Have you ever gotten lost in the woods?

[campforums]

What is the worst anyone here has ever gotten lost?

I don't think anything too severe has happened to me, in part because I always carry a compass when I go out wandering the woods. However there have been times where I have wanted to get back and it has taken me a lot longer than I wanted it to. There is always a moment of panic when you realize you do not know where you are but I always remember to stay calm and use my compass to relocate some points to recoordinate myself.

 

[KenBrace]

I got lost in West Virginia once. I was wandering around in the mountains with a couple brothers of mine. We were pretty young and didn't think much about keeping track of our course. After an hour or two we decided that it was time to go home. But those mountains can really screw up your sense of direction. We headed back in what looked like familiar territory. It wasn't long before we found out just how lost we were. The terrain was not familiar at all and we had lost all sense of direction. We wandered around for and hour or so until it was getting dark. We eventually found our way out of the mountains and to a small road. We were able to find our way home from there. It's extremely easy to get lost in mountains.

 

[happyflowerlady]

It is definitely easy (and scary) to be lost out in the mountains ! You can't see very far because of all of the trees; so it is sometimes really hard to find a landmark that you recognise, and most of the trails all look about the same.
I have been lost several times, but the longest time was when my friend and I were out riding in the deep woods in western Washington. I had my son on behind me in the saddle, and he was only about 3-4 at the time.

We often rode out in the woods on the Weyerhauser trails; but this time, we somehow missed our turn. We were out there for HOURS, and it finally got dark, and then later and later at night.
Sometimes, we took the same wrong fork of the trails several times, arriving at the dead end; and both my friend and myself were getting tired. My son had literally fallen asleep with his tiny hand locked into my belt loops on my jeans.

When we started hearing the coyotes following us and wailing; we were two scared young women, and by then were beginning to think that we would be lost out there all night long.
Finally, we said, let's just give the horses their free rein, and maybe they can find their way back home. We sure couldn't ! !
Wouldn't you know it; those poor old horses were exhausted, too, and ready to go home.
As soon as we gave them their head and let them go, they took us right home. We were there in less than a half hour, after all those hours of being lost.

It was close to midnight when we got back to the house, and we were all ready to be back home again.

 

[KenBrace]

@happyflowerlady

That's a very interesting story. Even with our superior human intelligence we lack the directional skills of many other animals. You would think that greater intelligence would make it easier to navigate but apparently that is not the case. I'm surprised at how well many animals are able to find their way home.

It was close to midnight when we got back to the house, and we were all ready to be back home again.

Wow that's pretty late! You were lost a lost longer than I was. That sounds completely and utterly exhausting.