Hidden Lake

It Started at a Junkyard

May 19, 2026 • Nashville, Tennessee

Well today's adventure started at a junkyard.

I was missing one of the factory Ford caps from my wheel, and apparently buying one online costs entirely too much money for a little circle with a Ford logo on it. So I decided I'd go see if I could find one myself.

And I did.

I was probably way more excited about finding that thing than anybody should've been, but I didn't care. 😂 I found the exact factory one I needed without paying the stupid prices I'd been seeing online. It was so much fun walking through the junkyard looking for 'my car' and seeing all the differnt ones they had.

Since I was already out, I decided I wasn't ready to go home yet.

So I found another trail.

This Is Where I Started Questioning My Decisions 

I made it through the field without being attacked by any of the snakes I had already decided were definitely living in there, and eventually the trail took me back into the woods.

That's where I found this old abandoned-looking building.

Of course I wanted to know what it used to be, so I pulled out my phone and tried to Google it.

Barely any signal.

Red flag #2., with the field obviously red flag #1

I kept going anyway, because apparently I was more committed to finding this hidden lake than I was concerned about any of the warning signs I was collecting along the way.

Then I heard something snapping branches in the woods.

Now, looking back, it was probably a deer.

At the time?

Obviously it was either a bear or a mountain lion stalking me through the woods. Those were apparently the only reasonable possibilities. 😂

I kept walking.

Then I took a fork in the trail and started walking through spider webs. One after another.

The webs themselves didn't bother me. I'd knock them down and keep going.

Until I stopped and thought about why I kept being the person walking through ALL of them.

If there were fresh spider webs stretched across the trail everywhere I went...

that meant nobody else had walked through there in a while.

Well. Shit.

Now I'm alone, barely have cell service, something with four legs is apparently hunting me, and I've somehow chosen the one trail nobody else seems to be using.

And the sun was starting to go down....

But I still hadn't seen the lake.

And I was not turning around before I found that damn lake.

Apparently There Was an Easier Way 

I decided to take a different way back out instead of going back the same way I came.

Eventually the trail opened up into this big field, and way off in the distance I could actually see my car.

I could see civilization. 😂

There was tall grass again, but this path was wider and had little markers along the way for kids to stop and read. The whole thing was giving very much “children probably come here on field trips.”

And all I could think was:

OH HELL NO.

Here I had spent half this hike convinced I was about to be attacked by snakes, a mountain lion, a bear, or whatever else I had decided was following me through the woods...

Meanwhile, apparently there was an educational children's path.

I kept following it around the field until I finally made it back to my car.

And my timing couldn't have been much better. Just as I got back, the ranger pulled up and sat there waiting for the parking lot to empty. There were still three other cars there, and I have no idea where those people were...

but I was OUT.

I found the lake. I survived all the things that were probably never trying to kill me in the first place. And I made it back to my car before the ranger had to come looking for me.

Would I go back? Absolutely.

Would I go back alone? Absolutely not. 😂