Frogs croak, crickets snap, birds chirp, bees buzz, flies splutter, and hummingbirds mumble. Water flows freely and swiftly through the river as it washes twigs, leaves, and debris onto the land with every ripple. Birds sing and decorate the trees with their varied colors. Orange, yellow, green, and purple birds sit in the trees, chirping and flapping their wings. Different patterns of abstract colors attire the birds. Most of them have different shades of colors on different parts of the body. A particular bird however, has a red beak, yellow body, green tail, and blue wings. A section of the birds sing high chirps and the others sing low chirps but together they produce a symphony. A few fly back and forth, bring food to their offspring. Crickets leap between fallen logs and trill at the working ants that desperately make their way across the log to the littered sandwich. Each and every one of them pinch a small piece of the sandwich and then make their way back to the nest, awaiting new orders from the queen. Bees buzz back and forth, searching for flowers which they may pollinate and acquire nectar from. Hummingbirds hum as they plunge their long slim beak into the mouth of a flower. Little by little, the hummingbird’s gas tank is filled and when it is, it retrieves its nose and leaves the flower forever.
Footsteps decorate the path along with fallen leaves and crushed twigs. Every step that we take, a hard, solid, imprint of a hiking boot is left. The sound of rocks and crushed leaves echo throughout the forest as we march up the trail. As we hike, our signature is left behind and it shows that we have been here. Sycamores and redwood trees flavor the path along with fields of flowers which are sprinkled in-between each tree. They stand high and proud along the path, like streetlamps that light the path. A river flows besides us carrying fish and other fallen debris. Red, yellow, orange, and golden fishes live in the river, scurrying about for food and other necessities as they exemplify hard working men. The wind sings and whispers to the trees about the upcoming weather and the trees sway back and forth replying to what they think about it. The sun is gently shown through the web of foliage which covers the sky and protects the inhabitants of the forest. The forest displays an undisturbed world that is a peaceful paradise.
§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§
“Lunch Time!” the staff members yelled. My group had just gotten back from a hike and we were all pretty exhausted. I was at Old Sierra camp. It was a trip to a camp in the mountains in which we would live like people did during the 1900’s. It was sort of like camping. We stayed here for one night and we slept in tents. I got in line to go and grab some food because I was as hungry as a wolf in Antarctica. One by one, we grabbed our plates and the lunch ladies slopped food onto it as we passed. There were chili beans, salad, sausages, and water. The food provided different colors to enlighten our plates like a rainbow. I found a burnt log that looked like a pencil with a tip at the end, and sat down. Slowly, I put food into my mouth, grinded it up, and swallowed. As the plate got lighter, I observed my surrounding. There was forest as far as the eye could see in every direction, birds singing among the trees, squirrels dancing happily, and the wind blowing across my face. When I finished eating, I threw the plate into a trash can which was a carved out of a tree stump. Carefully, I reached my right hand into my pocket. “Good,” I thought, “it’s still here.”
“Attention everyone! Now that everyone is done with lunch, you will all being going to work at the different workshops in your groups. There are four workshops, rope making, candle making, sewing, and decorating. Each group will get to be at each workshop for 20 minutes. Follow your group leader,” the head director bellowed. Quickly, my group all met at our meeting point. Our meeting point was near a fallen tree. The tree fell onto a huge stone and it created a bridge for ants.
“O.K. Now that everyone is here, lets go to our first workshop, which is rope making,” our leader said.
He led us to the center of the camp which was where all the buildings were; the cafeteria, the office, barn, shed, gift shop, and an indoor auditorium. They were all old buildings made of wood with splinters and slats dangling from every wall. We went to the barn, which had a worn out red roof, stale yellow walls, and an awful livestock fragrance. A person was already there waiting for us when we approached it.
“Hello. Today, I’m going to be teaching you how people made ropes in the 1900’s. First, you...”and he went on blabbing.
We were to tie three different strings to the wall of the barn and slowly, we whip the ropes around and around. Slowly, the three strings became one strong rope. It braided itself as we whirled the ropes over and over again. After about five minutes of spinning, we were all dizzy and the rope was complete. It was yellow, sharp, long, sturdy, and was spiky as well. Our group leader came in with a huge machete and cut the ropes into ten equal lengths, one for each of us. I was amazed that three weak and frail strings could be turned into one very strong rope with such a simple method. With the remaining ten minutes of our time at this workshop, our group leader and the activity director told us stories of the farmers who traveled from the east coast to California. They spoke of sad tales and the failure of many families who starved on the trip.
Our first workshop ended and we all went to our next one, candle making. Candle making was really simple but it was interesting and the process took a while. We filled tubes with hot wax that was provided and already prepared. As we poured the wax in however, we held a piece of string in place so that the candle could be lit when it was finished. The last two workshops were really tedious however. In the sewing workshop, all we did was sew string through a cloth about 20 million times to practice sewing. In the decorating workshop, it was even more fatigue. All we did was glue little sparkly decorative things to a cloth.
Our group slumped and we all gathered around a log as we waited for all the other groups to finish. To my surprise, they were interested in all of the workshops. As for my group, the only workshop that was interesting was the rope making workshop and the candle making one. Sewing and decorating were just dumb. I reached into my pocket and checked to see if it was still there. It was. The rest of the groups finished their activities after they noticed that the time was up. For the rest of the afternoon, everyone moved together in one big group. We all went on a hike through the woods and we stopped along the way to have discussions and talk about the history of the Old Sierra mountains.
§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§
An orange flame crackled and licked the air around it. Wood that powered the flame started to crimple. The air was frosty and it stung our faces. The wind blew and made an eerie noise with each gust challenged us. Trees swayed back and forth and the shadows jumped and danced around the fire. The ground crumbled and glided as it got beat on by every gust of wind.
“Hello all… Today, I’m going to be telling some scary stories so you better hold on tight or you’ll fall off your logs…” the creepy, ugly, story teller whisper in a sinister voice.
He told us scary stories which were adopted back in the 1900’s; stories that were told around camp fires. The stories were mainly about ghosts, ghouls, vampires, monsters, and dead people and how travelers encountered them on the path to California. As he told them, the fire started to go out. The smoke trailed into the air, creating a fog that looked like a ghoul. Everyone reached their hands out and parted the smoke for it left everyone uneasy. When the story teller finished his stories, everyone was scared stiff but still shivered because of the freezing temperature. Everyone parted from the campfire and proceeded to their assigned tent. I checked on it again before I huddled into my sleeping bag, burrowing myself as deep as I could. No one slept deeply.
§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§
As the sun ascended into the sky and sat in its usual place, the rooster bellowed into the air. Everyone in my tent rose and we all dressed into warm clothing because the morning air was freezing. Slowly, all of us rolled up our sleeping bags and stuffed them into a bag. I zipped up my blue sleeping bag, folded it once, and then rolled it up like a sushi. I put on my socks and shoes and went outside. I stretched and reached into my pocket to check on it. It was still there. The sun glistened through the trees, wind blew into our waking faces, and the birds chirped and sang to wake us up. We threw our stuff into a big pile near the entrance of Old Sierra camp and we then all ran to get breakfast. Breakfast was pancakes and sausages.
We all met one final time before we departed. The director stood upon a stump and roared about how nice it was to have us are his camp. He enjoyed our effort and how easily we adapted to the life of camping. He wished us luck in the future and we thanked him in return.
We all ran and raced each other down the path to the cars. I got tired and started to slug down the path, carrying my sleeping bag and my backpack. I reached into my pocket. It wasn’t there. Quickly, I looked around. It wasn’t on the ground. I ran to the car, threw my stuff into the trunk and sprinted up the path, desperately examining the ground for it. It was no where in sight. Tears started to fill my eyes as I walked to the blue Mazda minivan.
“What’s wrong?” the driver asked.
“I lost my money,” I mumbled through the sobs.
“How much?” she asked.
“Forty dollars,” I uttered.
I picked myself up and into the car, for it had been a fun trip, except for the part of me losing forty dollars. The parents looked around but couldn’t find it. It was two twenties clipped together by a paper clip. Finally, after 10 minutes of searching, we left. My friends tried to cheer me up, but I still sulked in the corner of the car. Soon after, my tears dried on my face and I fell asleep.