Run Recap: Adventure Is Just Bad Planning

My husband, golden retriever, and I headed up north this past weekend for a few days of sunshine, relaxation, and some quality time with Lake Michigan. Along with vibrant blue lakes, pine scented air, and craft IPAs, one of the things that I love about northern Michigan is the abundance of hiking trails. I recently read a review of a trail that we had never explored, so I decided that running this area would be a perfect way to get in some miles for my upcoming trail marathon.

The plan was to wake up Saturday morning, eat a quick breakfast, and hit the road in search of the trail head marker. Our day got off to a later start than we planned, but we soon found the trail and took off on our run. 

Beautiful view of Lake Michigan at the lookout point.

The run started out with a bit of a climb through the woods that led us to a beautiful lookout point. Reaching the lookout point also meant that the remainder of the run was going to be spent along a high ridge line, which brought beautiful panoramic views, but no shade and lots of hot sun.  We started to notice that Emmy, our 70-lb, furry-as-furry-gets golden retriever was starting to pant pretty early on in the run. We would take some walk breaks, give her lots of water out of my hydration pack, and move along the trail with an occasional "you can do it, Emmy" pep talk. We crept along the trail at a slow pace, but despite the water and breaks, Emmy's panting was getting heavier and heavier and our concern for her safety started to increase.

One missed turn led to another, and with dwindling hope that we were approaching our parked car, we came upon a historic barn. Emmy immediately laid down behind the barn and Jeff and I made the call that it was no longer safe for her to proceed any farther. This meant that we would split up and I would wait at this barn while Jeff ran back to grab the car. We checked the cell phone GPS and concluded that the car "should be" about 1.5 miles away. Well, several minutes passed with no sign of Jeff. My worry shifted from Emmy's panting to wondering if Jeff was lost and/or eaten by a black bear. Just as my nervousness started to amp up, Jeff appeared out of the woods. On foot. With no car.

Not a bad view while waiting for our rescue.

Because I drive a Ford, we often use a key code to access the car and he told me that despite multiple attempts, the code wasn't working today. I responded, "Hmm- that's weird. It's never not worked before today." to which Jeff sheepishly replied "Well, I may have forgotten the code."  After some not-so-gentle teasing and an eye roll or two, we decided that it was my turn to run back and get the car. Despite my love of trail running, I am not crazy about running in the woods alone. I started out running the trail in hopes of it leading to the car, but because I was worried about confronting an ax murderer in the woods my phone gps indicated that the trail wasn't far from the road, I decided that taking the road back to my car would be the safest decision at this point. I eventually reached the car and was relieved to find that the key code was in fact working. Phew.

I hopped in the car, cranked up the air conditioning, and picked up the husband and the pup. Along with some laughs about forgetting a code that we have used for almost six years, the rest of the day was spent cooling off in the waters of Lake Michigan.