Through an Author's Eyes - Part 16

 Good morning and happy Friday!

The sun is coming up and while there are some clouds in the sky, it's supposed to be in the 70s again today. Yay! Spring! We have daffodils starting to bloom, and crocuses have bloomed. My mom and I got out and trimmed most of the plants so they are ready for spring. Now, since it's just the beginning of March, I'm not expecting this lovely weather to stay. Oh no, we've had snow in March before. But winter is moving out and spring is settling in.

On the writing front things are going well. Writing Camp is in full swing. We have over 100 people at camp from all over the world. This makes things interesting and there is almost always someone on to chat with or sprint with or to get feedback from. As far as my writing goes, I'm ready to announce that I've officially started Don Wood. I'm 7k words into it and am loving getting back to old friends and meeting new ones. This story takes place 12 years after the last one. This is a different kind of mystery. Anyway, I'm having fun.

Here's the next part of this story. I have a few short stories that I wrote last July and haven't shared that I can post, but then after this story is over, I have no idea what I'll post next.

 

Through an Author's Eyes

Part 16

 

    Going down was almost harder for Annette than going up had been. The rocks were loose in places and each step had to be taken with care. Everyone stayed together and the boys spaced themselves among the girls ready to offer a helping hand or a steady arm. As they passed the loose rocks, the faster hikers widened the gap and Annette once again found herself in the lead group only this time neither Bethany, Savanna nor Jaina were with her. She didn’t mind. Vic was there and Gabe and Elijah weren’t the tease that Reuben was.
    “Uh, Gabe, Vic, we might have a problem,” Elijah’s voice broke into Annette’s pleasant thoughts. She hurried forward with the others.
    A deep gully lay before them. It had no doubt been created by either a storm or the run off from melting snow. It was at least five or six feet deep and several yards wide. The bottom appeared muddy and the sides of loose rock and mud.
    “Could we make it down and then back up?” Vic asked?”
    “I don’t know. It looks rather wet at the bottom. What do you think? Should we try it?”
    “I’m game to try it.” And Gabe looked around.
    “What about the girls?” Elijah asked.
    “What about us?” questioned Annette. “That actually looks like fun. Something different than the usual.”
    At that Elijah grinned. “Okay. Try it out, Gabe. But be careful! We don’t want to have to deal with any broken bones or sprains either.”
    “Do either of you have a rope in case he should need it?” Annette asked, looking from Elijah to Vic.
    Elijah shook his head. “I don’t have one. Since we were going on the trails I didn’t think to get one.”
    When Vic also shook his head, Annette slid her pack off and unzipped a lower zipper. Pulling out a length of lightweight rope, she tossed it to her cousin. “Dad drilled it into me to always carry one when hiking.”
    There was no need of the rope for Gabe was able to slide down a slight wash and reached the bottom of the gully. “If you can find a few large rocks,” he called up from the bottom, “I think I can put them in the middle where it’s still really muddy as stepping stones.”
    Being on a rocky slope made finding the right sized ones easy and soon the boys were passing them down. “Okay,” Elijah said, once the stones were in place. “Vic, you want to go across so you can help the girls up?”
    “Sure.”
    Annette watched as he slid down, stepped on the rocks and crossed the muddy bottom. It took a little more effort to find a place where he could climb out the other side, but after going down the mountain a couple yards, he was able to scrambled up. “My turn?” Annette asked, looking at Elijah. At his nod, she scrambled down into the little ravine with only a little help from Gabe. She had crossed the mud when the voices of the rest of the party made her stop and look back. They were standing near the trail where the water had eroded it away.
    “Come on,” she called. “We can cross it here and make back to the trail.” Continuing on, she was grateful for Vic’s strong arm to help pull her up the other side for it was steeper and more muddy.
    It took quite a while to get everyone across. The girls were glad for the strong, helpful hands and arms of the guys for it wasn’t an easy crossing. But at last all ten of them stood on the other side of the gully, back again on the trail.
    “Maybe we should all try to stick together now,” Levi suggested. “We might be a little slow, but I don’t know what the rest of the trail looks like.”
    “I wouldn’t think it would be bad, Levi,” Savanna said, “or they would have closed the trail.”
    “Unless no one else has been on it,” Elijah said. “But this is probably the worst it’s going to be. Come on.”
    Annette listened to this exchange with mixed feelings. On the one hand the thought of further difficulties on the trail filled her with excitement for she and her dad had delighted in the unexpected adventures along the Appalachian trails. But, on the other hand, she wasn’t sure she had adequately prepared for many such adventures, and she was pretty sure the others hadn’t either. “Oh, well,” she breathed, “we’ll come up with something if the need arises.” Her thoughts drifted to her story as the group set off down the side of the mountain again. She could probably make that gully a little bigger and more dangerous if she needed to.
    “What are you thinking about?” Savanna asked, tapping Annette on the shoulder. “Your story?”
    Looking back over her shoulder, Annette smiled. “Yep. When we stop for another break, I might try writing a little bit.”

    The next break was unexpected. Rounding a curve in the trail shortly after returning to the tree line, Gabe and Vic, who were in the lead, stopped short. “Uh oh,” Gabe sighed.
    “What?”
    “What’s wrong?”
    The girls exchanged glances and hurried after the guys who had all pushed forward. “Oh, no! What are we going to do now?”
    Reaching Vic’s side, Annette stared. Before them was a lake. There was no bridge and no trail around it. From the looks of things, the runoff that had created the gully farther up, had pushed a lot of water down and it had become stuck. There was no telling how deep the water was for it was murky.
    “I think there used to be a little stream here,” Elijah said, pointing. “I remember a small foot bridge that we crossed on. It wasn’t more than a few planks of wood with slats nailed across, but it’s not here now.”
    “Is there any way to cross it some where else?” Judah asked, looking up stream and down at the water.

Do you have flowers blooming yet?

Are you excited for the next Woodbreak?

What sort of adventures would you enjoy while hiking?