didn't know what to do then she would be uncontrollable.

Finally we came out next to the ranger's cabin. We had to walk about 1/2 mile back to the car. It was dark but the road was paved, so it was alright. When we got back to the car the ranger had locked the gate right next to it - so we had to walk the 1/2 mile BACK to the ranger's house. We got him to go unlock the gate, but he made us walk back to it again. We finally made it back home and collapsed in our beds.

What sucks is that we were lost in the woods and the ranger locked our car in the park without making any effort to find us. We could have died. Oh well, we didn't.