By Maria Dillman
“I’m going home to Houston. My mom told me she’d take me shopping and to the spa.” This was the response I got when I asked one of my friends what she was doing for Fall Break last weekend. It sounded almost heavenly compared to what I had signed myself up for.
Baylor Outdoor Adventure organizes several trips for different breaks throughout the school year to adventurous destinations such as Utah, Colorado and Arizona. The trip two of my friends and I chose to go on for Fall Break was a backpacking trip in Arkansas. Here is how they described it on the brochures: “We will backpack via the Eagle Rock Trail, the longest loop trail in Arkansas, located in the southwestern portion of the Ouachita National Forest. October is the best time of year for this hike due to the mild temperatures and Fall foliage and colors.” What it actually was: 28 miles of hiking up and down steep slopes, carrying 25 pounds of our possessions on our backs, wearing one set of clothes with no deodorant and sleeping on the ground with no pillow.
When we first started off, one of the group leaders turned to me and said, “They say it’s not an adventure until something goes wrong.” Well let’s just say our trip was full of little adventures. We made lots of wrong turns on the trail that forced us to backtrack, some people didn’t have headlamps when we scaled the uneven cliffs in the pitch black at five in the morning and sometimes we just didn’t think we could go any longer due to exhaustion. But this perseverance made us stronger. We worked together as a group to help each other accomplish the impossible. We stayed positive even when things got tough. We laughed about the little things, such as going to a five-star bathroom in the woods (good leaves to wipe with, amazing views and simultaneously “doing business” next to an animal). And we became a small little family that hiked, ate, slept and talked alongside each other for three days straight.
Even though I’m still so sore and having a hard time getting the stench out of my hair, I wouldn’t trade my fall break for anything. I got to enjoy the company of old and new friends, stand awestruck at the beauty of God’s creation, learn that some things in life are better if you work hard for them and live young, wild and free. Now that’s an adventure.
