A Mysterious Mountain Adventure

By Emily

I was on a mountain climbing expedition with two friends. It was already late fall, and my friends and I knew we would probably run into some winter weather before our expedition was over. However, we were excited, and we were well prepared. Even so, we also knew that ahead of us lay some dangerous challenges. In fact, other people who had climbed this mountain said that strange things happened up here, and some people never returned. The first part of the mountain was a hard, steep hike with lots of wild animals and unusual trees and plants. Some of these plants we had never seen before. The top of the mountain was a much harder climb with vertical cliffs and steep rocky ledges. During the first afternoon of our hike we were startled by an unexpected visitor. Suddenly a bobcat sprang from the bushes and blocked the trail. We knew that we could be in danger, and we froze with fear. Just when we thought we were doomedÑa deer, bolting out of the forest, distracted the bobcat. Lucky for us, the bobcat preferred deer meat. After the scare with the bobcat, we realized we were hungryÑso we decided to set up camp for the night. I started looking for some wood to make a campfire, while my friends worked on pitching and securing the tent. Then when I had the fire burning well, we began preparing supper. We cooked some steak in a frying pan and roasted some potatoes on the coals. We had brought some carrots and celery along to munch on, and we had some apples and ginger snaps for dessert. Shortly after dessert, we started getting ready to settle down for the night. We found a nearby stream to wash our dishes, brush our teeth, and get fresh water for the morning. When we got back to our camp, to our surprise, a grizzly bear was helping himself to our leftover food supplies. Rather than startle the bear and risk his attack, we remained silently hidden behind some trees at a safe distance. When the bear left, we carefully approached our campsite again. To our amazement, we found that our equipment and most of our food was still okay. During the night as we slept, a deep snow quietly blanketed the mountain. When we awoke we could hardly believe our eyesÑa foot of snow had already piled up on the mountain. We had not expected such a storm so early and realized we would have to end our journey and head home. Even now the hike home would be more dangerous with the blizzard conditions. We quickly ate a cold breakfast and dressed in the warmest clothes we had brought. We packed our supplies and took down the tent. We got out our ski equipment, which we had brought just in case of an emergency. Then we planned our way to ski down the trail. At first things went smoothly. Our skis went easily over the new fallen snow, and we were making good time. Then the snow began falling harder, the wind blew fiercely, and we barely could see. We used a rope so we would not get separated, and no one would get off the trail. However, as we continued through the blinding snow, the rope tore on some jagged rocks. My one friend, out of control, went off the trail and over an unseen cliff. My other friend and I came to a quick stop just short of the very edge of this cliff. Peering over the edge of the cliff, we frantically called our friend's name. After calling and calling without any answer, we finally gave up. Very upset, we just sat down and started to cry. Then through our sobs, we started to pray for God to help us to know what to do next and how to get down the mountain safely. As we sat praying with our heads bowed, a huge furry creature silently approached us from behind. In his arms he carried our lost friend. He laid her down gently in the snow and then quickly disappeared. When we stopped praying, we opened our eyes. Much to our total disbelief, we heard our lost friend call out our names. We ran to her, hugged her, and thanked God that she was going to be Ok. Luckily she had landed in a snowdrift, and she only had a few bruises and was a little sore. Relieved and thankful, we put our skis back on and continued down the mountain. On our way, we noticed some huge footprints in the snow, and we wondered what sort of creature could have made footprints that big. Finally we were able to make it safely down the mountain, but our questions about our friend's rescue were never answered. However, somewhere on that mountain we believed there was an angel with a pair of big furry feet instead of a pair of wings.