I knew there was no way I would make it out of the park without getting lost, so I tried to plan for it. Yes, that is correct, I planned to get lost. Trust me, it makes sense.
The first challenge was that I was going for a run. I really, really do not enjoy running with a backpack, which meant I was restricted to the two pockets in my shell. My city maps depicted my destination as a blob of green, so I knew they wouldn't be much use anyway. I printed a screenshot from Google maps, folded it in fourths, and hoped that would be good enough. I grabbed emergency cash, my cell phone (which naturally wouldn't connect to the network and was therefore completely useless as a map), and of course my small camera.
The second challenge was that I was going to a very large woodland park with limited road access, but lots of trails. I've seen places like this before, though. In addition to the "marked" trails, there are loads and loads of offshoots that could be from animals, or could be run-off gulleys after a storm but look suspiciously like paths when its dry, or were tamped down by people who like shortcuts. For a stranger like me, these extra trails just make life very confusing. That's how I get lost.
I'm okay with getting lost though. It's happened before. Mwenzie and I once drove to Harold Parker State Forest for an easy 5k trail run. 13 miles and 2.5 hours later, we finally rediscovered where we'd parked the car.
Also, I was tired of running on the unforgiving cement slabs that equal sidewalks and roads in Kyiv. My legs were angry with me, and I was looking forward to a chance to run more than five miles without navigating through traffic.
The first challenge was that I was going for a run. I really, really do not enjoy running with a backpack, which meant I was restricted to the two pockets in my shell. My city maps depicted my destination as a blob of green, so I knew they wouldn't be much use anyway. I printed a screenshot from Google maps, folded it in fourths, and hoped that would be good enough. I grabbed emergency cash, my cell phone (which naturally wouldn't connect to the network and was therefore completely useless as a map), and of course my small camera.
The second challenge was that I was going to a very large woodland park with limited road access, but lots of trails. I've seen places like this before, though. In addition to the "marked" trails, there are loads and loads of offshoots that could be from animals, or could be run-off gulleys after a storm but look suspiciously like paths when its dry, or were tamped down by people who like shortcuts. For a stranger like me, these extra trails just make life very confusing. That's how I get lost.
I'm okay with getting lost though. It's happened before. Mwenzie and I once drove to Harold Parker State Forest for an easy 5k trail run. 13 miles and 2.5 hours later, we finally rediscovered where we'd parked the car.
Also, I was tired of running on the unforgiving cement slabs that equal sidewalks and roads in Kyiv. My legs were angry with me, and I was looking forward to a chance to run more than five miles without navigating through traffic.