Episode Details

Two Random hikers, a secluded spot, a field manual.

By HectorBidon. Listen to the ►Podcast at Steamy Stories.

One of the big lessons I learned the summer I graduated from high school was that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing even if it was your mother's idea. The Park Department was putting on a series of new events for young adults, and my mother kept bugging me to go to one of them. "It will get you out of the house," she'd say. "You love the outdoors. It will give you a chance to meet people." By people she meant girls. Here I was, eighteen, and I still didn't have a girlfriend. She was afraid I'd be a bachelor all my life.

I think she was trying to correct her mistakes from the past 5 years. Until the past few months, she tried to keep me from anything that might conflict with her frigid attitudes on dating and sex. Now she was often suggesting that I ask out some girl who met her qualifications. What teenage guy wants to let their mom be their matchmaker!”

My dad left my mom when I was 13, and married a woman in another state. Mom never dated any men since then. So mom tried to find good male role models for me. Scouting was okay, because my buddies were there. But other than the scouting idea, I resented her socialization initiatives. Dad rarely visited, once his new wife had a baby; nor did he arrange for me to come visit him. But he paid for my prep school, and I got a car for my graduation/18th birthday present.

The fact is, I was dying to get out of the house. I did love the outdoors. I desperately wanted to meet girls. The only reason I was dragging my feet was because it was her idea. It began to dawn on me that this was not a very grown-up reason.

So I took a look at the schedule. One of the events was going to be an orienteering hike in Twisty Creek Park. It was a new county park and nature preserve & endowment that some rich widow gave to the county, upon her death. The terms required the county to provide educational experiences for reintroducing young people to nature, through hikes and other activities. The hikers would be divided up into teams, and each team would have to find their way around an eight-mile course using a map and a compass. It sounded like it might be fun. So I signed up online. They sent me a topographic map of the park and a list of directions that we'd have to follow to get around the course.

On the morning of the hike, I got to the park a few minutes late. There were half a dozen cars in the parking lot, but I didn't see any people. I got out to take a look around. Another car door opened, and a girl got out. She was wearing khaki shorts, a light blue polo shirt, and a brimmed hat.

"Are you here for the orienteering hike?" she asked