Circle Hike

Welcome back. I have had a few blog posts on my mind since Saturday, but you can clearly see that I am a procrastinator and am just now posting them. Read on into the reality of Rachel.

Saturday was a different day. I had determined earlier in the week I was going hiking. Not to a state park but to some local attractions. Rock Hawk in Putnam county was the chosen site. I had invited someone to go with me, but they bailed on me and decided they would rather sit around than go hiking. Lame. So off Mowgli and I went. Alone.

We climbed up the tower to see this:

Might not look like a hawk to you, but I could see it. It is an unexplained Indian effigy mound

This was my first hike alone. It was a pretty good hike, except for the signs of poisonous snakes every 25 yards. I was a little freaked out, not going to lie. Mowgli panted the whole time. The hike was up hill mostly, but not too bad.

I was following the orange course. I had been doing great (minus having to look over the entire path many many times for snakes) and then came to this weird fork in the path. The orange sign pointed to the right, but clearly the left was the clearer of the paths. The one on the right had a lot of tall grass. AKA perfect snake hanging out place. So, Mowgli and I started to the right and about one minute in I decided I wasnt going to take my chances of getting bitten. I trecked back to the fork. Or what I thought was the fork. I never got back to the fork really. Somehow I made a WRONG step and I was just going no where but in circles. I ventured one way and said, this isnt right, and then went back to the starting place, keep in mind I NEVER made it back to the fork- or the original one I guess. I just kept going in circles. I walked over this path where someone had dropped a bottle of water and I said to myself, crap I have already been this way. Walked back up to some intersection and decided that I was tired of being in snake country and the water bottle path was my only option. So, we walked back the way we came in. Stupid I know, but I was alone, hot and my poor dog was super tired. We had been hiking over an hour at this point.

In my wanderings, I thought of what it was like for the Israelites to wander around in the desert. For 40 years. In circles. I am sure they passed a "water bottle path" many times. I know the feelings of desperation and hopelessness I was feeling, so I can't imagine what life was like for them. The desert- eek had to be so hot and sweaty and dirty. At least I had shade. I was reminded that even in my wanderings, God is still with me. We can go in circles upon circles and yet, he still is there. He never leaves. How crazy to think that God never leaves, it is only us who choose to leave Him.

I finally made it out of that trail, and was so glad I did. I had seen enough snake signs to last me a while. I didn't see a snake, HALLELUJAH, but was creeped out none the less. When we made it out, we were the only people ones  in the entire park. Not a comforting feeling when you are a girl alone with her dog who isnt very intimidating.

I think I will make sure I hike with either one of two things next time: a gun or another person.