I climbed the hill behind my cabin (October 20, 2022), and at a fork in the trail I followed an assumption of a path. And very quickly realized that I was simply walking on the ground, no longer maintained or known. I made hesitant steps through various breaks in the trees. Circled back around. Chose a different direction. Circled back around. Yellow leaves were falling, sticking to the trees, and mimicking the yellow angular trail markers I'd seen earlier on. I walked on the leaf layer of next year's soil, before turning around and walking back down the hill.
And so I returned with a series of ephemeral trail markers for the very lost (Maple, Tuliptree, Birch, Hickory, pinned with thorns to the bark of other trees). They have possibly curled up by now, or fallen from last night's rain.
