I often convey to friends that while it can be scary in the outdoors, it can also be freeing. Yesterday I went to town for my day off. First I went to see Toy Story 3 by myself, and fell asleep for 20 minutes in the middle. As a result, I missed how all the toys escaped the evil baby daycare room and wound up at the trash compactor. Then I went to the Met and they were out of Chai. Then I went to the bookstore and there were very few used books. Overall, the day was not particularly successful in terms of what I go to towns for. Then I went to Pudding Pond for a little stroll. Immediately taking a mountain biking path instead of the main/walking route, I weaved my way around, paying attention to my sense of direction. I thought I had traveled two units up so I turned left one unit and then left one unit again. When I got back to the powerline cut, the trailhead was nowhere to be found. Wondering if I had traveled PAST the trailhead in my series of left turns, I turned left again, and walked and walked and thought perhaps I should turn around but I was approaching this end of the power line cut. "Well, I might as well finish it off before turning around and walking back (to where I started) for half an hour!" I thought to myself.
A moment later, I came upon the trailhead!? Turns out those series of left turns had occurred when my sense of direction was discombobulated. In fact, I had traveled two units up, then one unit up, and then another unit up! So when I came out at the power line cut, I had four units to walk back to get to where I started (much longer than I thought), and thankfully I turned left to do so!

No American wilderness that I know of is so dangerous as a city home "with all the modern improvements." One should go to the woods for safety, if for nothing else --- John Muir