The Hike
The mosquitoes biting you, the mountains surrounding you, the tired shoulders, and the legs feeling like jelly, ah the joy of hiking. These were the things I noticed during a three-day hike I took during the summer.
My scout troop met at a leader’s house. When we were ready to go, we set off to the mountains. The place is called Warren Lake and it is a seven-mile hike to the lake. On the way there we listened to the comedian, Brian Reagan, and we almost got in a car crash because my dad, who was driving, was laughing so hard. When we arrived, we put on our packs and began hiking. Throughout the first couple of hours, I was in front of the group feeling great, but the hills started getting steeper and harder. Finally, after what felt like forever, we stopped and had lunch at the lookout place. My shoulders ached and I felt relieved when I dropped my pack. After lunch, a few of my friends and I went up the hill to the lookout place. I was amazed by the sight and beauty of it all. The valley before me and being so high up made me realize we truly have a beautiful world.
After lunch, things started to turn bad when we took a wrong turn causing a chain of events in which we did ten extra miles to the lake. Some of the events were life-threatening like when our troop had to cross a very steep hill which was very slippery. My shoes had horrible traction causing the hill to be even more slippery for me. After that ordeal, our troop had to go down a mountain that was covered with snow. I was told that, if you slipped and couldn’t stop yourself there’s a pretty good chance you could die, so I was freaked out. Instead of doing that, I went to the rocky terrain which had no snow. I thought it was a lot safer than the snow and I was correct, even if I missed out on the fun of going down the mountain like your skiing. I made it safely to where we stopped.
When we were all gathered around and had a couple of snacks, our leaders contemplated what to do next. We had lost the trail, but finally, we started off in the direction where we thought the trail was. We passed streams, prickly bushes, and rock faces, and we still couldn’t find it. It was getting dark, so our leaders decided to set up camp somewhere, but they couldn’t find a perfect location. After an hour of walking, we found the place. My 17 year-old brother almost passed out because his pack was so heavy. After exploring camp, I quickly set up camp for myself. My dad fixed dinner, which consisted of lasagna and potatoes. After dinner, we all sat around the campfire trying to keep the mosquitoes away. Two of our leaders left and went to find the lake. I tried to stay awake, but I finally went to bed not knowing where my leaders were.
In the morning, I had a delicious breakfast fixed by my dad. I learned the two leaders did come back that night. After cleaning up camp, we started the hike, yet, again. After a couple of hours, there was flat land, which was covered up by snow. I enjoyed sliding across the snow. We stopped for one last time before beginning our descent downhill towards the lake. We passed a rocky ledge that had snow right next to it. The snow, on a slant did not appease me so I took the harder route, the rocky ledge. Things started to get crazy after that. Being adventurous, I went off on my own towards the lake. Because I couldn’t find the trail I decided to go down the mountain with no trail to guide me. I passed rivers and rocky ledges with snow hiding in the cracks where I could seriously hurt myself. I almost arrived at the lake, but I heard my brother call for me. When I met up with him, he said, “Dad is really mad and I shouldn’t have done that.” I was later told that Mitchell Worthington, who went on the hike told my brother, “I’m sorry for your loss,” assuming I was dead. When the rest of the troop and my dad arrived, my dad gave me a scolding for doing what I just did. Mr. Evans told me, “There are bears in the area where you were.” I asked him, “How come we don’t see them?” He responded by saying, “We make noise and, I guess, bears are afraid.” I guess I got lucky, because the bear didn’t see me.
We set up camp and the mosquitoes swarmed in. It was torture; there were mosquitoes everywhere around you. A few people and I bravely went into the lake. The water was freezing cold, but at least it relaxed our sore muscles. I didn’t want to go in the lake, but I was dying by the minute with the mosquitoes biting me all over my body. I jumped into the cold water, which was a lot better than being eaten alive by the bloodsuckers. They were still biting me with me in the water, but not as bad. I only lasted a couple of minutes before the cold got to me. I got dressed and headed back to camp. I set up my sleeping gear and started to explore nearby. I came back and saw Mr. Evans and my brother get ready to go fishing. Having nothing else to do I tagged along. I watched my brother for a couple of hours and he decided to head back to camp. I still wanted to go fishing, so I took some fishing gear and headed out. It was really hard trying to figure out how to get the string untangled and then the mosquitoes started attacking. Now, it was even harder to fix the string and I never did because the mosquitoes kept me busy slapping myself. Since I couldn’t take it anymore, I headed back to camp. I had a snack and lay in my sleeping bag for a couple of minutes because I just couldn’t stand it outside. Getting bored, I decided to go cliff jumping hoping the lake was warmer. At the cliff, I got ready and prepared myself. I bravely jumped. It was freezing cold, but I couldn’t resist the temptation to jump again. After jumping around five times into the lake, I went back to camp. I talked to my dad and tried to convince him to come with me to the cliffs. I couldn’t, so I brought my brother and a kid named Jaden. At the cliff, I was hesitant at first, but I jumped in anyway. After doing that for ten times, the water wasn’t so bad. It felt just like my pool at my house. After an hour of amazing fun, I noticed my brother and a leader leave to go to the other side of the lake to see if there were any higher jumping spots. Dressing quickly, I tried to find them, but they were far ahead. When I caught up with them, my leader was getting ready to jump. He decided it wasn’t safe and anyway the mosquitoes were still annoying, so instead of jumping, we headed back to camp and waited for dinner. Instead of being eaten alive by the bloodsuckers, I buried myself into my sleeping bag. When dinner was ready, I grudgingly got out of my sleeping bag to go have dinner. After dinner, I tried to get as close to the fire as I could without burning myself. It helped a bit, but the mosquitoes were still all over me. The leaders all called us over to the fire and told stories and lessons about their lives. We ate dessert. Some went to bed, but I stayed up drawn to my leaders fascinating stories. A long time later, I went to bed thinking about our hike tomorrow night and what a long day it would be surviving the mosquitoes. Finally, morning came. I woke up to birds singing in the trees, the water with its mystifying sound gushing by my head, the smell of wood burning and a strange itchiness across my body. Being warm in my sleeping bag I felt no urge to get out of the warm and cozy sleeping bag, but I had to, being forced by my dad. I quickly got dressed and headed to the fire trying to keep the mosquitoes away and waiting for my dad to cook breakfast. When breakfast was done, which consisted of an egg burrito, I put everything I had taken out of my pack, back into the pack. I played with some of my friends by the stream. When we were all done clearing the campsite, we headed off. The first mile was horrible, since we went down going to the lake, we had to go back up, which took up a lot of my energy and there was even snow in some places to make it more grueling. At the top of the mountain, we rested for a couple of minutes and waited for everyone to catch up. After we all had a snack, we started hiking again. I was in a group that was pretty far ahead of anybody, but then I slowed down so my dad could help me cross the snow. I stayed with my dad for a couple of miles and then I started working my way up to the front. After a couple of miles the hills started getting steeper and longer. This continued until we hit the spot where we had lunch. Coming up the right way I saw how we missed the trail where we had lunch on the first day. It was completely covered in snow. I set down my pack and walked to the lookout place with my dad to take one last look of the valley. Then, we headed down and waited for everyone to catch up. This last stretch would be the easiest part of the hike because it was all downhill to the cars. My brothers, Aaron and Jordan, Aaron Lenzinger, and I started running ahead of the group. Something happened and we all had to stop and wait for my brother. In the meantime, the rest of the troop started catching up. My brother finished, but for some reason my brother stayed behind and walked with everybody else. After two miles, my brother started slowing down and lagging behind. Aaron and I left him behind. Mr. Holland caught up with us and it was the three of us ahead of everybody else. Three miles later we stopped and waited. We ate a couple of snacks, and then people started arriving, like my brother and some other people. Twenty minutes later all of us were there and ready to finish the hike. Soon we crossed the tunnel that went under the highway and we were at the cars, relieved and happy because we finished the hike. The best part of going on a hike is afterwards as a troop we all go to In-n-Out. Being tired and exhausted, I fell asleep until we arrived at In-N-Out. I quickly got out of the car and into the restaurant. I placed my order and sat down sipping my drink, wondering how many mosquito bites I have. I went to the bathroom. After seeing myself in a mirror, I realized I got some good bruises along my arms and legs and lots of mosquito across my hair, face, legs, arms, especially, the elbows, and the back. When done admiring my scars, I went back and ate a double double with animal fries and a drink. We finished and were excited to head home to hot showers and clean clothes. After a long and hot shower, our family headed off to Reno to visit with my aunt and uncle.
From this hike, I learned that the significance of the story is when you face adversity and challenges you have to push on not knowing the outcome, but doing the things that need to be done to push on and overcoming things that were unexpected and weren’t foreseen when planning for, like in the case of our hike. It was an experience I shall never forget, especially the swarms of mosquitoes!
