A Hike To Remember

4 - A Hike To Remember

"Describe an outdoor experience."

     Don't you just love the outdoors? How it's so peaceful, especially when it's far from the city. I love the outdoors. I love how the sun warms up your skin, how the trees give you this sense of adventure and how the environment feels so clean. It's a nice place to be in when you want to get away from the city because, sometimes, it's annoying how, everywhere you look, there will always be trash in inappropriate places. And I also find it unfortunate how I don't see a lot of trees either. That's why I enjoy being outdoors where I can see a lot of them.

 

     During the summer of 2012, I went on a hiking trip with some schoolmates. I believe that it was an outing planned by the members of our school's Social Builder's Club. I wasn't a member but I decided to tag along since I haven't gone hiking before. It was a long drive to the province and we were very cramped in the van. One of the boys had to lie on the coolers since there was no more room for him to sit. And whenever we would go through a toll gate, we had to cover him with a towel or a blanket so that we would not get caught overloading with passengers. When we finally arrived at our destination, we settled down first at this house. It had old-looking furniture and the second floor, which wasn't so big, was practically made out of bamboo. Anyway, after we had lunch, we prepared ourselves for hiking and continued to the mountain. It was a hot and sunny day which made the hike a bit more tiring but I enjoyed it nevertheless. I kept admiring how green and beautiful the scenery was. However, I ran out of water. Luckily, my friend had some with him but he made me carry it in my backpack which was still all right I guess. As long as I could drink from it. When we were near the peak of the mountain, it got steeper and steeper. And I was at the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. But I kept shouting "Adventure Time!" and I guess it gave me some strength to make it to the top. When we did, we stayed there until we regained our stamina. While we rested, we enjoyed watching this wonderful view. I felt like I was on top of the world and satisfied since I could finally check that activity off of my "Things I Must Do Before I Get Old" list. Once we regained our energy, we hiked back down the mountain. But we stopped by a river first, before returning to the house we were staying in, and went for a swim. That was also the first time I have ever swum in a river before. Unlike the ocean, which gradually gets deeper and deeper, it has some shallow parts and, suddenly, some really deep ones. Anyway, after swimming, we continued back to the house where others started preparing dinner while the boys began pitching up their tents. After having dinner, we played hide and seek somewhere not too far from the house. It was dark so the seeker needed a flash light in order to find us. It was so much fun, but we were running out of hiding places. At one point, I just hid behind a small hill by lying on the grass. It wasn't very effective. Anyway, I noticed how the sky there was filled with an unbelievable amount of stars. I never saw it like that in my entire life. It made me wish that it could look just like that back in the city. Too bad that was the only time I would ever be able to see it.

     I always wish that the city could be cleaner. So that there would not be so much pollution that keeps nature from flourishing. So that there would not be smog to keep me from being able to observe the stars in the night sky. I wonder how many people wish the same thing. How many also wish to be able to see the stars at night? Am I the only one who still does? Is there anybody out there who dreams of seeing a cleaner city? Or has everyone given up on that? Have you?