You may think the trail gets super boring. To be perfectly honest it can be. Today wasn’t that.I plan to meet a buddy in a few days and I have some trail miles to burn…so I woke up this morning with a fire in my belly and sticks in my hands.
I met a couple of fellows about 10 miles into the day and we chatted for a few minutes. They were from Illinois on a day hike.
A few miles later I find a wallet and cell phone in a baggie. I take a peek…the dl shows Illinois and it’s clear from the condition (it rained and the baggie was dry):that it’s from today.
So I had some options:
– chase them down (I’m faster but I don’t know where they might turn off)
– go on a bender
– figure out another way to get their stuff back to them
I went with the third option. They mentioned starting at Jennings creek. It was about 1.5 hrs away. I used Google to figure out my county and looked up the sheriff’s office. After a couple of minutes of chatting with the sheriff’s office we decided I would meet a deputy at the Jennings creek trailhead. I push the gas pedal and hike.
At the parking lot I find an Illinois tag car. Bingo!
The deputy shows, I give him the goods and we chat for a few. He says he’ll leave a note on the windshield, and goes to run plates as I finish up snacking and getting water.
As I’m getting up to leave someone pulls in. It’s the owner of the goods and his hiking partner!
It was great to get a happy ending!
The good looking feller in the middle is me. The one to the left of me is the guy with morning dropsies.
Now if I can avoid the rain and still get miles in that would be a great end to the day!
HikingSeason 