Confirming What I Already Know

I suck at map skills! It is like the most gorgeous day ever and I decided that after nine months, I am tired of going on 'walks' and that I am ready to go solo on a proper hike: mountains, fields, the whole package. So I picked a route on the map, fairly straightforward and I set out with all the prerequisite supplies: backpack, water, map, phone, camera and ID well, for just in case. I walk and come to a cow pasture. I will admit cows make me nervous, especially when they have horns which these all did, but I walked around them in the direction I thought was correct and came to an uncrossable fence so I backtracked. This was a good backtrack because I saw a fox cross about 20 feet in front of me! I saw a woman and asked her how to get out of the field. She pointed the way. Lucky helper number one.
Then I walked on and came to where I thought the path should cross a road except that there was no path on the other side, so I walked a bit up the road to see if there was a continuation. Nothing. At that moment, a woman walking her dog came around the bend. I asked her for directions and she pointed me in the right way. Lucky helper number two.
I traipsed across to the field, found the path marker and kept going. And going. And going. With no sign (literally) of the path or a marker. I see a farm in the distance and head that way because I can hear a road and he must have a driveway. I get to the farm and it's totally deserted. So I follow what looks like a driveway and stumble upon the farmer. He shows me where I am (far from my original destination) and shows me where I need to go. Lucky helper number three. I did see baby pigs on the way out of his farm and they were totally adorable.


I found the road and got home just fine after checking out a few neighborhoods that I have always wanted to walk through. What a fun morning. Also, it's nice to have an American accent sometimes because people always are helpful when you play the part of the lost American!