Walk back down the beach...

You walk up on to the beach from the water, and then start heading back towards the spot where your towel was. You walk for some time, almost as long as it took you to swim, when you start to feel like you must have walked too far.

You walked back the way you came, keeping a close eye on the tree line for where you had come through when you parked. Sure enough, you see the gap in the trees with footsteps going both ways.

“I can’t believe those bastards! They took my stuff!” You scream in impotent rage.
You run back to your car, which is locked, and none of the stuff is there. Your keys and cell phone were underneath book, which was on your towel. If you can’t get in to your car, or call anyone, how the hell are you supposed to get home? Your buck naked, you can hitchhike, but that poses its own difficulties.

Then you notice the note under the windshield wiper:

Hey,
We were really worried about you when you took off.
We decided that we could at least make sure that your stuff didn’t get take.
So we took it, and brought it to the ranger hut.
They seem like really nice guys.

On the one hand, you are somewhat relieved to find out that you’re not going to have to find your way home naked. On the other hand, the rangers at park had a nasty reputation as being particularly mean to teenagers who used as a place to get in to trouble. You were pretty sure that showing up naked and looking for your beach stuff, when you weren’t really supposed to be out there in the first place was not going to go over well.

You were dry by the time you got to the ranger station. You could see that your tan-lines had faded a little bit over the day. You didn’t see anyone as you approached the hut where the rangers had their office. You came around the side of the hut the faced the woods, so as not to be seen. You peeked in to one of the windows looking to see if the rangers are in. You can’t see the entire hut clearly, but you’re fairly certain there’s no one there. At the same time, you can clearly see your stuff sitting on the desk in plain sight. Given what it might mean to have to ask the rangers for your stuff directly, you have to think about trying to sneak in and just grab it.