The panic began to set in and the forest began to feel like it was closing in on us. Night is starting to fall and we have no choice but to fall asleep till morning.
“If we can just make it through the first night, then we can make our way back” said Carrie and everyone nodded in agreement.
I begin to set up my sleeping quarters by finding a nice soft place to sleep. I won’t be needing any extra gear because the air is still warm and it doesn’t seem as though it’s going to rain. My eyes feel heavy so I decide not to fight it and fall asleep.
Morning comes quickly and everyone is ready to get home. The map has been given to Carrie, not because we blame Ben but because we feel it’s better to get some fresh eyes on it. We start to walk but as time passes, nothing seems to look familiar. Our food supply is low and the water supply is gone, we are desperate to find our way back. Noon time approaches and we all need a break. We plop down on the wet ground and search our bag to find scraps of food or any water. Our half day hike has turned into a two day nightmare.
“What’re we going to do? The map’s useless, we have no food and we’re lost” said Trevor in a weak voice.
At this point nobody has any energy to keep movie so we decide to stay put. My mind starts to wander and I can’t shake the sound of a river in my head. It sounds as though it’s getting louder and then I realize, it’s not in my head. With all the energy I have left I get myself up and walk a little ways and there it is, a big clearing.... Pulcher River.
“I found it!” I yell to the others.
They all get up and run towards it. It’s the most beautiful, natural thing I’ve ever seen. The water is crystal clear, and the light reflects just right off the rocks. The others begin to fill their waters but I’m just stopped staring. How could we miss this? Why did we find it when we weren’t looking? It’s as if it didn’t want to be found.
Now that we have found the River, we can use the map to find our way back. We get on our way and stick to the map EXACTLY. 2 hours pass and we finally arrive back at our cabin safe and sound. I think it will be a very long time before any of us to decide to go on a hike anywhere again.