Depth to the Story

My idea for the story is a bit more concrete now that I have the keychain prop so here it is:

The main character and his friend would go hiking on a trail for some pictures that the friend needed. On the way up, the main character drops this keychain and does not realize until they reach their spot. The friend will already be setting up so the main character suggests that he'll retrace the steps on his own, thinking it wouldn't take long to grab the keychain. This is how the two end up separating. 

As the main character retraces his steps, he gets a little distracted as he eyes some sticks and rocks, which he then bends down to shape an outline of a cat. He then hears a faint chime of a bell. It's off the trail they were following by a bit, however. He doesn't think much of it and follows the noise. He ends up finding the keychain and picks it up, beginning his walk back. He passes by the little formation he created, keeping his pace walking back. After walking a bit, he passes it again. He keeps walking, but again does he see the formation. He receives a call from the friend, who tells him to quickly come back since they got all the pictures they needed and it's getting dark. He tries to answer back but is cut off by the lack of signal. It's still very much afternoon, though. Perhaps his friend was just being sarcastic. Confused, he takes a different route, and he eventually sees the formation again. He starts panicking here, picking up the pace.

I hadn't mentioned it earlier, but the trail to the spot for the pictures involved having to move some leaves/bush in the way, so eventually as the main character is trying to find his way he finally finds the spot and believes he's out of the loop. It feels like a different route, feeling like he was finally on the way back. But alas he end up at the formation he made earlier again.