Strayed Off The Trail

I have only gotten lost once so far, I remember it was at a new campground that we had never been to before. We should have known better but it had seemed like the trail just went a long way in just one direction so we started walking. A hour or two later after walking and talking, this time not actually paying much attention to our scenery as we were enjoying each other, we started to head back, only to realize that the trail branches off in certain directions and we didn't realize. We discussed how to find out way back and decided just to turn around and walk in a straight line. Luckily, that was the correct way to get back to where we were. Since then, we pay a bit more attention to the path.

 

Occasionally I follow trails, but I like to just hike so this sort of situation has never been much of an issue. I mean I can forget where I came in or what direction my car might be in, but that's what my compass and GPS and maps and trail marker(s) are for. It only took getting hopelessly lost one time to teach me my lesson.

 

I remember I got lost once and it was on a new trail that I had never been on (went with my boyfriend at the time) and we were merrily walking along talking and enjoying the scenery (it was a long hike) and we ended up coming to a cross roads with a couple of signs. We chose the sign that kept us going around the trail (or so we thought - we read our map wrong), and we ended up going around in circles until we found someone who pointed us in the right direction. If I remember correctly we were on that trail for an entire day (close to 7 hours)... so we got our full hike in... but it was a slightly scary experience.

Since that experience, I always make sure that I take some form of GPS/ trail markers out with me when I go hiking because as much as I enjoy hiking, I don't enjoy being lost.