Getting Lost in the Woods

The other day I decided to take a hike in the woods.

There are over 20 different hiking spots within 30 minutes of me.

I've been going to different spots over the past 4 months to discover them all.

So, this day I decided to go to a spot I had never been before.

I arrived at this spot around 3:30 pm after a 15-minute drive.

The trailhead had a kiosk with a map of the trails.

I looked it over and began my hike.

A half mile into the hike I found a beautiful marsh to take pictures of.

The trail then split off in three directions. I went right to cross a wooden bridge and follow the marsh.

After about 0.25 miles, the trail split off again.

But I didn't remember seeing this trail split on the map.

I went right again.

Another 0.25 miles in, and there was another trail split. I didn't remember seeing this trail split either. But I went right again.

The trail kept splitting off in different directions.

I didn't recognize any of these trail splits.

I went right on most of them, but I took a couple of lefts on trails that seemed more interesting.

After a while, I realized that I had no clue where I was.

Each trail had been marked with signs stating the trail was owned by the city's land trust.

There were no direction signs or names for each trail.

But there were signs with a letter, which indicated a spot on the trail map. However, these letter signs were few and far between.

After nearly an hour of hiking, I knew I needed to head home.

I was losing daylight. The sun sets around 5-5:30 pm in November in Maine.

But I couldn't come back the way I came because I had made too many turns and lost track of how I got to where I was.

Around 4:30, I found a long, straight trail.

The trail I was on spit me out across from a kiosk for a different nature preserve, which I had never been to before.

I hiked down this long trail for about 0.5 miles. I saw another kiosk.

Thankfully, this kiosk was for the hiking spot I was at.

There was a map, which indicated I was as far from the parking lot as I could be.

Even though I was as far away from my car as I could be, the kiosk gave me hope.

I finally knew where I was.

To get back to my car, I needed to hike down the long, straight trail to reach another kiosk.

Once I reached this kiosk, I would re-enter the nature preserve I was hiking.

I had 0.4 miles to hike before I would reach the wooden bridge I initially turned right at.

Finding this bridge gave me relief.

I was close to the parking lot.

And I knew how to get there.

It was roughly 5 pm at this point, and I had lost a lot of daylight. But I knew I wasn't going to be hiking in the dark.

After a 0.25-mile hike, I got back to my car safe and sound.

I've never felt so relieved after a hike.

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