WALKING IN THE WOODS –An adventure

WALKING IN THE WOODS –An adventure
By Hilda Young
First I would like to thank the 9 am ladies walking group for an unusual morning. Secondly I would like to thank my chauffer to Deep River Lorelei Dean and thirdly I would like to thank my husband Bruce Hanna for his vote of confidence.
Why all the thank you before my story? Well this is a humour piece to lighten the mood after an adventurous trip to Deep River on Thursday May 6th However I do not know the entire story. I was the catalyst for the event!
Yes, I was lost in the woods or should I say abandoned momentarily, this morning.
The 9 am Ladies walking group is well known in the community, I joined it as a long distance member last fall with a friend from Petawawa. At times the journey from Petawawa seemed long but it has become a fun event with company...
Margaret Miller, the group leader started out at a leisurely pace stating we would be going into the woods as someone had been there recently and said the trails were good. Famous last words! I dutifully took off at a good pace with Pat Meadowcroft, my partner. We kept up as the group meandered through a few residential streets then crossed over near the Anglican Church to Banting Drive. At that point I was lost but continued walking. A group of us chatted about our location. We thought we were going east. We kept walking along the power line then though the woods. I was hot. So I told Pat to continue walking as I planned to stop and take off a couple of layers. A few people walked by making comments about the heat. I was left alone! I continued walking but soon lost sight of the group as there was a fork in the road. I saw them go down one road at a steady pace. I thought I would try to connect at the next turning so took the wider trail. The trail was wide and reasonably well marked so I kept following the D loop ski trail. The trail went south I think towards an open area which became the parking lot of the Hospital.
Initially I did not hear any noise so thought that the group had left me behind and walked back to the Bean House. I was fine. Once I arrived at the road I planned to walk back to town. However I did here echoes calling my name and tried to get closer and called hello. When I started back along Banting Drive I went back into the woods as I heard voices. Eventually Margaret Miller found me. Apparently I was lost and the group broke up into two to look for me!
I heard part of the story as I walked back with Pat Meadowcroft again! When we arrived back at the Bean House my husband Bruce Hanna laughed. He said I was fine .If there was a problem I would have been heard at the Bean House as I tend to have good set of lungs when I am scared!
So thanks ladies for an interesting diversion. Next time let’s make sure that we keep the buddy system!