Spring Break Narrative

During the Spring break, my friends and I went camping at a national forest in Oregon. It was supposed to be a two days of hiking and one-night living in a camp. For me, I love hiking because I get to see new things, be in the wild outdoors and the best part is enjoying the scenic views. Mark, who is the leader of the pack is really professional and have a lot of experience in camping. He was a scout member since he was a little boy. You can see how active he is by looking at the number of badges he owns.

“Pack enough food and water for yourself, we don’t want things to get ugly tomorrow” Mark said. That was the day we packed our stuff for the trip.

The morning starts out like any other day, we entered the national forest about 10 o’clock in the morning and starts

hiking to the campsite which is a 7-hour trail.
“Everyone, stick together so nobody gets left behind” these were the sentences that he kept repeating throughout the journey.
Well, I was a kind of person who gets easily attracted to something odd and beautiful. I ignore Mark’s advice during the hike and wonder around by myself taking pictures of the wonderful nature.
Suddenly, about 3 hours of hiking things around me which are only trees and plants starts to make me really uncomfortable. My heart starts pumping super fast and the question that I really did not want to start playing in my head.
“Am I lost?” Now, I am regretting myself for wondering around. Because of my carelessness and ignorant, I might have walk on the wrong trail.
“Help! Anybody! Mark!” I kept shouting and called all my friends name but nobody replied accept for the echo of my own voice.
Now, I do not know what to do being all alone in the forest.

I did not bring any map or compass because I was hoping someone else will do that and I never thought I am going to be lost. I only brought a couple of breads and a bottle of water that is might not enough for one night. I was again regretting myself for not following Mark’s order to pack enough food for myself. Then, the day starts getting colder and my body starts to shiver.

When things start to get uncomfortable, I force myself to make a decision. If I stay here and wait for my friends, in a few hours it will starts to get dark and there will be a really low chance that they will found me. Without a map I do not how to get out the forest. All of a sudden, I got the idea of finding the nearest river so I will easily get water and food resources.

It was getting darker; I am getting much more terrified if I bumped into some wild animals such as a bear or by something out of this world. I constantly kept praying in heart so that I can get out of the forest safely. After a few hours of searching, I was lucky enough to find a clear river but I felt really exhausted. Immediately, I reached out my backpack for food and water to get

reenergized.
Then, without wasting time I collected some branches and twigs to start a fire to scare away wild animals and insects as well as to warm my body. I was fortunate enough to bring my camping kits which contain a complete sets of surviving tools such as matches and a knife. After a few hours past, it was already midnight and I was really tired of all the searching. I went inside
my sleeping bed lie down near the fire. Before I slept, I prayed for help to come first thing in the morning.
Then, I woke up exactly during the sunrise and saw a very wonderful view of sunray passing through tree branches and for a moment I forgot what I had just been through yesterday. I had a few bruises on my body that may caused by some insect bites. However, I got really happy because it is already morning. Suddenly, I heard my name was shouted repeatedly.
“Fayyad! Fayyad! Where are you!”
“I’m here!” I shouted.
Then, I heard some footsteps coming nearer. Out of the bushes, all of my friends and two rangers came running towards me. I was extremely happy and I ran towards them. We hug each other and I did not even realize that some tears came out of our eyes.
“Where have you been?” Mark said.
“I’m sorry for not listening to you and I’m sorry for ruining your plan”
“Nah, it’s okay at least we are all still together” he replied.
From that day forward, I learned some lessons that I will never forget which is never neglect any order given by our leaders or some experience people. I also learned that when things get though, never give up finding a solution. Moreover, this will be an experience that I will never forget in my life.