Bryan--Hiking

Hiking

            Why did I have to come was what I thought to myself. Years ago maybe when I was at the small but annoying age of seven I went on a hiking trip to Sequoia National Park. The park itself was not what I had dreaded the thought of. It was the fact that I was going to be away from my games and toys and that I was going to have to spend all day with my annoying brothers. On the ride to the national park they were tormenting me as always. Every minute spent in the car felt like an hour or more as my brothers continued to be loud. In order to shorten the amount of time in car I decided to time travel using the amazing powers of sleep. Even this could not happen due to the obnoxiousness of my brothers just yelling and smacking everything around. My mother eventually calmed them all down but by then it was too late to take a nap as we had arrived at our destination.

            The first tree I saw when I got there was magnificently enormous. The trees were about a thousand times taller than any tree I had ever seen before and as thick as the classroom at the school I was in at the time. They were bigger in person than they were on the television shows I had seen them in. They had an unparalleled appearance to them, their red trunks stood out from the boring dirt that was around everywhere you looked. Some of the trees roots, or something I thought were roots, protruded out of the ground and zig zagged its surroundings until eventually touching another one of these giants. That’s when I realized that were hundreds, thousands if not hundreds of thousands of these massive trees all around us for miles and miles. All this awe and wonder I was experiencing was completely shattered by my brothers beginning to irritate me again.

            We began our walk through the forest on a barely visible path that was left by others who had walked before us. We decided to take a picture near the entrance of a sort of tree cave thing which is basically a cave like place made from a tree that is hollowed out at the base for whatever reason. After the picture everyone went to get a look inside the “tree cave” while I went to pee. Naturally I didn’t want anyone to see me so I ventured off pretty far just looking for a good spot. In doing this I unknowingly got myself lost and was unable to orient myself back onto the direction from which I came as I had no idea where I came from. “Well at least I’ll be away from my brothers for a while.” I thought to myself. I began exploring by myself climbing atop the roots jetting out of the soil. I did this for a while until I decided I could find my way back to my family. Ofcourse I didn’t know which direction to start walking in so I began to panic. Fear came over me and I began to yell for my parents. My oldest brother comes out of nowhere and tells me to shut it as I was getting annoying. I was reluctant to follow him back at first because of how irritating he and the others had been earlier. I thought I was above him and could find my own way back but I eventually gave in and followed him back to where my parents and other brothers were. I didn’t wander off again after that and we proceeded to make our way home.

            After all that fear had come over me, when I thought I was going to be lost forever, my lowest point during that trip, I had been “saved” by my brother. One of which I thought was annoying and was actively trying to avoid for a time. He had come to help me when I was in dire need of it. I learned that I can always count on my brothers to be there for me when I really need them to be whether I want them there or not. This experience left me with a better appreciation of my family and how despite what you may think, can help in your hours of need.