Lost in the Fog

Oh great, a metaphor. Nope, actually I mean it this time, I got lost in the fog. BUT… Am I also going to use actually getting lost in the fog as a metaphor? If you answered yes, clearly you have been here before. But at least it comes with amusing anecdote of how I turned a quick hike into a 5 hour endeavor.

It was the day after Christmas and I thought I would get in a hike at Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area. The fog was very thick this morning, but I figured I was following a trail, so I would be fine.

Walking though the grey mist of a morning, I was completely convinced I knew where I was going. I was prepared to do about a 5 mile hike, which usually took us about 2 hours. It was at about 5.4 miles into the 5 mile hike that I started to think something might be wrong. But maps have lied to me before, so I figured it probably was just a little off. It was around mile 6 when I knew for sure that I was not on the trail I thought I was on.

While it was a very cool hike, I quickly started to realize that I was in fact getting further from the trail head that I had parked at. I had put too much faith in the trail that I was walking. You see, that fog had was thickest at a point where my connecting trail was supposed to be. This connecting trail would have led me back to my truck in about a mile. The trail I took? It was a 5 mile loop in the opposite direction. Of course, I didn’t know how long that trail was until afterward having never planned to be on it in the first place.

When I get to the end of the loop and it spat me back out at a familiar part of the park, I reflected on how quickly my confidence had gotten me in trouble. Now 9 miles into my 5 mile hike, I had gotten turned around on clearly marked trails, added an extra 5 miles to my hike, and nearly doubled my time out on the hike.

What caused such a drastic change? A little fog at the right place. It made me realize how many things can cloud the decisions you have to make when on the trail. And made me think “If a little fog can add 5 miles, we have some work to do before Alaska.”