The sun was high in the sky when I pulled into the Big Rock Forest Preserve. It was a perfect fall day and I was looking forward to exploring. My daypack contained the usual supplies; water, peanut butter and a battery pack. I slipped it over my shoulders as I looked at the map.
The map was visual jibber jabber. The park was a combination of oddly shaped parcels of forest, prairie and a lake all jammed together with trails that wound here and there; no logic held them together. Most of the paths were around the fields instead of through the woods. It didn’t make any sense to me. None. I shrugged. I would figure it out. There was a lot of daylight left.
I smiled to myself and found a nice rhythm as I headed toward a suspension bridge leading to a prairie. The sun was on my face. I had the day off. Everything smelled of freedom. I stopped on the bridge and gazed at the reflection of the trees in the slow water. I thought about taking a picture and didn’t. Then I spied a deer run that led into the woods. I made a beeline for the path and then skipped, at least in my mind, happily along until I was deep in the forest. It led to a creek with a path next to it; I followed it upstream. I got lost in my thoughts and followed the water. It felt reckless in a fun way. I knew it wasn’t the best plan, but I had a signal and you can’t walk in circles when you are following water. I knew I would come to a road or a marked trail eventually. Or I could simply turn around.
A long while later, I looked around and wondered when I would come to a road. I thought maybe I should turn around but I had already come a long distance. I had hiker’s mentality, “It’s just around the next bend.” I knew I could call someone but that would be embarrassing. I gave myself a little pep talk and carried on. The scared/confident cycle alternated with the turn around/keep going cycle for a long time; someone less stubborn might have called a friend for a ride. “Less stubborn” is not one of my traits.
Eventually, I emerged from the woods. The grass was different. It was long but oddly uniform and the trail became a road. There was a bridge ahead. I thought I was dreaming when I saw men in fancy colorful clothes on the other side. GOLFERS! As I got closer, I realized they weren’t average men in fancy colorful clothes; their attire was expensive. I looked at the shiny golf carts with the shiny caddies and then self-consciously at my bedraggled self. Darn. I thought. I am not dressed for this. I waved in a lame attempt at humor. No one waved back. Nor did I wake up from the weird dream.
Awkwardly, I walked along the path. I wasn’t sure which way to go. My indecision didn’t last long because a truck pulled up next to me. The words “Rich Harvest Farms” glimmered on the immaculate vehicle. There was a couple in the backseat. They didn’t look fancy. A man dressed in a uniform stepped out and opened the back door. He motioned me in as he spoke into a walkie-talkie. “I am picking up a guest that I will escort off the property,” he said as he slid back into the driver’s seat and looked at me in the rearview mirror. His mouth was smiling. His eyes were not smiling.
“I got a little lost,” I said, my eyes and mouth both smiling. I told the driver I started at Big Rock Forest Preserve. The couple next to me laughed, they also started at Big Rock and they also got lost. The three of us laughed. It was like we had a secret club; our initiation was trespassing. Trespassing on Rich Harvest Farms, no less. We picked a challenge. There was a lot of nonverbal interaction and restrained laughter as the three of us bonded secretly on the long, otherwise quiet drive back to our cars with the smiling/not smiling driver.
The three of us jumped out and high-fived one another when we arrived at Big Rock Forest Preserve. We laughed loudly while adrenaline coursed through us as it does when one has had a near mishap of the body or wallet. When my new friends finally pulled away, I wandered back over to the map and looked at it again. That map that didn’t make any sense? It was actually a map to a great adventure.