This semester I have had the amazing opportunity of studying abroad in Greece for two and a half months; sadly, leaving my fiancé back in Chicago.
Over this past month, I have travelled to a handful of Greek islands, stopped for an afternoon in Turkey, and walked through the bustling streets of downtown Athens. In the upcoming weeks, I will be travelling through Rome, Pompeii, Corinth, Berlin and many other cities scattering across Greece, Italy, and Germany.
When I first arrived in Athens, I noticed the lush, rolling mountains covered in pine trees. I have grown up hiking in Arizona and my love for mountains has only flourished because of it. Not allowing the opportunity to hike through the National Park of Parnitha go to waste, I created a date and a plan.
On Saturday morning, Winona, Gabrielle, and I set out on what we were told was a 12-mile hike by a blogger who had discovered this “secret” trail. The three of us were armed with our iPhone’s GPS, 
map of the “secret” trail, pepper spray, and enough water and peanut butter sandwiches to get us through the afternoon.
map of the “secret” trail, pepper spray, and enough water and peanut butter sandwiches to get us through the afternoon.
In the past, I have hiked 7 miles in three hours. Surely a 12-mile hike would take 6 hours max with a lunch break as well as time to read our Bibles and journal at the top, overlooking the valley below. And surely following this “secret” trail that very few others knew about in a foreign country was a wise decision.
I was mistaken.
Since we had no car, we contacted Nikolas, an Uber driver who picked us up and dropped us off at 8AM. Hiking isn’t a popular pass time in Greece, so he was a tad surprised to see three young American girls wanting to hike through this daunting forest. We scheduled to be picked up at 5PM that evening, what we thought was an ample amount of time for a 12-mile hike.
Just finding the beginning of the trail took us half-an-hour in itself. When we finally started, we were struck by the raw beauty. We wound up dirt trails, curving through brush and trees; trailed through open meadows, vast plateaus, up the side of a rocky peak, and down the other into the valley below. Athens was a short distance away, but we were unable to see it. It was as if the three of us were alone in a secluded part of nature.
Almost half way through, we stopped for a ten minute peanut butter sandwich break overlooking the valley, enjoying our time amongst God’s creation and the solitude it provided.
Throughout the majority of the path, there were spray-painted indicators of red, orange, and purple, reassuring us that we were, in fact, on the right trail. But after we reached an old fortress marking the half way point at the top the mountain, the colorful markers began to dissipate and the trail started to contradict itself.
By this time, we had realized that our hike was going to be longer than the supposed 12 miles. We were only half way finished according to my map and had already trekked 10 miles.
We started to pick up our pace and hiked another quarter of the trail, running into dead-end after dead-end, obstacles of jeering rocks and thick brush cutting into our skin as we attempted to follow the map. We ended up trailblazing the majority of it, our bodies covered in scratches and dirt. Along the way, my water pouch in my backpack started to leak, emptying over a liter of the three I brought, leaving me with only a few sips and many more miles to go. As well as making it look like I either peed my pants or was sweating profusely.
I lead the group the entirety of this time since my phone was the only one with 3G and I’m decent at following maps. Our hope of making it to our Uber driver by 5 was waning as the clock struck 4. I could tell that we had at least another 2 hours of attempting to scramble out of the mountains. Luckily, I was able to get connection and call Niko, telling him that we wouldn’t be down until roughly7PM.
If only that was a proper estimation.
Seeing that my trail was a leading us on an unidentified path, we backtracked and followed a dirt road to the first picnic area that we had passed through. For a moment, there was a flicker of hope as we picked up our pace and started to jog back down the mountain, following the bright splotches of paint scattered on rocks and tree trunks that we recognized from earlier that morning.
By this time, we were scraped and weary. Our water supply had been depleted and we were out of food. It was 7PM and the sun would soon start disappearing behind the mountains looming above us.
There were multiple times throughout the day that we had prayed for guidance. But now the prayers became even more fervent as the supposed trail that we were on grew confused and contradictory. Instead of going down the mountain, it began to take us back up and around in the wrong direction. For about twenty minutes, we trailed back-and-forth, wasting energy and sunlight, trying to decide the best option. We didn’t have many. After the stress of leading all day, I became overwhelmed and tears stung my face as reality of potentially being lost started to sink in. Winona had to step up and lead.
The sun quickly set and my phone battery was at 1%. I turned off airplane mode long enough to see that Cylas had contacted me a few hours before, asking how I was doing.
Through tear-stained eyes, I texted him; “Please pray. We are lost. Phone is about to die. We are going to have to get a rescue to come find us. I love you so much. I’ll be fine. I’ll call you when I’m safe. Might have to sleep in the mountains. I love you.”
I was a tad worried that those would be the last words he heard from me. If we did have to sleep there, we would wake up dehydrated with little energy. The forest was vast and we were in Greece, one of the last countries you wanted to have an emergency in.
Still I had faith and sanity. My phone died but luckily Gabrielle’s was able to make calls. So she called Niko, the only person who roughly knew our location and spoke Greek and English. He told us to call 112, the emergency number, and reassured us that everything would be okay and that they would find us.
We called 112 and attempted to tell them our location, yet there was difficulty communicating. We explained our location but her GPS had us located near a lake miles away from our true location nor our coordinates. If they followed that, they wouldn’t be able to find us.
When my GPS was still working, I took a screenshot of our rough location and was able to text it to Niko an hour prior. The two locations contradicted each other largely.
Niko had been waiting at the restaurant at the bottom of the mountain that he dropped us off at and was waiting to pick us up at. He grew progressively more nervous as the hours ticked by. When we finally called and told him that we were lost, the owners od the restaurant sitting next to him over heard.
They, by the grace of God, happened to be volunteer mountain rescuers and had an idea of which trail we were actually on. They had to wait, however, for the firemen to get there so that they all could go up.
We had found a pine tree with good coverage that we planned to sleep under for the night, assuming that if they got to us, it wouldn’t be until at least morning. While the stars above were glorious, the howl of wolves rang in the distance and shook our appreciation.
We sat huddled around the one phone, hoping that Niko would call and praying that God would provide us with safety. The temperature had dropped and the mountain was windy, causing our teeth to chatter as we sat in our workout shorts and tank tops.
We were not prepared. We didn’t have enough water, not enough food, no first aid kit, no sleeping bags, no knife. Just empty backpacks, almost-dead phones, sunscreen, and God.
Niko called us again. He said that they had started hiking up. Our Uber driver was coming to rescue us! I never would have imagined.
We moved ourselves to the edge of the cliff and looked out to see if we could see or hear them. But either way, they were coming. So we prayed and sang songs of worship to the Lord.
Then, we saw the light. And heard the shout of a man. They were there, coming up the mountain. We shouted back and started waving our iPhone’s flashlight. Our praises became louder and we sang “How He Loves” towards the Heavens, crying and praising God. As their flashlight got closer, reassurance and comfort washed over our aching limbs. Finally, I looked up and took in the beauty of the depth of the stars and their brightness, in full appreciation of the Lord.
Thirty minutes later, they made it to us. We all broke out in shouts of joy and laughter. We didn’t have to sleep under the pine tree with the howling wolves. We weren’t going to become dehydrated. We weren’t going to be lost in the mountains.
Instead, we were going to sleep in our beds and shower off the filth. And I was going to call Cylas.
It took us about another thirty minutes to hike down the trail, I couldn’t believe how close we had been. If only there were a few more hours of daylight, we might have made it on our own.
We got back to the tavern at about 11:30PM. They gave us water bottles and orange Fanta, ushering us over to take a surplus of selfies with the rescue crew. Three white, college girls. A bunch of middle-aged, Greek men. It was a sight.
Not only were we rescued, but we didn’t have to pay for anything, didn’t have to give over our insurance cards, or sign our lives away. Since it was an emergency, it was free of charge. Another blessing.
That day, we hiked an entirety of 22 miles over the course of 15 hours.
A few days later, we went out to lunch with Niko to thank him and give business to the restaurant owners the saved us. On the way back home, we had the opportunity to share the gospel with Niko. God is so good and there was a purpose to it all.
I learned to be prepared, to be hopeful, and grateful. Thankfully, I will make it back for my wedding in December. Cylas also made me promise that I wouldn’t go on any more hikes during my time in Greece, or without him in general.
God is so utterly good and I am overwhelmed by His love and provision.
by Mackenzie Ness
Read the story here ---> The Secret Trail
Proverbs 21:31b
Praise God for answering loved ones' daily, fervent prayers for safety for these college students!
