Are you finding art inspiration or getting lost?

I’m a hiker. A lot of my art inspiration comes from hikes or walks. I tell my friends that God skipped me when he handed out Fashion genes, but that I got an extra helping of the Explorer gene. Because I love to walk down a trail or drive down a road and see what’s around the bend, don’t you?

I also have a pretty good sense of direction. I’ll pick a trail, read about it, make sure I have a map, drive 3 hours to the mountains, and then hike a completely new trail. I’m talking 10 miles in remote wilderness areas where there are very few people. I don’t care; I just want to go explore. There are sometimes false trails, and I do have to watch for turns, pay attention, and occasionally backtrack. Any experienced hiker will tell you that this is normal. But I’ve never gotten lost....except once.

So here I am, this intrepid explorer who takes off hiking on all these long, unknown trails in mountainous wilderness areas. And where do I get lost? At a state park in the middle of a flat city about ten miles from my house. Seriously, I was so embarrassed. True, it has over 1000 acres. What tripped me up is that it was very sandy and hard to tell where there was a trail v. a false trail v. just.... sand between the trees. After walking for about 2 hours, I thought I was almost done, only to stay lost for another 2 hours, starting to get worried, and wondering how I was going to find my car. I distinctly remember passing one point and thinking, “I’ve been here before. This is NOT a good sign.” It was hot, I was tired, and I was out of water. Fortunately, I eventually found my way off the trail and back to the parking lot. That was many years ago.

Our state has a program called Ultimate Outsider; where you visit every park (there are 47); get your book stamped; and earn bragging rights, a t-shirt, and other fun events. I was thinking the parks would be some great inspiration for art; so I went to get my book and my first stamp today, and I thought it was only appropriate to start at the park where I got lost in my own backyard. You’ll be happy to know - I walked the trail around the lake today and didn’t get lost once!

Where have you gotten lost?