It was a hotter than snot sunny day in a small town in Michigan called Fremotte. This town has four lakes in it. But, let me get to the point.…
One rainy day two girls named Lisa and Erin were driving to Colorado because they rented a cabin for the weekend. When they got to Colorado they stopped at the gas station for so gas. Lisa asked the cashier if they were going in the right direction to the cabin? The cashier said that they were going the right way but would take a will to get there. They spent three hours driving and then they see a sign that says Summer Lake Forest on it. Erin checked her phone to see if they where in the right spot and it said they were.…
Growing up in the Deer Run area I detested wilderness. I went to an elementals school by the name of Pete Gallego; it is located on the outskirts of Eagle Pass and we didn't have to go far to see vast wilderness. To the students of Pete Gallego Elementary, wilderness was a barren wasteland that only homed rattlesnakes and hares. We saw it every day at recess; there were mesquite trees, more mesquite tree and believe it or not a few hundred more mesquite trees. They weren’t even the green ones; they had this dirty grey hue to them, as if they had been bleached by years of children’s tears. So when my sixth grade teacher gave us the project of, “take time out of your day to look at and appreciate nature.” I was livid; I was not going to walk around this desert and risk my life to appreciate sadness and sorrow. Little did I…
Baseball has been part of my life since I could remember. As a child, baseball was a game we always enjoyed watching as a family. Many family members played baseball professionally, such as my great-grandfather, grandfather, and father. Our love of baseball is where the journey began. It was a trip of lifetime, my family and I ventured on a baseball park trip across the country. It was the ballpark journey that I gained an understanding of motivation, self-perseverance and inspiration to become the best version of myself.…
Yesterday me and my Dad went on an 11ish mile hike on the Appalachian Trail. This hike was probably one of the coolest hikes I've been on. It went from one beautiful landscape to another. As I was laying in bed that night with my muscles aching from the extra 1.5 miles we didn't plan on, I realized I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my Dad. He introduced me to my love of the outdoors and my passion to hike the entire AT. I hope one day ,Dad, we can stand on Mount Katahdin together and look back at the 2190 miles behind…
The trail continued around the east side of the lake entering a gathering of trees forming an insignificant forest along the lake’s shoreline. From our viewpoint, the trees concealing the trail eventually dispersed on the southeast side of the lake, and the trail blended into the landscape. Using our imagination, we envisioned the route against the rugged terrain sloping into the lake. No point in taking a vote now, we had trekked to the lake and the consensus was to proceed with a lap around the lake.…
Everyone has their own community or organization for which they belong to. Within that community you tend to find who you are and what you are about. For me I found my identity in being an outdoors man. Being an outdoors man at my young age seems to be rare at this day, but that doesn’t prevent me from doing something I love and appreciate. Growing up with my family full of avid outdoors men helped influence me and only made my identity stronger.…
“In the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” said Jack Kerouac, author of On the Road. Many people live the way he describes, just doing everyday activities all their life. I want to do something memorable. Because of this, one of my dreams is doing a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.…
It was an extremely cool day in the Poconos Mountains, and we had made a reservation to go white water rafting. The next morning we had to wake up extra early to eat breakfast so we weren’t late for our trip. When my parents said, “were going white water rafting” I thought we were going straight down to the river , but of course it wasn’t.…
I've never been an "outdoors" experience kind of person. Maybe, it's because I'm very sedentary and prefer to stay inside to read and enjoy tranquility. I avoid all types of chaos and crowded places. Nevertheless, my visit to the Camuy River Cave Park (back in 2004) was refreshing and enriching in knowledge, historically, scientifically and spiritually. That experience brought the best out of me, as a human being and a nature lover, by giving the chance of experiencing a whole new level of peace and tranquility.…
I’ve always wanted to be good at something. Writing isn’t one of them. Hiking however, let’s say I’m confident that I hover somewhere above the line of Intermediate. Good enough to survive high elevation glacier treks and overnighters at least. As a hobby or extracurricular activity, it’s probably my biggest passion. So much that I found that writing of them is like having the opportunity to do each one over again. Once upon a time I set forth a book project, a story telling, you might say, of all my treks including the ascent of five mountains. However, I lacked the confidence of presenting a way to share my stories of me being the key subject. Eventually the project lost steam and fell to the wayside. Even so, I enjoyed reliving each one while writing of them, and, I continued to set goals and hike. Putting myself out there in high open meadows or deep forest of the Cascades has given me a fresh perspective of my everyday world. Forget about football, baseball or sports in general. Forget about housework, yard work or for that matter work itself. Actually, my accommodating career generously facilitated this hobby that at times takes ample time and expense. Therefore, we can’t forget about work. Nonetheless, the introduction to hiking has gotten me off the couch and into the…
When I was riding near the beach I saw Ferraris Lamborghinis and Bentleys. I was amazed. When I was on the beach, I also saw people surfing and doing cool tricks I also saw a guy wearing a shirt that said, “I am jaws.” I thought this was so funny! I got to see all of this because of biking.…
The best reward to hiking was always the food. We made time to eat at Dave’s BBQ, which was fantastic. I had pulled pork, french fries and sweet tea. The pork melted in my mouth. The funniest part was none of us had showered in more than 4 days. I’m sure we smelled like Wombats. Others eating that night were staring and scrunched their noses at us. It was obvious we were the only ones coming off a trail.…
The trail out back the beauty of nature and the smell of the fresh air. The leaves they’re falling all around you. As you walk the trail leads you to a big waterfall that not many people know about. As you just sit on the rock and watch the leaves fall while the sun sets it’s the most beautiful thing you could ever see. Listening to the birds make their music while lying on the rock besides the water. It’s calm and relaxing; However it can get a bit chilly. Sometimes if you take the four wheeler or dirt bike out back Zoey will run along side of you. Zoey is our dog she runs just as fast as the four wheeler does. Then I imagine of being a little girl again going out back with my dad. We used to catch salamanders on our way to where we were going.…
After cooking and washing up, a few of the Sec 2s and Sec 3s including me stayed up to share our hike experiences for the first day. It was interesting to find out how each patrol had such a different experience although we were on a same hike. The sleep was well-deserved and well-needed.…