Personal Narrative-The Road To Maules Creek

I slid into stiff boots, strapped a fifty pound pack to my back, and set out on my trek through the wilderness. As I stepped from asphalt to the dirt trail, excitement for the next five days rushed over me. Each stride brought me farther from the comforts of civilization, deeper into the natural habitats of hundreds of species. The reversal of roles filled me with respect, for it was I, not them, who was the intruder. My surroundings were untouched, unspoiled by the destructive forces of man. I was awestruck by the rough, uncut beauty. The trail itself was a source of joy; it was as distinctive and engaging as Mother Nature herself. Every bend brought forth new challenges, presented new opportunities to distinguish myself as a hiker. Once,

Junior year was pretty much back to normal. I was now accustomed to the new people, new faces, new teachers, and new surroundings. I really enjoyed taking my second year of chemistry, precalculus and biology while I did not enjoy American Cultural Studies. I am more of a science/math person, not so much history and english and two straight hours about history was not exactly what I looked forward to every morning. I got through it though and enjoyed after school more.

I have only one word: listen. Humans became so loud, shouting to be heard over everyone else. So concerned with ourselves, our jobs, our money, or the internet that we stopped paying attention to the pieces of nature around us, beautiful and ugly alike. We try so hard to fill our lives with meaning in the most unmeaningful of ways, promotions and new cars, when there’s so much more to living. The trees sing when the wind blows and we’re listening to the radio. Hermit crabs chirp, dolphins name themselves, prairie dogs have voices and we ignore it all in favor of Facebook What doesn’t directly affect us is blocked out or put on a back burner so we won’t think about it. We became so removed from the natural world we no longer notice what’s

I HATE snakes! I hate the way they move, I hate the way their tongues flick around. I just hate them! Why? Because bites hurt, so does being squeezed to death. I also have a passionate hatred for anything that slithers. So when we went hiking in Rock Creek one day, I almost had a heart attack. Literally.

“I’m gonna die, guys,” I deadpanned to my camping group that the teacher assigned. Why did I ever take this class? I hate being outside. I really don’t want to be camping for a month, alone with my classmates, just to pass a survival-in-the-wilderness class; it sounds a bit like the premise of some low budget horror movie. “The last time I went camping, I kept getting hit with the tent poles when I was setting up the tent. I got lost on the way back to my campsite. It took me two hours to find it. Two hours!”

My heart was thumping heavily, as the bus took a turn towards the mountains. I didn’t know why I had agreed, but it was too late to turn back.

“Hey Pete wanna go on a walk through the woods?” my little brother Joey asked, peering through the doorway into my room. “Not today little guy I’ve got a lot of work I still have to do”. Drooping his shoulders, Joey left the room and headed for the woods. ‘What? it’s not my fault I have so much homework. I’d go out with him if I had the time’ I thought to myself. It seemed like I had been using that excuse a lot more lately. ‘I really should be spending more time with the guy… well too late now, I’ll tag along next time’ I decided. For the next few hours I blared my music and flew through all my work. I didn't look up from my work until my mom called down for us to come to dinner. I walked down and sat at the table with my mom and dad; however,

Through the woodsAs the snow descended from the sky, the book club gathered by the warm fire to discuss their newest read.This club was just of five people, Ben, Tabitha, Shane, Sarah and Palmer. They were all the best of friends since high school. While everyone talked, and laughedand was captivated by the banter, Ben was particularly was enthralled by the snow. The way it fell lightly from the sky put him in a trance, and made him feel like he was in a different world. Although living in Minnesota for all his life, Ben could never get enough of the winter wonderland, but tonight wasdifferent, tonight he felt like he was being called out of the house but couldn’t understand how or why.He felt likeIgnoring his better judgment and the requests of his friends, he went out. He saw a man run

The forecast today was as cold as Antarctica, and the snow plummeted down onto terrain that was as slippery as an ice rink. My heart pumping blood to comfort my frostbitten ears, I rushed through the rigid winter wonderland. If I made one wrong turn my snowboard would make me pay for it. The area I needed to go to was inconspicuous because the pine trees that fluttered in the breeze, blocked the view. I started to falter when there was a huge blast of wind that nearly pushed me back up the mountain. I finally saw an opening and dashed for it like arrow heading towards its target. Once I made it through, I maneuvered my way down the slope. Now at the bottom of the mountain, I looked up at what I had accomplished and thought of how thrilling

My uncle picked me up and I left the place I grew up. I left my family, my friends, and my two dogs and moved to Colorado to live with my dad and his family. This affected me terribly because my grades dropped. If it wasn’t for my first year in Paramount and taking Game Development at Warren Tech, I would’ve had less than a 2.667 GPA. During this whole time, I isolated myself and stayed in my room, playing video games as an escape. I met my two best friends during this time, John and Triston who kept my head up during my many breakdowns. Thank god for my Dad because he kept trying to get me out of my shell for the 3 years I was in high school. By the time I finally started accepting what happened, I graduated high school. I didn’t know what

District 2 was my location for my ride along. It's the biggest district that the county has, it covers from interstate 10 to northern then 75th avenue and everything west from that, It covers about 6000 square ft it the areas included in it are Laveen, Rainbow Valley, Tonopah, Phoenix, Avondale, Glendale, and Buckeye and it has 3 contracted cities which are Gila Bend, Litchfield and Goodyear. I was assigned with deputy Horning during swing shift.

Everything was black, my body still, and my eyes shut. Am I in a dream or in reality? I am not moving and my mind is in another place. Everything is still black, my eyes still shut, and memories play over and over. I lay in the bedroom my father grew up in. I took a glance at the pictures around the room. My mind fills with countless memories.The one that plays first is when my father and I were taking a walk on the nature trail every nice day we got the chance too. The nature trail is a place for people to take their family and enjoy the nature surrounding the river and the animals all around. Everyday in Boise, Idaho we would walk on the nature trail next to the Boise River. This led us to the fish and game center they had there. My dad really

She turned to find that, unbeknownst to her, Gregory had unbuckled his carseat and fallen in the floor when they stopped. She cursed in panic as she, threw the car in park and, dived over the seat to check on

breath and took her purse from her side. She reached inside of it, pulled out an envelope and removed some papers and laid them on the table, along with a pen.

This summer, I learned I could do some athletic things in the most stereotypical, cliche way imaginable. I climbed a mountain. My dad and I had gone up to the North Shore on a father-son trip. I am not at all athletically gifted, so I was not looking forward to it. I could not envision myself climbing a mountain. To climb a mountain you had to be agile and surefooted. I was neither of those things. I was, and still am, very clumsy. Also my hand-eye coordination is egregious. I was exactly the opposite of what you needed to be to climb a mountain. I was academically gifted, but didn't play any sports and had no athletic experience whatsoever. My dad was also very academically gifted, but he was also a stellar athlete. He competed in track, pommel horse, rings, and rowing when he was in school. I proved deficient at all of these sports, having tried them many times. But we were still going to climb the mountain.