I know you’re sitting on the edge of your seat, anticipating the exciting conclusion to our fun at the Hobbies, Arts and Crafts building at the Il State Fair, but I have to interrupt my tale.

I was lost in the woods this morning.

There’s a trail in the woods right across the street from our lane, and sometimes I’ve run on it. a lot of times it’s been blocked by many fallen trees and/or branches, so I haven’t been there in a while, plus I keep trying to run faster (rather, less slowly) and I never make good time in the woods.

But so here’s the thing – for the last couple of years they’ve allowed bow hunters to hunt deer in the woods around the lake. We have way way way too many deer and not enough land for them. One of the deer hunting areas happens to be the very woods that I have run through and bow hunting season starts on October 1st, which is Tuesday. I figured I should try running through the woods this morning because I won’t be able to do so again til the new year.

I started off at the crack of 11:03 a.m. and was please to see that a few big fallen trees had been cleared off the path. This is the very beginning, and it runs parallel to the road which maybe you can see off to the right.

Like I said, it’s literally right across the road. The path was very wide and everything was hunky dory.

11:05 a.m.

The path curves in and heads up a very small incline after going by the little inlet of lake. The white flowering plants were flowering up a storm and looking mighty pretty. I even stopped to identify them with my handy dandy google camera function that tells you what something is, and it’s allegedly White Snakeroot which is poinsonous.

Not to fear, I didn’t stop and start eating any.

11:08 a.m.

The path split in two, one going back toward the Spencer house yard and the other continuing past the field, which is where I was headed. But the paths weren’t as clear as they’d been previously, or maybe I’m just losing my mind, but I quickly realized that I was going in the wrong direction. I turned around and jogged in the right direction. All good.

11:10 a.m.

This portion of the trail was pretty good; I kept my eyes fixed on the ground because I knew there were a few gaping holes and I didn’t want to fall and hurt myself, as I’m wont to do. But it was easy peasy, no worries, and I made it to the edge of the woods.

This is the upper woods, and it’s only been a trail for a few years. Maybe more than a few, but it’s much more recent the the other part of the woods I was about to enter. I’ve run through the lower woods many more times in years past. I do remember that the last time I went on the trail I had to scramble over big fallen trees and shimmy underneath others and it had been quite a challenge.

I ran alongside the field, which is planted in beans this year, and entered the lower old woods.

11:18 a.m.

The trail runs down to the lake and I was pleased that some big fallen trees had been cut and the path was surprisingly clear.

11:19 a.m.

As I ran along the lake, though, suddenly there didn’t seem to be a path at all, just a bunch of fallen trees all over the place. It looked like the deer hadn’t even attempted to make any paths. At this point I started climbing up toward the field and eventually found this path.

11:24 a.m.

I’m realizing that all these paths probably look almost the same to you, but I was horrified to realize that this was the path I’d just run down. I was back at the beginning of the lower woods. Grrrrr…..

I could have left the woods and run alongside the field like I always do but I was determined to successfully navigate the woods. I turned back and realized that one of the paths was no longer there.

There’s an upper path of the lower woods that’s a straight shot through the woods to the other side, but I almost always ran down to the water and along the lower path of the lower woods, which is what I’d just done but that path had suddenly stopped.

But I couldn’t run on the upper path because there was no upper path, so instead I veered off about halfway down the hill where there was yet another path. I know this middle path had been there before, and I feel I knew it was just a deer path. I took this picture right after I turned around to head back toward the water.

11:24 a.m. again.

It doesn’t look like a path, does it? But there must have been some path-like markings. I ended up somewhere near the lower path and then once again I was just out in the middle of the woods and no idea what had happened to any paths. I was so frustrated because the path had so obviously vanished.

I wasn’t panicky because I knew where the lake was and where the field was, but I was irritated because no path. I’d been trying to sort of jog a little in between climbing over and under trees but I was really just hiking slowly. Grrrr.

After wandering for a while I did finally find a path that I could see headed out to the field.

11:35 a.m.

Actually, I took that final shot when I emerged onto the field and looked back. I even ran back into the woods a little bit to see if I could see any kind of entrance to the lower path of the lower woods, but there was nothing. I wish I’d taken a picture of the field in front of me. I wish I’d found a complete path in the lower woods but now I’m pretty confident there isn’t one.

Good luck to the bow hunters trying to track the deer. I feel they’ll be lucky to make it out of the woods. On one hand it seems horrible that they’re going to hunt the deer but on the other hand, like I said, there are way too many of them and they keep getting hit by cars. It also makes me nervous that the hunters willl be right there across the street with their bows and arrows.

I finished my run taking my usual route and ended up going 3.89 miles. I’ve been jogging about 3.1 miles lately because then on my phone it says I’ve done a 5K and I feel like I’ve really accomplished something. The wandering around in the woods added some miles and some time, although I was only in the upper and lower woods for 30 minutes. I didn’t have to call Kevin to come and rescue me, although I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to find me. I need an air tag like we have on Lester’s collar, that’ll show us on our devices where he is.

But come to think of it, I guess he’d be able to track me because I did have my phone.

And now it’s Sunday night and that’s about all I managed to get done today.

Ok then,

Sunday night Grace.