Here's my looooong story...

OK, soooo this is slightly embarrassing and at the time I really was afraid for my life. So, though at times I have been accused of being "dramatic" it was very surreal and still can't believe I put myself in this position but, here it is...

[Starting last Saturday...]Evelyn and I tried out some nature trails, we went on a 1.5 mile trail that starts and ends on the parking lot where we parked our car. The trails are labeled "easy", "moderate", and "difficult". This trail was "moderate" and though it wasn't easy-lost my breath along the way-it wasn't out of my league. We made good time and I felt good after doing it....

>>Fast Forward to yesterday (10/12/10) 6pm. I decided to take Kenneth and Ev and try the trails out again. We decided to go on a different "moderate" trail. About .8 miles in there is a fork in the road-one way leads to a "difficult" trail, the other continues as "moderate".

It was still light out, it was an additional 1.5 miles but we made really good time on the .8 miles so, we decided to go "difficult".

The first steps in to this difficult trail are very steep "stairs" made from logs and pebbles-step in the wrong place and you go sliding down the side of this hill (which happened to Kenneth). Passing people on their way back through the trail with hats, walking sticks, backpacks and hiking boots did not deter us....(I have Antoine Dodson in my head singing "you are so dumb, really really dumb fo real"). We kept going down, down, down...This was no easy trek, "difficult" means "DIFFICULT"!! We know at the end of our trek is a pond so at every corner we are looking for a pond, listening for water....it seemed like a never ending trail and I was getting worn out! The sun was starting to go down and we FINALLY made it!! We were SOOO excited! We had done it! Ok, now, where's our car? We are so ready to go!

We see a sign. "2.2 MILES TO PARKING". We were supposed to be at the parking lot!

"WWWWHHHHAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? x's infinity.

Kenneth starts explaining we have no choice now, we have to book it-the sun is setting fast and once it gets dark there are NO lights around and we will be walking the trails in the pitch dark with no flash lights or protection.

{Did i mention the signs along the way that say "Beware of Copperheads and rattlesnakes?}

With our "want to" burned out, we turn to our "have to" and start the trail back to our car.

At this point I started to panic on the inside..., I hear the highway and suggest we cut off the path and head toward the highway-at least we'd have light and be on a real road! But that was not an option. I was already at my maximum physical capability limit (so I thought) on the way too the pond-I did not think I could handle another 2.2 miles on this trail. Not to mention...on the way TO the pond we were going DOWN, so what way do I have to go now? UP! Up these makeshift stairs that were 2 feet tall each. Each step was a waist high step and I was exhausted!

Every few minutes I would sit down and take a break. I would get to breathing so hard trying to go up these dang stairs I couldn't see straight. I would see spots and then I started not being able to feel my arms and hands. This scared me. I thought I was going to die of an unknown heart condition and I would be a news story tonight.

I just kept Kenneth and Evelyn to keep moving and I would catch up with them. I would sit, catch my breath then race up as many stairs as I could with as much energy as I could muster and I went through this routine multiple times as EVERY corner we turned had more stairs to go UP. I felt that they would NEVER end.

At this point, we are still at LEAST 1.5 miles from the end of the trail and I am feeling beat up and it is getting dark faster and faster. At dusk all of the tree spiders are starting come out and make their webs that are 6 feet wide and between the trees we are walking through so (no lie) EVERY tree has a new spider web and we are walking through it. which has got us ALL freaked out. Kenneth is leading the pack with a "stop drop and roll" approach to EVERY spider web he walks into (accompanied by a panicked scream) which freaks us out even more! OMG!!!

So as we are walking trying to DUCK every spider web above our heads I look down...in between my feet is a BABY RATTLESNAKE!!!!!! (Just as poisonous as their mommies, FYI). I scream "SNNNNAAAAKKKKE!!!!" and we all book it! A few steps later there is a BLACK WIDOW crawling right where I'm stepping and my hopes are crushed that I will ever make it out of this jungle alive because I NEED TO SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW!!!!

If I sit down (which I feel like I have to do to keep from passing out) I will be bit my a snake or spider! 911 can't even help us at this point. We don't know where we are or how far we are from the end.

So, here we go up more stairs, with snakes and spiders waking up and crawling among us and darkness taking over....I start getting hysterical. Crying and telling Kenneth I CANNOT GO ANY FURTHER. I'm just going to die here.

He keeps telling me, "come on, we're not far..." to which I replied, "you don't know where we are!!" He tried pulling and pushing and nothing was going to get my legs that feel like lead up those stairs.

After total exhaustion, on the brink of passing out, no one around, I told him to call 911 I'm not going to make it. I was terrified to sit down but I had to. He just kept trying to talk me into getting up and moving on but I couldn't. So, I called 911. I kept moving, but I called. I told them what was going on but they didn't know about the nature trails or where we were. 3 transfers and descriptions of landmarks later, they found the nature trails.

They informed Kenneth they were waiting at the END of this trail, but we are still 1 mile from the end!

I'll cut to the chase...I lived, I was traumatized, but I lived.