Memory -- Hiking Timp

It was a chilly October night, the trees were swaying in the soft quite breeze. We walked slowly but steadily up the dark trail. It had been an anxious night, staying up till 12:00 am. My Dad, brother and I were going to climb up Mount Timpanogos; one of the tallest mountains in Utah. We walked silently as dark shadows scrambled in the prickly bushes. All of us had big fluffy coats, ear warmers and too big of mittens. My brother Wade, a daring boy, told my dad he wanted to run ahead and would come back shortly. My dad was unsure, but Wade was persistent. Finally, he let Wade go ahead, telling him to be back soon. My brother being a fast runner, ran ahead and within the minute he was out of site.

My Dad and I talked for a while in the silent trying to take up time. It had been a half an hour before we started to get anxious. Wade had been gone for a long time and hadn't come back. I nervously whispered to my dad, "Where is Wade, I haven't seen him in a long time?" My dad replied, "I'm sure he is fine, lets keep on walking." Although, by the tone of his voice I could tell he was not as calm and sure as he wanted to seem. Another ten minutes had past and my Dad finally broke the silence, "I'm going to go and look for him, you're coming with me" he said. We quickened our pace from a jog to a full run. We started to yell, "Wade, Wade!" My dad stopped dead in his tracks, "Avalon, we have to stop" he said, "What, why" I replied. "It's no use we're almost at the top and we've been calling him for a while," and almost in a yell he replied, "don't you think we would have found him by now?" In pure fear, I had a feeling that I was never going to see my brother again. Oh what a pure torture would be to never see my brother again! I thought to myself. Then out of no were their was a soft voice calling to me, "dad, avi, is that you?" As soon as we had heard the voice we saw a boy come from the bend of the trail. As the boy got closer we soon realized it was my brother! "Wade!" I said, as I ran up to him tears streaming from my face. "Are you ok?!" My Dad said, "yes," Wade said calmly. "What happened?" dad said. Wade replied, "I fell asleep on this rock and woke up when I heard you yelling, why?", "I thought you were lost! " I unexpectedly yelled. "Oh sorry" Wade said, as he walked up the trail. Finally, our fears had been calmed.

We soon followed him up the trail. It was starting to get lighter, and was about 3:00 am. "I wanted to show you something," Wade whispered. We followed him until we came to the edge of the mountain side. The whole city was below us. The beautiful Utah Lake glittered in the red and yellow sunrise. "It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!" I told them;we watched for another half an hour till the sun was fully up then, we started down the mountain. We went down faster than I thought, and we arrived at the base of the mountain by 6:00 am. We walked to the car, it was a quiet car ride home because we were all dead asleep except for my Dad who was driving. When we got home we told my Mom all about the hike and what had happened to my brother Wade. By the time we had finished the story, the expression on my Mom's face would had made you think she had just watched a horror movie.

Avalon M.  10/18