My experience with being lost was a scary one. I learned my lesson about riding dirt bikes alone. It all started while riding up a trail I had not ridden before. The trail went on top of the continental divide and ran for many thousands of miles from the border of Mexico to the border of Canada. This trail is deceiving in its difficulty. Some parts would be easy and others are almost impassable. There are many different turn-offs that will take you into the unknown. This is what happened to me.

It all started like any other day of riding. The sun was shining and I was ready to ride. I got up on the trails, and my bike was running strong. I was riding, and I just thought to myself about how I didn't have my riding backpack with me. I decided that I wouldn't make it a hard ride, so I continued anyways. I soon realized that it was a mistake.

While riding, the trail got rougher than usual. I kept going because I wasn't gonna let the trail stop me. The trail was starting to get good, but it kept going for a long ways. I continued down the trail for almost two hours. Then the trail got skinny. The trail was too skinny to turn around on and I was forced to keep going to find my way to a turn around, but the turn around never came. The trail got skinnier as I went and soon after was just a ridged hiking trail on top of the continental divide. I decided to keep going down the trail to find the turn around no matter where it was. I was starting to get tired, and thought the trail would never end. There was even a time that I thought about leaving my bike and walking out, but then I found a fork in the trail. As I stopped and examined the two trails, I noticed a lake in the bottom of a bowl. Neither of the trails were harder than what I had been on, so I decided I would go to the lake and hope there was a road or people. As I rode down the small hiking trail, it started to get steep and started moving closer to a cliff. I kept riding and found my way to the bottom of the lake. But there was nobody there.

The lake was not what I was looking for, but I did enjoy the lake's beauty. The trail continued down the canyon and back into the trees. The trees were comforting because I could build shelter if I needed. The trail started looking like any other trail, so i could pick up my speed a little bit and start covering ground faster. At this time, I had been on the trail for almost eight hours, and I was very tired. I was riding and found another lake. This lake did have people at it. I got excited to see people because that meant there was a road to bring them up there. I quickly started down a rough trail to get to the lake when my bike ran out of gas. I started to push my bike down the trail. After about an hour of pushing my bike, I had finally made it to the lake where I found a nice couple who loaned me some gas. I asked them, “How did you get up here?” and they told me of a road that came out at the next town over. I followed the road they were talking about and they were right. The road took me to the town, and I called for a ride back to my truck.

The experience I had on the trails that day caused me to be cautious while riding alone, and now I never go anywhere without my survival backpack. It has caused me to be cautious in doing anything risky while alone. The experience scared me, but I would do it all again knowing what I know now.