So now we had a long trek ahead of us. We were headed toward Prouty Park, but we blew four hours. We hiked and hiked and hiked some more. We had to make it to Prouty before nightfall.
The sun was setting slowly in the west and we hiked on, still in search of Prouty Park. We hiked over high ridges and mountains, which at their base looked promising. But they just went up again, onto another mountain.
We hiked for about four and a half hours when we entertained the dreadful thought of possibly having passed our destination. By the map, we should have reached it hours ago. But we saw no sign. So we hiked further. We crossed several roads and we were losing our strength.
Shirley, who was very sick, pressed on amazingly, but needed to rest. Julie started hyperventilating. Everyone was hurting pretty bad. We stopped on one road. It was the fourth or fifth road we crossed.
We again got in a circle and prayed. We prayed for strength, patience, courage, and health. Also wisdom in finding our way.
At that point Chuck, Dan and I went ahead to see if we could find our site. The sun was almost down, so we needed our flashlights. The markers on the trail were hard to see, so we went without packs.
Chuck told the group that stayed behind to wait a half hour, and if we weren’t back, to head after us.
The sun set and it was dark. Real dark.
The sun set and it was dark. Real dark.
We were moving quickly and prayed we wouldn’t get lost. I led the small group since I had the strongest light. During the hike in the dark I came to what seemed like a triple or possible quadruple fork.
And there were no markers.
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