I was so excited. My dad told me that we were going to go hiking in the wood about fifty miles from a huge mountain in Virginia. We got in the blue Infinity and headed up for Virginia.
It was about a six hour drive to the woods. It would take about ten days to get up to the mountain. We headed out on our journey the first day. Nothing exciting happened. I was having a great time with my dad. We were just smacking mosquitoes and sweating in the summertime heat. We settled down for the night. We had accomplished about three miles. Our goal was about five miles a day. I was thinking about how much fun I was having until I eventually fell asleep. We started moving the next day at about seven in the morning. We were making great progress, telling jokes, and laughing out loud. We were going through the woods when I heard something move. I stopped for a second then saw it again. Then once again I saw it. It was a giant black bear. We tried to sneak away very quietly. Then my dad stepped on a twig. It looked at us, then charged.
We both took off in opposite directions. I didn’t know what to do. I ran back and forth and zigzag in all directions. I remembered that bears have a hard time running downhill, and that if you drop your backpack, it will stop to sniff it first.
The bear looked like it was catching up. So in panic, I spotted a hill, ran towards it, and dropped my backpack. I turned around to see where the bear was. It was searching through my backpack. I turned back around to run down the hill. It wasn’t a hill; it was a twenty-five foot cliff. I fell twenty-five feet and landed in a small pond.
I swam out of the pond and I had no idea where I was. I had lost all my sense of direction running from that bear. Then I remembered my dad and yelled for him. No answer. I yelled over and over again for him. Still there was no answer. All the sudden I panicked and feared for the worst.
I kept searching and I still couldn’t find my dad. I tried to keep myself calm. I check my pockets to see what I had. All I had was the pocket knife my dad gave me for my birthday. It had a knife, a philips head screwdriver, a flat head screwdriver, pliars, and scissors. I had a water bottle, compass, food, a change of clothes, a sleeping bag, and a pop-up tent but it was all in my backpack that I dropped.
It was getting dark and I need some kind of shelter. I knew I had to be off the ground. I got for “Y-shaped” branches and put them in a rectangle shape. I put two branches on the “Y-shaped branch so I had two beams. Then I put smaller branches across the two beams so I had a platform. I put pine straw and dead leaves from the ground for comfort. Praying that it would hold, I sat down on it and I heard a snap. My heart jumped out of my chest, but it didn’t fall. It was really dark now. I closed my eyes and went to sleep.
After a long, cold, restless night, I got up starving. I went over to the small pond and spotted some fish. I decided to make a bow and arrow. I got a thin branch and tied my shoelace to each end of the branch. Next, I got another thin branch for the arrow and sharpened the end of it with my knife.
I went to the side of the pond and I spotted a fish. I pulled back the bow, aimed for the fish, and let go. It went right at the fish but didn’t hit it. I tried again, same result. I did that over and over again. Then I remembered that water bends light rays. If I wanted to hit the fish, I needed to aim a little lower. Sure enough, I speared the fish first time. I took the knife and cut off his head. Then I realized that I had no fire.
I went back to where my shelter was and I thought for a while. Then I took a rock and struck it with my knife. It made a few sparks.
I went about gathering sticks and twigs for the fire. I struck the rock a couple times, making sparks fly onto the twigs. Then I blew it to life. I put the fish on it and left it on for about ten minutes. I moved the fish off the fire with a stick. I cut up the fish and took a bite. It wasn’t half bad. I went on munching away at the fish until it was gone.
I could see where the sun rose in the east and I need to go north. I headed in that direction. I was walking through trees when I saw something move again. Scared it was the bear, I backed away slowly. Then I realized, it was not a bear, it was my dad.
“Dad!” I yelled. He came running out to me and I gave him a big hug. We shared stories about what we did for shelter and what we ate for the next few days. We went through the woods and finally found the trail we were walking along before. We went on the trail for the next eight days before we reached the mountain.