DISCLAIMER: This is a very dramatic, very exaggerated version of a very REAL story, that I was "fortunate" enough to experience.
Lost. That was what we were. Lost...
Lost. That was what we were. Lost...
The only thing that kept my feet going was the hope that we might reach the end someday. My legs stepped forward but my mind was already starting to consider the woods being a place to spend the rest of my life incase we never made it to the end.
4 hours earlier...
We walked up to the start of the trail that led into the woods. "We" is my family along with 4 other families who had decided to go on a camping trip in New Hampshire for the weekend. And today was the day that we were going hiking.
As we walked up to the map on the wooden board, my eyes scrolled down to look at the sign underneath.
WEAR BRIGHT COLORS.
HUNTING SEASON.
I looked down at what I was wearing. My black T-shirt. Immediate thoughts started flooding my head.
Oh my god! What if I get hit by an arrow? What if I break my leg and can't make it? What if I DIE?! Calm down, I'll just stick with dad.
Dad was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt. Yeah that's what I'll do.
We headed into the trail, which according to Mom was a loop. Nothing could possibly go wrong. We were stocked with snacks incase we got hungry, but most likely we would be back by lunchtime. And we were stocked with what seemed like a bajillion bottles of water.
About 30 minutes later, we ran into some people who were walking the opposite direction as us. We asked them where they were coming from, just to make sure were going the right direction, and it turns out we were supposed to take a left from the trail marker.
Oh my god! What if I get hit by an arrow? What if I break my leg and can't make it? What if I DIE?! Calm down, I'll just stick with dad.
Dad was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt. Yeah that's what I'll do.
We headed into the trail, which according to Mom was a loop. Nothing could possibly go wrong. We were stocked with snacks incase we got hungry, but most likely we would be back by lunchtime. And we were stocked with what seemed like a bajillion bottles of water.
***
"Ok, now that was the last bottle of water," I heard someone say.
We had been hiking for 3 hours and we had just found a trail marker. We were definitely on a loop and were going the right direction, except for the fact that the loop was like 500 miles long. We were about halfway through it with no water, and pretty soon, no food.
The majority of the people said that we needed to go right from the trail marker.
 |
| Doesn't this rock look like a manatee? |
There was a series of frustrated and impatient sighs that passed through the line of our group as the news was passed down.
Time to turn around.
***
I was really starting to get impatient now. And I am a pretty patient person. But now it was starting to get to me. I was very close to reaching my limit.
We had reached the trail marker and had started to head left, which would seem like a good sign to anyone, but there was still half the trail left and who knows, maybe we went the wrong way again.
(Now I know I may be sounding very pessimistic at this point, but that was honestly how I felt when all this was going down. And honestly you would be negative too if you had been through this. I will now continue the story.)
After about 20 minutes of negative thoughts going through my head, we ran into some people. We asked them how far they came from, and my eyes lit up at the answer. They told us it was really close and we just had to follow the trees with the white markers.
I'm not going to die in the woods! Yippee!
I would have jumped up and down at the news if I had the energy to, but instead I just smiled. We were finally almost there.
***
20 minutes later, I found myself back to the sign that said to wear bright colors. Looking back I find myself laughing that that I was afraid of getting hit by an arrow. But I found out that throughout the journey, that was at the bottom of my list of things to worry about.
We headed back to the campsite, and quickly got lunch ready. It was 3:30 by the time we had our lunch. According to my aunt's Fitbit, we had hiked about 11.8 miles that day.
Throughout this journey, I also took some pictures when I had the chance to. I really enjoyed taking these pictures and just observing nature as it is. I also ask myself sometimes, that if I had the chance to go back in time, knowing that we almost got lost, would I stop myself from going. And after a lot of contemplation, I think that I wouldn't stop myself, and I would let myself experience it. However it is definitely something I will never forget.
-Jippy
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