Monday, January 31

when you get lost in the forest and learn something about yourself

sunday k and i decided to go snow shoeing. as you know we live on fifty acres but in the middle of hundred thousand acres of state forest, trails right from our backyard. it was a beautiful mild sunny day as we headed out, we had planned to take the short trail, the one i ride the horses around. what we did not plan for is that all the trails would be non existent, buried in at least three feet of snow and heavy branches that have fallen on most of the paths. we kept going, ducking under trees, climbing hills.  taking lefts and rights and going straight till we clearly understood we had somehow got en ourselves lost. i head shed my hat, gloves and fleece by this point and feeling  silly that we did not bring any direction device such as a compass or gps. the problem with k and i is, none of us simply would say "well lets retrace out steps", in life i as much as possible never go down the same street twice and when k and i hike the mountains out west we nearly never double back since we both like discovering and seeing  a new place.

...so we kept going, somewhere between the quiet panic and the fact i was ready to shed every piece of clothing i had( the days prior  having had a fever) i simply was able to calm down and think straight. as we started to go down and deep incline, logic set in and i realized that if we are headed down deep someway and at one point or  an other we would be heading towards town. I was proud of my sense of direction, since i am terrible at reading maps, i knew we would be all right and started to enjoy the sunny sky and the gorgeous winter forest. i love how my gut instinct kicked in, if you are wondering about k and his sense of direction lets just say he can read a map like no ones business but instincts, well i am pretty sure we would be one with the trees by now:)!

7 comments:

liza said...

Oh, very scary! I'm glad you found your way out. Beautiful, too, but scary!

cindy* said...

what an impromptu adventure! i'm glad you guys made it out!

Ariane Reichardt said...

Dear Nadia,
I'm glad you found your way out, also. And, maybe: you found out, that your're a good match.
Heartily, Ariane.

Kerry O'Gorman said...

I think from being a letter carrier, I hate to back track...must go full circle (or something close to that) Maybe it's a guy thing, but my Tom has a terrible sense of direction...but he can do math and science while I'm dumbstruck by these things. Glad you made it home safe!

Tash said...

Sounds like you had quite the adventure and that you compliment each other well :) Your photos are just beautiful. We went snowshoeing a few weeks ago, so fun.
Natasha xx

Anonymous said...

Oh, lovely! I did the same sort of thing the other day, although I don't have that many acres to explore so it's a bit easier to find my way out :) But I totally understand not wanting to double back on yourself!

I think another snowshoeing adventure for me is in order...

sarahbeth said...

Oh man, I've been there - not in snow though! That would have thrown me - thoughts of hypothermia would have made me panic! So glad you've got good gut instincts!