It began as a freak snowstorm.

I've been hiking and camping in the woods outside of Kashmir since I was in high school.

It was a spot I used to like to come to with my friends before they all got too busy

to return to nature every now and again.

The wilderness in North Georgia is just so beautiful.

It's a great place to immerse yourself in nature and return to your roots.

This weekend, however, I found myself in nature's mercy instead of its beauty.

Actually, maybe not nature.

The longer I stay here, the more I suspect something insidious might be in this place.

When I had set up my tent Friday afternoon in the temperature had been a bit crisp, nothing

out of the ordinary.

The rain had been in bloom and it seemed unthinkable, but it could get below 50 degrees in the

daytime.

I'd been meaning to hike deeper before coming back out again on Sunday, but when I woke

up to find snow, I decided we could must be a bust.

After gathering the gear I could find, I'd been hiking back to my truck, but I must have

gotten turned around.

As the day fredded out, I realized how lost I'd become.

My usual landmarks were either covered in snow or changed so drastically I couldn't

even recognize them.

They needle kept turning and turning, leading me in circles as I wandered through the snow.

As I got more and more turned around, the night began to creep up on me.

...