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Kayla Elkins Larry Neuburger Eng Comp 101-103 13 June 2011

Narrative Essay Adventures of Camping Unprepared

We have all been kids and done things without completely thinking them through. Getting ourselves into situation where, if we thought about it a little longer, we could have prevented a lot of things from happening. When thinking back on the situation, we would not change anything, simply for the fact we learned a valuable lesson, and in the end everything turned out okay. At the time of my story, Kayla and her friends thought there was nothing in the world they wouldnt do to change their situation. Kayla and her two best friends, Heather and Ashley, were about 16 years old, and they could always be seen together, even at school. It was near the end of the school year and beginning to feel like summer. They got the brilliant idea to go on a day camping trip with Ashleys dad on the last Friday before school got out. Ashleys dad had been to this spot on the river many times before so he knew what he was getting into, but the three of them didnt. They got everything together they needed, or so they thought including a baby kitten and a puppy.

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The whole trip started off just as planned, and they got to the area about ten in the morning. It was a nice creek bed with clear blue water, overflowing with wildlife. Ashleys dad decided he was going to stay by the van just in case something happened. They on the other hand, wanted to be a little more adventurous and hike a mile and half down stream. Hiking down the river bed was fun; they came across a few rough patches, but nothing they couldnt handle. Kaylas family had been on lot of camping trips when she was a child, Ashleys dad took her a lot too and Heather had only been camping once. At a couple of spots in the river, the baby kitten had to jump on Ashleys back pack to be able to get across the water. None of them had ever seen a cat act like that in their entire life. They finally came to this little gravel bar where they decided that they would camp there, and thats when the real adventures began for the three friends It was a very small gravel bar: only big enough to hold a couple of chairs, a couple of buckets and a small fire. After they got the back packs unloaded and the camp set up, they decided they would go swimming. The only problem with that was Kayla, didnt have a bathing suit, so she decided that she would just wade in the shallow areas. The water was nice and cold and it was a clear as the blue sky above. There where minnows swimming around, baby tadpoles, and Kayla also saw a couple of turtles. As Kayla kept looking, she saw more and more things that were in living in the water. She started to notice that there were a lot of crawfish, small ones, and really big ones too. She yelled to Ashley and Heather, Hey guys, there are a lot of huge crawfish in this water, and we should catch some. Heather asked How are we going to catch them, and what are we going to do with them after we do? All we need is a cup or small container and we have a five gallon bucket to put them in, and for what do with them, after we have a bunch we can cook them and try and eat them. If we dont like them Im sure the animals

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will, Kayla said with a slightly sarcastic tone in her voice. Ashley looked at her and said, That sounds like fun, but I dont know if you will get me to try and eat one. Heather decided she wanted to help Kayla catch some too. She being more of a country girl said, I might try one if they are all the way done. They spent the next couple of hours catching all different sizes of crawfish. After they had probably sixty of them in our bucket, they decided that they were going to cook the really big ones and let the babies go. Heather and Ashley both asked Kayla, How to cook them. Kayla said, I said that is wasnt that hard and all they had to do was get some flat rock and put them in the coals of the fire and let get nice and hot then let them sit there till they are really, really red. After all the crawfish were cooked, Heather and Kayla decided that they were going to try and eat one. They soon found out that they hadnt cooked them long enough, and they were raw, so we decided to give them to the puppy and kitten. Surprisingly, they liked themand ate about five each. The rest of the day went by very fast; they cooked dinner over the fire and went swimming again. Time went by so fast the next thing they knew it was dark. They had no flash lights, and the only light source they had was the little fire and a lighter that they brought to light the fire with. They couldnt try and walk back in the pitch black of night, so they had no choice but to stay all night and they would walk back in the morning. They looked at each other with a worrisome look on their faces. They all knew that they are in the middle of nowhere, with bobcats, coyotes and a lot of other animals out there and no one close if something where to happen. Having the puppy and kitten didnt help our situation because, any type of animal can smell them and think they are food.

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The first couple of hours went by pretty fast, they sat there talking and goofing off around the fire. It was not till about one in the morning when things started getting creepy. It was so dark out that you couldnt even see your hand in front of your face. Off in the distance, they heard a single coyote howl, and they all jumped with fear. Even the puppy cried a little bit. Heather asked, with a slight shakiness in her voice, What are we going to do if it comes and tries to get one of the animals or us. There isnt much any of anything any of us can do, but try and fight it off, Ashley said with harshness in her voice. They had no weapons of any kind. The fire was almost burnt out, and we had no wood to make it bigger. Kayla sat there for what seemed like forever trying to figure out something that would help our situation some. She listened to a coyote howl off in the distance ever few minutes, and it was getting a little closer evertime she heard it Finally, Kayla couldnt handle sitting there and not doing anything, so she decided that she was going to cross the river and see if she could find any more fire wood and, hopefully, one big enough to use as some kind of weapon. Kayla asked Heather, If she would go across the river with her just in case she found something. Heather said, Yah, as long as I dont have to go climbing in any brush piles. No, Ill do all that, Kayla said with a half way laugh. Lucky for them there was a tree that had washed up when it had flooded in the spring, and there was plenty of firewood. Kayla found a couple of descent sized sticks that could be used as weapons. They built the fire back up, and Kayla took a large stick. Ashley took the other large that Kayla had found, and they all started to feel a little safer. It was about two thirty in the morning when they heard the bone chilling howl of two coyotes that were a lot closer than the one earlier had been. Heather, Ashley, and Kayla all looked at each other with this scared look on their faces. They had no idea what they were going

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to do if the coyotes came up to them. Against one they could stand a chance, but two they were pushing the odds. Ashley decided that she couldnt stay awake any longer, and continue to let herself get anymore scared, so she went to sleep; that left Heather and Kayla to deal with them. As the night went on, the coyotes slowly got closer and closer and it sounded like there were more of them. It was about four thirty in the morning when Heather and Kayla heard, what they knew was at least four coyotes only about two hundred feet away. By this point, Kayla thought that Ashley should get up just in case something did happen. Three against four is a lot better odds, than just two against four. She woke with kind of a start; she asked Kayla, Why did she wake her up, and what was going on? She started to panic a little, like Heather and Kayla had done for a couple of hours now. There was only an hour and a half till sunrise, and then they could pack up camp, and walk back to where Ashleys dad was. All Kayla kept thinking was please not let them get any closer. They heard their howls getting closer and farther away for the next hour, till right before the sun came up over the horizon. As soon as the sun came over that horizon, they all started running around packing all our stuff up so they could start the mile and half walk back. They made it to Ashleys dad finally. He asked, What happened to coming back before dark, and how was your night out in the woods? They all sighed with relief, and told him of the adventures they had catching crawfish and with the coyotes. He seemed concerned but was glad that we where okay. They all learned a few valuable lessons that day. For starters a lot of things can happen when you go camping without thinking it through, and never go without protection especially if you are going to be any distance from help; always keep track of time, and never bring baby domesticated animals on camping trip in the middle of nowhere.

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