Lost in the Woods

Thanksgiving Sunday.  Nice plate of turkey dinner leftovers after Mass, then for a beautiful fall walk in the woods.  Wapiti Nordic Trails.  Lovely.  A bit wet in spots, boggy, I found as I headed west and south.  After an hour of walking I decided to turn back towards the parking lot and slowly make my way home.

It took an hour of gingerly stepping through and around bogs, and realizing I was "going in circles" to concede that I was lost.  And another hour to get out.  Eventually I gave up on the trails and trail signs, and followed a compass (a.k.a. Google Maps).  I hadn't experienced that phenomenon of going in circles before, in a physical way, and sometimes I would recognize where I had been only I was going in the opposite direction!  Full circles and backward circles.  Cognizant of the fast approaching dusk, I went only east according to the map:  up hills, through scrub, and through twisted dark forests, past holes in the ground and over moss as deep as a pillow, down steep sand slides, through two swamps and many, many bogs.   The first time I stopped to empty my shoes, I leaned up against a thin trunk which capsized and I toppled backwards to the ground.  This made me cry.  I was 20 paces away before I realized I'd dropped my phone, and the map.  Thank goodness I found the spot.   Finally to the highway.  400 meters away from my parking lot.

So definitely got the cardio in today.  Pondering that this event is like a metaphor for my life.  What's the takeaway?