Last week, my school's sophomore class was invited to go on a camping and whitewater rafting trip in a little town in Pennsylvania called Ohiopyle. Only eight students signed up, and so on Wednesday morning we came to first period packed up and ready to go. We left on the rickety old school bus. Dave, our principal, or as he likes to be called, "headmaster," was taking us on the trip. There was a teacher who was going to come with us as the second adult, but he cancelled at the last minute, so on the way, Dave stopped at his house and picked up his daughter, Christina, who came with us. This turned out to be a really good call, because Dave's driving skills are less than commendable, and Christina was giving him driving advice, tempering his borderline recklessness.
On the way there, we passed a really quaint town, with real wells and everything. There were a bunch of stores you'd never find in more urban areas, and half the houses were falling apart. Of course, they still had Pizza Hut.
After a few hours, we made it to the campsite, with Dave driving at a consistent 15 miles over the speed limit. We set up our tents, and made a fire. That was fun, because, as the other campers said it, "Colin's a pyromaniac." I found some sticks, and I would light them on fire and then take it out and let it burn. When the flame went out, the end of the stick would smoke a thick, narrow stream of smoke that looked really cool. That was pretty entertaining, at least until Riche, a fellow student, started stealing my sticks, and the rest of us started making "holding your wood" jokes. Yep. Teenagers.
As the day began to turn into night, we cooked up the tin foil dinners we had prepared for the trip. I had ground beef with mozzarella cheese, with a pita chip shell. In theory, it sounded pretty good. In reality, though, it cooked for too long, and the pita chips became a blackened husk. The cheese stuck to the tin foil like superglue, and I had to hold the thing above me, trying to eat around the char and pieces of tin foil, while beef fell out the side.
Later on, Christina led us to the bathroom, where the girls rejoiced when they found outlets to charge their phones.
When the stars came out, and we were all sitting around the campfire, we exchanged a couple scary stories. I shared a true story of my youth, which, if you'll listen, I'll recount for you now...
When I was a kid, about five or so, my family and I had just moved back to the States from Peru. After like a month of living in the new house, one night, I was sitting sleeplessly in my bed, as usual, and suddenly, I hear a voice that seemed to come from the air of the room.
"Colin."
Let me clarify. I was alone in the room, and everyone else was asleep, and the voice didn't belong to anyone I knew. It was just there. As a five-year-old, I was pretty open-minded, and I was more curious than scared.
"Who is it?" I called out.
There was a slight pause.
"This is God."
I thought, Oh, well that makes sense. Okay. I just assumed the voice was telling the truth, and I never questioned it, even though I should have.
This happened off and on again for a while, The voice would call my name, and I would say hi, and then it would stop. And then one night, it wasn't just one voice. It felt like there was a whole big group of people, huddled around my bed, muttering amongst themselves... about me.
"He's so young."
"Look at his face."
"Who will he become?"
As a child, I decided that it was a lot of angels, and I was totally chill with that. I don't know how I got to sleep that night, as I don't remember the voices ceasing.
Then, one night, a few weeks later, I heard the lone voice again. I had had a pretty rough day, I was real tired, and I just wanted to go to sleep.
"Colin."
As I said, I was tired.
"Listen, God..." I said. "Can I just, not do this? Can we do this some other night? I just really just want to sleep right now."
I never heard the voice again after that night. And nine years later, I found out that the best way to get rid of a ghost is to ask it to leave. Freaked out and a little excited, I told my sister that we used to have a ghost, and told her all about the voice. She had a look of surprise.
"You heard it too?" she said.
"Colin."
Let me clarify. I was alone in the room, and everyone else was asleep, and the voice didn't belong to anyone I knew. It was just there. As a five-year-old, I was pretty open-minded, and I was more curious than scared.
"Who is it?" I called out.
There was a slight pause.
"This is God."
I thought, Oh, well that makes sense. Okay. I just assumed the voice was telling the truth, and I never questioned it, even though I should have.
This happened off and on again for a while, The voice would call my name, and I would say hi, and then it would stop. And then one night, it wasn't just one voice. It felt like there was a whole big group of people, huddled around my bed, muttering amongst themselves... about me.
"He's so young."
"Look at his face."
"Who will he become?"
As a child, I decided that it was a lot of angels, and I was totally chill with that. I don't know how I got to sleep that night, as I don't remember the voices ceasing.
Then, one night, a few weeks later, I heard the lone voice again. I had had a pretty rough day, I was real tired, and I just wanted to go to sleep.
"Colin."
As I said, I was tired.
"Listen, God..." I said. "Can I just, not do this? Can we do this some other night? I just really just want to sleep right now."
I never heard the voice again after that night. And nine years later, I found out that the best way to get rid of a ghost is to ask it to leave. Freaked out and a little excited, I told my sister that we used to have a ghost, and told her all about the voice. She had a look of surprise.
"You heard it too?" she said.
So after we finished telling ghost stories, we all went to bed in our tents. After a while, and I'm not sure exactly how it transpired, we all decided to pile into the big tent and cuddle. At some point we saw a flashlight outside we couldn't identify, since everyone was either asleep or in the tent with us. So Jordan had the bright idea of calling out, "Don't murder us!"
The movement stopped and then left, and we all went back to our own tents, though it wasn't very easy to sleep, considering that the people in the next campsite over seemed to be inebriated and partying around a bonfire.
The movement stopped and then left, and we all went back to our own tents, though it wasn't very easy to sleep, considering that the people in the next campsite over seemed to be inebriated and partying around a bonfire.
The next morning, we revived the fire from a bunch of burning embers, and munched on Bennett's granola bars. Then we left to go whitewater rafting. On the way there, I asked who they thought would fall out, and they unanimously said, "Colin."
Before we got to rafting, we went to the town center of Ohiopyle and walked around there a bit. I went with Amanda and Bennett to the cafe, and then we just sat a while, before leaving again for rafting.
The rafting was awesome. I'd been rafting before a couple times, so I knew what to expect. Even so, it was really exciting. I got out to swim a couple times, but I never fell out. We had a guide with us, and he seemed to be full of jokes such as:
"Always swim on your belly. We have catfish in these waters, and they are notorious bottom feeders."
"Which is faster, hot or cold? I assume hot, I can catch a cold."
"If you hear silence back here, just reach down and pull me back in."
At the halfway point, we stopped and had lunch on the rocks.
Later on, we came upon a really tall rock on one side of the river, and the guide said that anyone willing could go up and jump off. So of course I did that.
"Always swim on your belly. We have catfish in these waters, and they are notorious bottom feeders."
"Which is faster, hot or cold? I assume hot, I can catch a cold."
"If you hear silence back here, just reach down and pull me back in."
At the halfway point, we stopped and had lunch on the rocks.
Later on, we came upon a really tall rock on one side of the river, and the guide said that anyone willing could go up and jump off. So of course I did that.
After we were through rafting, we went back to the town center of Ohiopyle, and I just stayed in the bus with Marcelus. And while we're sitting there, what should come down Main Street but a car with a dog, sticking its head out the window, and hanging its arm over the side like a human!
Marcelus was kicking himself for not having his phone.
When we got back to the campsite, I dove into my cozy tent and my comfy sleeping bag.
There's a little space between the fly of my tent and the ceiling, and it was covered with bugs. I promptly freaked out, and tried to squish them, succeeding only in making a hole in my tent. I ended up running out of there and spraying the entire thing with bug spray.
While I waited for the fumes to die down, Bennett, Amanda, and I played a game of "Throw rocks at a tree." Then he showed us this cool amphitheater in the woods. we found a couple really cool sticks, and broke stuff with them.
Later that night, we had another tin foil dinner, which turned out about as well as the first. Then, I got to show off my wizardly marshmallow-roasting skills. After that, I lit the end of a stick on fire, and applied it to the end of my big stick from before to give it a cool char-y effect.
I feel like... well, socially speaking, it was less risky on the trip than at school, so I could be a bit more, well, free.
The next day, we packed up and headed back home. I took the stick with me, and when we got home, I got it varnished and all that stuff, and now it's a really cool staff. The next day at school, people said that I was the coolest one on the trip, which was pretty nice to hear.
If one thing's for sure, this was a great trip!
If one thing's for sure, this was a great trip!