Wilderness Creative Writing

One day, cutting through the swamp, David comes across the remains of old Indian souls and discovers a skull with jewelry still buried on the bodies. As David kicks at the skull, he hears a voice and looks up to see a black man seated on a stump just looking. The man, wearing a black sash around his body, has a soot-stained face, which makes it appear as if he works in some fiery place. David soon recognizes the stranger as the devil, the black man. Twenty years later we had a family reunion with all my relatives and they started talking about the fire.

Sixty days of carrying 80-pound backpacks, sleeping under a tarp for shelter in the Utah winter – welcome to “wilderness therapy.” I was asked to withdraw from The Asheville School midway through sophomore year. I had done some stupid things -- not big, but big enough to lead to expulsion,

Pupils dilated and fist clenched, my heart palpitating as we make our way up the prominent Rocky Mountains. All I am telling myself is “I can’t believe I’m here, I can’t believe I’m seeing this.” Coming from the hustle and bustle of Houston, Texas, I am now transported into the clouds. I am on top of the world, I am in Colorado. I glance at my two cousins, who are too, in awe. We see the earth in an unfamiliar light, we are seeing everything we have in a sense been deprived of. The enormous mountains, radiating power and strength, send chills running down my spine. For the first time in a long time, I feel human.

"Wake up, partners," the trail boss, James called. I sleepily looked up , shivered, and saw I was the only one not up. "Here," James said, giving me the horses' bridles and saddles. "Take these and get the horses ready. We have a long day today." I groaned in reply and set up the horses for the day's long drag. I was the horse wrangler and this was my everyday job but I still couldn't get use to the idea of waking up before the sun and working. We drove the cattle into open plains against the winter's cold wrath.

The well known Grand Canyon wasn’t always grand. About 6 millions years ago there live a princess called Artemis, she loved a lot of things like hunting, wilderness, and animals. Her kingdom was located in the territory now called, Arizona. She always had her trusty bow and arrow everywhere she went. She hunted so much that she would bring extra animals to feed the poor. But her father didn’t like that, he was selfish and forbade her to feed the poor anymore. He wanted her daughter to be normal, like wear dresses, have proper manners, and be quiet like every princess should be. She didn’t like that, her passion was to hunt, and possibly become a warrior with her true love. The fault with that dream she had no true love.

Grand Teton National Park is wonderful to visit any time of year, but Fall is my favorite. Autumn brings many wonderful things to the Tetons, but one thing it takes away are the large crowds of summer. Whew!

After a long mountainous drive, I arrived at my destination to embrace one of nature’s wonders in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, Abram Falls Trail. Upon departing the car, a cool crisp breeze brushed my face and the aroma of bacon lingered in the early morning air from

It’s December 2014 and it’s Christmas time in Newcastle. As usual the grey sky lays like a cozy blanket over the city. Somewhere around the Christmas madness a boy is walking around. Among the smell of cinnamon and food from the Christmas market, the sounds from people, cars and buses. Little noises are heard from pigeons fighting over a piece of dirty bread. As the boy navigates trough the crowds of people he is completely unaware of something life changing that is about to happen. This wonderful boy has sandy blonde curly hair that is partially covered by a grey woolly hat, he’s wearing a black cozy warm jacket with grey sweatpants and worn out vans. Wrapped under his shirt the wires from his headphones are just hanging loose on his chest

Here is the thing, as great as Victoria Bryant National Park sounds; in reality it is not as great as it sounds. To start off with, there is a five dollar charge just to park your car in the park and there is a pet fee to have a pet on the property. The small muddy creek that feels like its 78 degrees, flows through the park and happens to be poorly maintained, as well as any of the trials. Rotten tree trunks, big rough rocks, and tree roots that stick out like a sore thumb, take over the trails, not giving anyone the opportunity to enjoy the wildlife. Instead everyone will be paying attention to their feet and praying no one falls over. If grilling out is an activity planned for the day, then do not waste the time. The grills are not maintained

I never knew the Smokies were so close to my grandparent’s retirement village. Every summer all the cousins jammed into Grandpa’s Ford for our jaunt up the mountains. But back then the hills had no name. They were recognized only by the pop of our ears and

Camping trips: There are many camping trips that we have gone on together. One of my most favorite ones was the wilderness

In our brochure, the Mount Willard trail’s level read moderate and Jason glanced up from the page and offered a warning. “You may want something easier Liz.” “I’ll be fine.” “You sure?” I demanded the trail again, even though I knew he was probably right and told myself it’s what I needed. A

I layed back, kicked my feet up, and looked up at the sun trying to break through the leaves of the enormous Oak trees. There is one place I always end up when I want to escape from the rest of the world: Pokagon State Park.

Every year my family goes camping at the palisades, we tell stories, and jokes and sit around the campfire in the mornings. Then we go 4-wheeling, there is nothing like looking out through your goggles and seeing a blue sky and mountains, and that fresh smell of forest is amazing. I can't imagine this being taken away from me, if we don't start to combat the silence then I will have limited memories in the wilderness. If WSA (wyoming studie areas) specialist take this away my kids and future generations I will not be able to enjoy the same things I did growing up, and I don't want that to happen. Take a second to imagine Jackson Hole, Wyoming with out hiking, biking, snowmobiling, cutting down a Christmas tree, 4-wheeling, and fishing. This is a very big possibility if we let WSA take this land from us, we CANNOT let this happen.

Sadly I won’t be talking about the actual trip; not about the beautiful mountains with snow blanketed over it, or the marmot attack with one stealing Chad Donze’s sock, or having our camp raided by a young bull moose, or having Nick Sims hit on a German waitress, or bear spray quick-draw contests, or Thomas Engelman plunging his feet into freezing water for over thirty minutes. I’m going to talk about possibly the most painful and agonizing