Lost and alone on some forgotten trailway

All this happened before I got lost on the trail in pitch darkness with my phone dying.

It was a beautiful evening, fresh and pleasant. I was walking along, listening to a novel on Audible and taking nature shots. This is pretty much heaven for me — out in nature, getting fresh air and exercise, fueling my mind and creating art.

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It was really just stunning out, with the setting sun creating a glow on the fields of grasses and wildflowers.

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The trail was only a little over three miles. I wasn’t worried about it. I had plenty of time to get back before dark.

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I even kept taking pictures in the dimming light, certain that I’d be back to the parking lot soon.

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However, I suddenly began to doubt. Had I missed some turn? A number of paths connected up to the trail and I was suddenly concerned that I’d missed a critical juncture.

And that’s when I made my fateful mistake. I googled the park where I had left my car. It said I was going in the opposite direction of the park.

The sky looked like this and was quite pretty….

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But when I turned back along the trail I’d been walking, it was through dense woods. I could just barely see the trail. The Google map said I had to walk 9 minutes back to return to the park. That’s quite a while to walk in darkness!

But I kept glancing at my phone. 8 minutes… 7 minutes… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1.

Holy crap! It was the wrong park!

No kidding. I was literally probably five minutes from my car when I made the mistake of doing a Google search. I have no idea why a tiny kid’s park came up in Google instead of the giant park where I left my car, which had ball fields and a large playground! They were both on the trail at the same lake, but I was at the wrong one.

I looked back at the trail through the woods and thought of retracing my steps again, walking 10-15 now in pitch darkness. Nope! Couldn’t do it. I called my husband with my phone battery dwindling and he came to the rescue. I just had to wait there for about 15 minutes. How embarrassing!!

Well that was my adventure of the day. Thanks for reading!