Hike with a Crazy Man

I went on a hike with a co-worker recently. He doesn't hike around here very often so I gave him a choice. Take a shorter hike that will be more of an adventure or an easier hike that is longer. He chose adventure. Cari shook her head as we got into the car. I guess that's cause she knew where I was taking this guy.

The trail is visible but is not located in a park. It's not maintained by a ranger and there is no parking lot. You just park on the unmarked forest service road and head into the trees. About half way through our hike I saw a tree with a ribbon tied around it. I pointed to it and kept leading the way through the forest. That ribbon just re-assured me we were still on some kind of trail.

We went about an hour into the forest and finally came to a point so choked off we had to stop. He asked me where the waterfall was. There was no waterfall where I thought one would be. After eating our lunch (I saved my apple in case we got lost, but he ate his) we started back out.

Not far from the lunch spot we found this red lizard. The thing is pretty freaky looking. My buddy looks at it and reaches out to grab it. I hollered at him, "Don't touch it! It's poisonous." I didn't really know if it was, but I've never seen a good critter that color of red. He held it in his hand and examined it. After he put it down, I was thankful he didn't eat it.

We got back to the tree with the ribbon that I pointed out earlier and I stopped to look at the creek. That's when I saw the CORRECT trail that crossed the water. D'oh! My friend looked back at the tree and saw that someone had carved three arrows into the bark pointing toward the creek trail. How did we miss that? These arrows were large and carved deep into the trunk.

He said, "I tried to tell you earlier. I thought it was funny someone would carve an arrow into a tree".

I didn't reply, but I knew what my answer would be. "Next time, when you see an arrow carved into a tree and we are in the middle of nowhere, please make sure I hear you".