The Storm

 

            Cody was tired, but happy. He and his friend, Tom, had just hiked up the monstruous mountain that they now looked down from. “We did it!” he exclaimed as he gave Tom a high five.

            The two friends took a few pictures of the fantastic view below. They ate their snacks that they had brought as they waited for their hiking group to get ready to descend. The other boys from the day camp laughed and relaxed after their long hike.

            It was a perfect day, thought Cody happily. Then he noticed some ominous looking clouds over to the west. They seemed pretty far away, but things could move quickly out on the mountain.

            Tom must have noticed too, because he said, “I hope we start down soon. I don’t want to get rained on.”

            It was then that Jerry, their hiking guide, called out, “Okay, guys, time to head on back!”

            Cody was anxious to get a move on now, but he and Tom ended up in the back of the hiking line. The trail was narrow, and they were hiking single file. Cody kept looking over his shoulder to the west, and was shocked at how fast the black clouds were moving. The wind started to pick up, and it was getting darker, even though it was only four o’clock in the afternoon.

            Their whole hiking group picked up the pace to try to outrun the storm, but it was faster than they were. The first drops of rain fell, and Cody called out to Tom, “Hey, hold on a second. Let me get my jacket out of my pack.”

            Cody threw down his small daypack, and hurriedly pulled out his rain jacket that he had stuffed inside earlier. Tom was doing the same thing with his pack. It took both of them less than a minute to get their packs back on, but their group had kept going without them.

            Cody wasn’t that worried. The trail was well-marked, and there was only one way to go. As the raindrops became more frequent, however, a fog started to set in and it became difficult to see. The wind became stronger, and soon it was howling around them like a pack of wolves.

            The rain continued to get heavier, and soon Cody and Tom had to stop. It was almost impossible to see ahead of them. “We have to stop and find shelter!” Tom shouted, barely making himself heard above the gusting winds.

            Both boys looked around wildly, trying to find a place that would at least keep the rain off of them. “Over there!” Cody shouted, pointing to the left of the trail. There were some trees growing closer to the side of a rock face. There were also some large boulders that might provide them with a little bit of shelter.

            Tom ran out ahead of Cody toward the rocks. They found a space that was bordered on three sides by boulders that were tall enough to keep out the worst of the wind. A large pine tree towered over them, and the boys ran gratefully under it.

            Cody couldn’t believe how loud it was. The wind was no longer pushing them around so strongly, but it made a terrific noise as it moved through the rocks. The pine tree swayed above them. He noticed Tom shivering, and he realized that he was doing the same. “We have to get ourselves warm,” he said, a little shakily.

            They moved right up to the trunk of the tree. Luckily, there were several lower branches that felt like it provided some sort of cover. Cody and Tom sat back to back while they waited for the rain to stop.

            An hour later, it was still pouring rain. Cody had never felt so miserable. There was no longer rain pouring on top of them, but the wind still brought the cold. They were hugging their knees as they watched the rain drip around them.

            Another hour passed, and Tom felt like the cold was reaching into his bones. He didn’t know how much longer he could last. He shifted, trying to find a better position. His stomach growled, reminding him that he’d missed dinner. He pulled his pack toward him and took out what was left of his snacks that he had brought along for the hike. “Half a granola bar and some trail mix,” he said dispiritedly.

            “I’ve got some beef jerky,” Tom offered.

            After sharing their grand meal, Cody felt even hungrier than he had before. It was growing darker now, and he looked in his pack for his flashlight. “I should have put fresh batteries in,” he said with a sigh.

            The rain finally started to slow down, and the wind wasn’t howling so loud. Twenty minutes later, the rain stopped, and Cody and Tom emerged from their shelter among the rocks.

            Cody checked his watch. “9:30 P.M.” he announced. “Do you think we can make it back down tonight?”

            “Well, I’d say that we’ve got a good two hours of hiking left to do,” Tom answered thoughtfully. “It might take us longer in the dark, but I would rather do that than spend the night here. I’m freezing, and maybe we’ll get warmer as we walk.” He pulled out his own flashlight and clicked it on.

            They headed back to the trail and started down. Everything was now wet and slippery. They moved at a much slower pace than when they had hiked up earlier in the day. They didn’t talk much so that they could concentrate on where they were placing their feet.

            They were hiking through a particularly muddy part of the trail when Cody lost his balance and grabbed on to whatever he could to prevent himself from falling. That thing happened to be Tom. “Whoa!” Tom yelled as he nearly fell as well.

            When they had both righted themselves, they started to laugh, but then stopped when they heard a strange growl.

            “What was that?” Tom asked, fear on his face.

            Cody shone his flashlight over to where he had heard the sound and felt his heart stop. “It’s a bear!” he yelped, panicked. “What do we do?”

            Tom looked over, and saw a great big black bear not 30 feet away from where they stood. “Make some noise and wave your arms!” he yelled as he started to do just that.

            Cody joined his frantic yells to Tom’s noise, and they watched as the bear started to lumber away. They looked at each other in relief. “Let’s get out of here,” Cody said seriously.

            They started off again, quicker now after seeing the bear. They hadn’t been hiking for too long, when they spotted lights coming up the trail toward them. Tom called out, “Hello!” and immediately they heard an answer.

            “Tom, Cody, is that you?” It was their hiking guide, Jerry’s, voice.

            “We’re here!” Cody called out happily. He was beyond relieved when he saw Jerry come into view. There were a few other men with flashlights.

            “Thank goodness we found you guys!” Jerry said happily. “No one realized that you weren’t with the group.”

            “We stopped when it got too rainy and windy, and we sheltered under a pine tree near some rocks,” Tom explained. “Where have you been?”

            “We never stopped,” Jerry answered seriously. “It was pretty bad for a while, but once the trail got into the tree cover, it was much better. It wasn’t until we reached the trail head that we finally realized that you weren’t with us. Glad to see that you guys are okay.”

            Some of the men had brought some warm coats, and Cody and Tom put them on gratefully. They told the story of their little adventure as they hiked back down to the trail head. When they got to the part about the bear, Jerry turned right around to stare at them, incredulous.

            “You guys saw a bear?!” he asked in shock.

            Cody explained how Tom knew what to do and how the bear left.

            “You fellas are lucky,” Jerry told them. “Bears around here have been known to be pretty aggressive.”

            It was close to midnight when they finally reached the trail head and were able to catch a bus back home. Cody sank gratefully into bed after showering and calming down his worried parents. He didn’t want to do any more hiking anytime soon. He felt like he had had enough of the mountains for a while.