4am. My alarm clock buzzed loudly, and my hand came down on the snooze button hard. I rolled back over next to my dachshund, Aubey, (named after the Auburn Tigers) and pulled the covers over my head. I listened. My sister wasn't awake yet. A few more minutes of sleep.
My alarm buzzed loudly again. 4:20 am. I could hear my sister now, walking through the hallway. My door squeaked open and she groggily said, "Time to get ready." I touched my feet to the cold, wooden floor and rubbed my eyes. "Okay," I said, leaving Aubey under the comforter.
The house was dark. Mom and dad were still sleeping as we pulled on our clothes and packed our new Army bags with supplies. Hailey packed her bag with band aids, gauze and tape. "I'm going to be the medic," she said. I nodded and bit down on the blueberry pop tart I was holding.
It was 5am when we got into my car. We threw our bags in the back seat, and I drove down our gravel driveway and onto the twisting ridge. Hailey took my Tom Petty CD from its case and put it in the player. Breakdown. We sang along as we drove through our ghost-like town, passing three cars on the way to the state park. The wind was cool as it passed through the windows, rustling our hair.
It was foggy and crowd-less when we got to the park. I drove into a gravel parking lot and the car door grunted open. We put on our bags and sprayed ourselves down with bug spray. The sunblock we had packed wasn't needed. The sign at the start of the trail said 3 miles and we took off excited about our morning hike.
During the first five minutes of our hike, both of us started scratching the top part of our legs. We talked through what could have happened to make us itch that bad and we decided that it couldn't have been poison ivy or oak, an allergic reaction to the bug spray or bug bites. We continued down the winding trail, that followed the river, trying desperately not to scratch our red legs. To keep our minds off of the itch we started singing camp songs and random, half made up songs like, " A hiking we will go. A hiking we will go. Hi ho the derry-o a hiking we will go." When we reached the end of the trail and had sang through a dozen or so camp songs, our legs stopped itching. It was miraculous.
The gorge was next. At 7am we started our hike down the hill to the water. Boulders the size of cars were piled up next to the river and we immediately began climbing up and over them, making our way to the water. As we climbed, I found a small pool of muddy water, reached in, and cupped a tad-pole in my hand. It squirmed around, and I released it back into its small home.
"Let's try to cross," I said. Hailey agreed and we looked for a safe path. When we found a path of small boulders in the river, we took off our shoes, tied them to our bags and tried to get to the other side. The water was frigid when I dipped my foot in and touched the nearest slimy rock. When I felt steady, I slowly moved to the next one, teeth clenched. My sister was behind me, and I stopped to help her. "Grab my hand," I told her. She shook her head. The current was swift and the rocks were slippery. The water was freezing and if either of us were to fall in we would be washed downstream. "I can't do it," she said, watching the water. I reached my hand out to her. "Yes, you can." Hailey got her courage up and reached for the green rock, clinging to it. I tried to continue forward but the current was strong, the water was deep and the gap was long. We turned back and as Hailey started for the rock before her, her bag fell into the water. "No!" she yelled, quickly grabbing it back up. She threw it to the dry rocks, and I followed. When we were both dry, we decided that we wouldn't try it again.
We backtracked toward the trail that would lead us back to the top of the hill until we saw four water falls in the distance. "Look!" I said, pointing at the falls. We climbed over the rocks, the morning sun brushing lightly against our skin. When we reached our destination it looked just like I would envision a paradise. The falls poured over the water carved rocks and into the cold river below. We made our way behind the fall and stood, looking out at the river and the forest beyond it. When we had our fill, we trekked back up the side of the hill and climbed inside my little car. I turned the key and Tom Petty's voice filled the car again. Runnin' down a dream. And we sang along as I drove the winding road back to the town that was just waking from their slumbers.