Bang! The sound of my car door shutting echoed around the empty parking lot. I fiddled with my keys before locking the car and walking towards the start of the trail hiking my pack up on my shoulder as I went. As I got to the start of the trail I noticed a small warning sign with the bold headline of “Warning Bear Spotted.” Quickly scanning the sign I was able to pick up that a bear sighting had occurred just a few miles from here a week ago and that the bear might still be in the area. Brushing of the warning I continued up the path. I wasn't going to let one little possibility prevent me from using my free weekend the way I wanted.
Today was my first day of freedom in a long time. I have two children to raise and with them still at the young ages of 5 and 7 they are a handful. Even with my husband, Bryan, helping when he can it is still a heavy load, and to top it off I have a full time job so whatever time I don’t spend at my paying job is spent caring for my children. Bryan tries to help, but with him working long hours at a job that also requires him to travel frequently, I am often left with the full weight of raising two young children alone. This weekend however, I had the house to myself and I planned to make the most of it. My husband is in Chicago right now on a business trip and my parents had taken the kids for a weekend so I could have some much needed alone time. Before I had gotten married and had kids I used to be an avid hiker. At least once a week I was on some trail exploring a place I had never been before. My husband had never been an outdoor person, but he had still joined me on weekly hikes in the beginning of our marriage. However, after we had kids, the hikes had almost completely stopped. So once I had heard that I was going to have a weekend to myself I knew exactly what I was going to do. I immediately began searching to find a good hiking trail nearby. I finally stumbled upon one that would be perfect for what I wanted called Steven’s Trek. According to the website, Steven’s Trek was a 4-6 hour hike that took you past a 50 ft. waterfall where there was a nice little picnic area where you could stop and eat your lunch while admiring the view. The trail went in a loop with the picnic area about 3 miles into the 13-mile long trail. I had calculated that if it took me one hour to walk 3 miles and I took a half hour break for lunch then the hike should take me about 5 hours total to complete. A bit of a lengthy hike for someone who hadn’t been hiking for a while but I knew I could handle it since the terrain was supposed to be fairly level.
--1 hour later--
I let out a sigh as I laid back on my picnic blanket. The weather was surprisingly pleasant for early March and I wasn't complaining trying to soak in as much of the mid-afternoon rays as I could. After a few minutes of just soaking in the sunshine I lazily brought my wrist in front of my face to check the time. 1:37 pm. I knew I couldn't rest much longer if I wanted to be done by sundown but I couldn't resist laying there for just a bit longer. I had gotten a later start then I had planned this morning having left the house later than planned and then getting lost on the way. Stupid GPS I thought to myself. My husband Bryan had recently installed a GPS in my car as a 32nd birthday present but so far it hadn’t been too reliable. This was the second time it had led me off course and this time it had resulted in an hour long delay of backtracking to get to my desired location of the Steven’s Trek parking lot. Due to the hour-long delay I had to be a bit more aware of the time if I wanted to finish the hike before the sun went down. Well, I still have a few more minutes before my 30-minute lunch break is up I thought to myself. Might as well soak in a few more rays before I pack up.

--1 hour later --
I groggily stretched and rubbed my eyes. Shoot! I thought, what time is it? I shot to my feet hastily shoving my picnic blanket and left over supplies into my pack before setting off onto the trail while glancing at my watch. 2:37pm. Okay that’s not too bad I thought that leaves me with at least 3 hours to sunset so if I walk fast I’m sure I can make it back by then.
--3 hours later--
Wow that’s beautiful I thought staring up at the setting sun I need to get some pictures to show Bryan and the kids. I quickly reached back to the side pocket of my pack and pulled out my handheld camera. I quickly snapped a few shots of the slowly disappearing sun before forcing myself to turn away from the display of beauty and get back on the trail. I still had at least 30 minutes of trail to cover and with the sunset starting 15 minutes earlier than planned I was running out of time if I wanted to make it back before it got dark. Well at least I came prepared I thought reaching back into my side pocket and pulling out my headlamp before looping it around my wrist and zipping the pocket back up. I continued down the path picking up my pace every now and then to try and beat the darkness. After walking a few more minutes I now found myself in the deepest part of the forest where the terrain was the roughest and the light from the setting sun was starting to cast eerie shadows around the forest. Glancing at my watch I saw that it was only 5:42 pm uggh stupid forecasters never seem to be able to do anything right I had planned on sunset not even starting until about 10 minutes from now not being completed in a few minutes. As the forest continued to darken and I now had to squint to see the outlines of the trees and the path below my feet. I finally unraveled my headlamp from my wrist and placed it on my head before reaching up to press the button to turn the lamp on. And …nothing.
“What? Seriously? I swear I checked the batteries before I left!” I exclaimed. I pulled it from my head and began vigorously pushing the button trying fruitlessly to bring it back to life. The lamp was just not going to turn back on. Annoyed and now worried I shoved the headlamp back into its respectful side pocket in my pack. How could I be so stupid as to not check the batteries? I thought bitterly to myself. Of course it had to be the one time I actually needed the damn thing that it doesn't work! Next time I am triple checking the stupid thing before I leave. Resigned to finishing the rest of the trail without a light I set off squinting and testing the ground at my feet to ensure I was still on the path. Soon though even with squinting I could no longer find the outlines of the trees and I could no longer tell where the trail ended and the forest began. I knew that if I continued going as I was there was a chance that I might wander off the path and end up lost in the forest. However my only other option was to make camp where I was with no materials to do so with which did not sound at all appealing. Man I had forgotten how dark it could get in the forest at night away from the light pollution of the city. Deciding to go with the lesser of two evils I set down my pack and began blindly digging inside for the picnic blanket. Having felt it with the tips of me fingers I began to pull it out, taking care not to accidently spill other items from the bag. Wrapping the blanket around my shoulders I blindly zipped up the bag and began to prepare myself for a night on my own in the forest. It shouldn't be that bad I thought to myself. After all I have done plenty of camping in me past, how different can it be?
--2 hours later --
Scuttle. Scuttle. What was that? My eyes popped open, not that I could see anything anyways. “It’s nothing” I told myself hearing a twig snap in the distance, “probably just a bunny or some other cute fluffy animal.” Yeah but with my luck it's probably some big Grizzly that hasn't eaten in weeks, I thought sourly. With this thought in my head I suddenly remembered the half eaten protein bar and bag of trail mix sitting inconspicuously somewhere in me bag. Oh no! I thought to myself. What if they attract wild animals?! Then the image of the warning sign I had seen when I began my trek appeared in my head. Shoot! Now I am really not going to get any sleep tonight, I thought anxiously.
--10 hours later --
I groggily opened my eyes, sometime in the past few hours I had drifted to sleep my body cocooned in the picnic blanket with my back resting against a tree. I blearily untangled my arm from the blanket cocoon and glanced at the watch on my wrist 6:12 am. Wait a minute… I can see! Sure enough when I looked around there was a faint early morning light filtering thorough the trees. Not one to waste a photographic moment I reached into the side pocket of my pack and pulled out my camera before taking multiple shots of my surroundings. Once I was satisfied with the number of shots I had taken I lurched to my feet before scanning my surroundings I noticed the trail sitting about 10 feet away. Good thing I decided to wait out the night, I thought to myself, who knows where I might’ve ended up. I unwrapped the picnic blanket from my shoulders and bent down to stuff it back in my bag. I then hefted it upon my shoulders and began ambling down the trail.
--20 minutes later--
Scuttle. Scuttle. All of a sudden a rabbit hopped out onto the trail. “Oh hello you! You must have been what I heard last night. You gave me such a scare, I thought you were a bear or something!” I chuckled thinking back to how anxious I had been last night hearing the rustling noises in the dark. Rounding a bend in the trail I saw the greatest sight in the world through the trees, the Steven’s Trek parking lot with my lone van sitting in it. I then paused hearing rustling noises behind me. Thinking it must be the cute little rabbit again I turned around only to be looking straight into the eyes of a full-grown Grizzly Bear. I froze unsure what to do. I remembered seeing something once on Animal Planet that had talked about what to do in the presence of a bear but for the life of me I couldn't recall playing dead was helpful or hurtful. Well it's a bit late for playing dead, I thought to myself. So I guess running it is. Slowly backing away from the large creature I then turned and began to sprint the rest of trail. I knew the car wasn't that far away so it was just a matter of getting there before the bear got to me. Reaching the end of the trail I realized that I didn't hear the expected noise of a bear trampling through the forest intent on making me its next meal. Gathering the courage to stop and look back I saw the bear still in the same spot I had left it just staring down the trail at me. We stared at each for a while before it slowly turned around and ambled back into the forest surrounding the trail. I stayed frozen a bit longer my eyes glued to where the bear had vanished before I finally turned around and entered the parking lot. Walking straight to the van I unlocked the car and opened the sliding door before tossing my pack in and shutting it with the push of a button. I then rounded the front of the van and hopped into the driver’s seat. Reaching into the center console I pulled out my iPhone, pushing the home button I saw a missed text message appear on my screen from Bryan. “How has your weekend been?” Quickly sliding my pointer finger across the phone to unlock it I tapped on the message icon before quickly typing, “It’s been great, although maybe a bit boring with you and the kids gone.”