The Hike

A Story for All Ages by Aaron McEmrys

Every summer, Katie, Micah and Ian went on a family vacation with their mom and dad to an old wooden cabin in the mountains. The cabin was miles and miles from anywhere, surrounded on almost all sides by the Olympic National Park.

One day mom and dad were going to drive into town to do some grocery shopping and the kids begged and pleaded not to go because it was such a long and boring drive. After much whining, dad said, “Okay, you don’t have to go – but you cannot leave the yard, is that clear?”

“Yes, Dad”, they all said in happy chorus.

But Mom and Dad weren’t gone for very long before the kids started to get bored. Very bored.

“Let’s go for a hike!” cried Micah, “We’ll totally be back before them – they’ll never even knew we left.”

“I don’t know...” Katie replied, “what if they come back early?”

“They won’t” piped Ian, “They never do – they always stop at that coffee place to check their email afterwards.”

And so, without much further ado, the kids pulled on their boots and started up the trail into the forest. They had a fabulous time, especially once they started playing hide and seek.

A long time passed before they started to realize that they were lost. During hide and seek they had wandered farther and farther away from the trail until none of them had any idea where they were.

They looked everywhere for it, but somehow they just seemed to get more and more turned around. Nothing looked familiar. The trees were tall and grim and it was starting to get dark.

The kids were scared. Micah insisted that he would find the trail all by himself and Katie had to chase after him as he plunged into the darkening woods all by himself. “We have to stay together, Micah – and we can’t afford to get anymore lost than we already are!”

No sooner had Micah started to calm down, when Ian, who was only six, sat down on a rock and started to cry. He was sure he’d seen a mountain lion looking at him, or maybe it was a bear – or maybe it was a mountain lion AND a bear – but whatever it was, he was sure that it was going to come down and eat them up any minute now.

Katie and Micah couldn’t get Ian to move even a single step, and nothing they said could convince him that he wasn’t about to become somebody’s dinner. In the end there was only one thing to do, Katie pulled out the chocolate bar that had been melting in her pocket all day. She gave it to Ian, who put almost half of it in his mouth at one time so that his cheeks were bulging – but at least he wasn’t so worried about mountain lions anymore.

Now it was really getting dark, and it got more cold and shadowy by the minute. The kids were very hungry and scared. Ian was still blubbering and Micah looked like he was going to start crying too, so Katie tried to think of ways to take their minds off of being afraid. First she got them to help her make a big bed, like a nest, out of soft moss and piles of pine needles. It was surprisingly warm and comfortable, and it smelled great.

Later they passed around the remains of the chocolate bar, and when it was gone, they sang all kinds of silly songs and took turns making up stories and jokes until first Ian, then Micah and finally Katie, drifted off to sleep in their soft green bed.

Ian was the first to wake. He bolted right out of the nest toward the far off voices of mom and dad calling, “Katie…Ian…Micah!!!” In no time the kids followed the voices back to the trail, which it turned out was very close to where they’d been sleeping. The kids flung themselves into a big family hug, and Katie saw her mom wipe away a relieved tear.

There was a forest ranger there too, and after the kids told their story, he was very impressed. He said that leaving the cabin like that was a very silly and dangerous thing to do, but that they did everything else just right:

“You didn’t panic. You didn’t try to find your way in the dark. You were so afraid, but you stayed together, kept warm and didn’t panic. I wish more grownups were as smart as you guys.”

The kids felt very proud of themselves…until they saw that special look on mom and dad’s faces. They knew that look. It was the look that meant they were in deep, deep trouble when they got home. And for once in their lives, the kids were happy and relieved to go home and face the music.