The Nature Trail

It's said that the best stories begin when things start to go wrong.

It was a beautiful cloudless morning at Rough Creek Lodge. After breakfast, we decided that we would go for a walk on the nature trail that ran through the lodge's property.

It was supposed to be a fairly flat and comfortable loop through the beautiful Texas countryside, and when we set out, we were in high spirits. Along the way, we saw herons, cardinals, and other beautiful Texas birds, and were really enjoying our walk through the juniper hills of Glen Rose.

After a while, however, the trees disappeared, and we were caught outside in the midday sun without any shade. Unsure now about how far the trail was, we had a debate: do we turn around and trek all the way back to the lodge, or do we press on, hoping that we were already on our way back? 

It was a tough call. At several points, we could see the lodge. It didn't look far, but unbeknownst to us, the trail would take us on a large loop around the property, past the lake and the grazing area where the lodge's horses ran free.

It got hotter and hotter, and we found ourselves woefully unprepared for the day. We had carried water with us, of course, but we hadn't expected the trail to be this difficult or this rough. After all, it was a nature trail at a luxury resort, not a wilderness trek! We had no idea how difficult the walk was going to be, or that it would be mostly unshaded in the hot, hot Texas sun.

The scenery was certainly beautiful, but I admit that we were really struggling by the halfway point, but we did our best to keep ourselves together. I have to say that I am so proud of my parents and my wife for pushing on. They are all real adventurers!

We finally finished the hike in the early afternoon. By the time we finally got back to the lodge, we nearly collapsed at the poolside. I think each of us drank 3 or 4 bottles of ice cold water. We didn't do much the rest of the day, just spent some time in the pool cooling off. That nature trail had almost gotten the better of us.

The moral of the story: always be prepared, carry more water than you think you need, and always bring a map!!!