The Smokey Hill: A Short Story

The sun was glistening through the tall, swaying pines. To the right of the trail, a gentle river flowed softly down towards the mouth of the lake. Walking across the rickety wooden bridge, I inhaled a deep breath of refreshingly crisp mountain air. The sun beat down on me as I made my way across the bridge and back onto the well-used hiking trail. The ambient sounds of chirping birds, babbling water, and the croaks of several frogs filled my ears as I made my way around the bend. As I entered the mouth of the forest, I could see my father standing in the middle of the path, glancing upwards, taking in the beauty that had began to engulf us. “We better get going.” he said, looking back at me. “There’s still many miles to go.” I smiled and turned, taking in one last view of the beautiful creekside. Then, with determination, we set out to finish the challenging trek we had started.

As we began our trip, months passed. We had to walk as we drug our cattle behind, all eighty-seven of us. The trip seemed everlasting. Once the month of October began, we reached the Truckee River. This river was going to lead us almost straight to

Just as we all were about to give up and head back home, Toni spotted something odd on the other side of the river. Dug into the cliff face was square hole, and inside that hole we saw a bright lime sticker that is placed onto geocaches. These stickers are placed on caches to alert anyone who might find it accidentally that it is a geocache and to not take or move the cache from its original position. We all were happy to find the geocache, but also reluctant to go and retrieve it, for between us and our ultimate goal sat a freezing river that looked almost forty feet wide. All of us weren’t found of leaving a cache behind especially when it was just out of reach. Riley then noticed that there seemed to be a part of the river a little downstream that had an underwater bridge. The bridge was no deeper than eighteen inches, which was better than the waist high water directly across from the cache. We all talked it over and figured that we might as well cross. As we all got ready to run across in caravan formation we decided to get to the cache, quickly sign our names, and then run back to the car as soon as possible before our feet became too cold that frostbite would become a danger. As we all ran across the river the freezing water rushed into our boots. It was colder than anyone had expected and we all instantly regretted what we were doing. We rushed to the cache and

As we were one hour into our journey, I began seeing the huge Appalachian mountains. The mountains looked surreal. The closer that we got to Lake Placid the larger the mountains were. We passed a waterfall that was crashing down against the clear blue lake. The lake was a puddle that casted a reflection of the bright sun. It took a long drive to get there, but once we got there it was sunny and bright. We brought up our loads of clothing and then went down to the beach on Mirror lake. There was boundaries on the beach of where you could go. The boundaries were marked with a rope and buoys. We had not known about those boundaries, so we crossed them. Each time we crossed them we would get yelled and whistled at. We saw a rock that was underwater. We really wanted to go explore it, so we ended up being complete rebels. We would hold our breath underwater and go explore the rock, and once we ran out of breathe would swim as quickly as we could up to the rope and pull ourselves inbounds. It was fun swimming, but we got tired very quickly. We headed back to the hotel, and took a

3,2, 1 I jump, falling my stomach hangs above my head as I hold my breath. The warm blue surrounds my skin as i resurface. Once we returned, the bright sun slowly burns to form a falling ball of fire into the horizon, and the sky is no longer filled in with blue but dull and grey. The air turned cold and windy. The weather didn't seem to phase any of us. The lifejackets were the next stop. Waves curve over the orange sides of the IRB. Turning fast, we ride parallel across the edge of the waves, spinning around. The strong smell of fish and chips help us say goodbye to the beautiful sea and we sit and talk until day disappears into night. We spent more time spent being wet than dry that summer. The sun now drifting further and further down, eventually being swallowed by the horizon and gone until the summer next

Over the train tracks, there's an alcohol store on the left side and a low-price store on the right. At the red light, there're a gasoline station and a bank next to it on the right, and a tax helper building on the left with the post office next to it. These are a few of the buildings in the village, but they're not important.

A violent gust of wind laughed as the two girls were trying to reach the conclusion of the hike. The bitter mountain scorned at Lori and Kayla, unleashing its wrath by letting rocks fall keeping the girls on their toes. Lori and Kayla felt as though the entire world was against them. They were so sure that they picked the correct path, but after walking another three miles, the pathway was slowly disappearing from under their feet and they had no idea where they were.“What are we going to do Kayla! We are completely lost, and there it is impossible to get down the way we came. I have no idea where we came from!” Lori exclaimed. Kayla stood there silent in complete shock about what their current situation was. Kayla thought to herself, “I am supposed to be the strong one. But I don't think I can keep this up. I don’t have a plan. What if we never make it off this mountain? It will be my

One day in Red Bluff Julia was walking down the street and she saw that somebody was lying on the ground so she went to see who it was. The person who was lying on the ground was her best friend Baily. Julia saw that Baily had gangrene fingers and spots on her arms. Julia had wanted to save her good friend Baily so she went to find help she almost tripped on a dead cat in the middle of the road. She was able to find somebody, but by the time she got to her good friend Baily she was already gone from where she had left her she was gone. She had turned to face the person who was going to help her but she was gone.

Every year Since I was 14 me and my father would go on a hike in autumn. But this last year I went alone, He couldn't make it. However that was not a deterrent. When I arrived at Sawmill canyon the sun was shining down but it was brisk. It was a long ways to go to Aliso Spring. I'm not sure how many miles the journey is but every step is worth it. The trip only lasts about 3 days before we usually packed up. But I can see the reason why, there is no one out there. But you never really alone, however you are always in solitude.

Anyway, when we turned onto Broadway Street, we knew that we would be arriving in a matter of minutes and our anticipation rose with every pothole and row of corn stalks we passed. After stopping for the occasional family of deer on the “L” shaped road, we would eventually arrive at the third camper on the left. It might just be a campsite with a silver twinky for a camper to most people, but for me, this place is the heaven that made me, me. With all its amenities, I couldn't think of a way to make this place any better. The campsite consisted of a camper against the woods on the left, a yard with a steep drop off to the river on the right, and the essential outhouse and fireplace. The entrance to the knee deep river was at the next campsite with two Weeping Willow bushes signaling where to enter. When anyone entered, there was initial shock of chill due to the water but it was easy to adapt to. There was a log perpendicular to the shore that kept the water depth about ankle

“Whoa, whoa! Where is this taking us, where, where?” I said as my heart was beating as fast as a runner who finished the Boston Marathon. I was hiking with my family a second ago, and now I am through a wavy transparent wall that made me feel like I was heading through Platform 9 ¾ in Harry Potter. I suddenly was flying through a golden sky that glistened like the sun hitting the ocean. Gracefully I did flips and cartwheels in the air while gold ribbon followed me like ducklings following their mother. Milliseconds later I landed in a grassy field. Cows were harvesting crops and cooking dinner. Straw hats aligned their faces, with brown corduroy overalls splattered in dirt. They smelled like a fertilizer company on a hot summer afternoon.

From her vantage point, just off stage, Sarah Jones Weeks Caldwell fixed her eyes on the congregation.

With the afternoon sun beating down on the water and the camp in view, I can’t help but catch my breath in awe as I prepare to hike down the rest of the way, absorbing the beauty of this wonderful place. As the steep trail descends along the shoreline, it runs over the Sierra Mountain streams and makes its way towards camp. Running through camp and past the aged Herrington Lodge that serves as our kitchen, the trail then ascends up and through the campsites which reside on a rocky ridge. Overlooking the Lake from above, the view from the campsites becomes quite relaxing, especially as you climb up higher and higher. The highest campsite on the rocky hill is Eagle Rock, and although the hike can be treacherous, the incredible sight of the distant Sierra Mountains makes it worthwhile. While Camp is in session, I often see some people rowing, or sailing gracefully through the water. Because the south end of the lake is surrounded by a tall rocky ridge, Cody Lake often gets wind from the north, where the valley descends just past the edge of the water, overlooking the distant highway. Looking outwards, I can see a distant waterfall as

The Great Smokey Mountain's National Park is the most visited in the National Park system. The natural beauty and the four distinct seasons that are enjoyed by many! The Park includes over 500,000 acres with 800 miles of hiking trails, 10 campgrounds, 1,500 types of plants. These mountains are called the Great Smokies due to the morning fog over the mountains. There are waterfalls throughout the park, with larger falls like Grotto, Laurel, Abrams, Rainbow, and Mingo drawing over 200,000 visitors per year. Many people come here due to the location of this National Park.

We traveled until any hope of ever returning to an actual road diminished. No other cars were in sight, or had been in sight since we entered on to this foreign road. But we kept going. As we did, the road got ever so slightly more narrow, until it became big enough for one car to fit on. It wasn't until the road suddenly became placed on the side of a mountain that we realized there was no going back, and that we were lost. We were out in the middle of nowhere, on a deserted road on a mountain. Worst of all, there was no service, meaning no way to know where in the world we were or find an alternate route. Despite being stranded, there was no turning back, literally because there was no space on the road to physically turn around. So, we did only what we could and continued driving. As I looked out from the car window, I could see the mountains all around us. Across the way, on another mountain, I could even vaguely spot a dirt road, and wondered how we would manage to get there. Looking down out of the window sent a trembling fear all through my body to see the earth just dropped off. We drove and drove, slowly losing daylight.