Quite an Adventure

Quite an Adventure(Hannah) Quite an adventure

"Alex, for the last time – turn the paddle the other way around!" Nate couldn't believe how anyone could have such a hard time handling a simple paddle. Even Jenny was more talented than Alex and she was a girl. “I don’t know how to do it the right way! I hate canoeing and I hate my parents for sending me here for my holidays!”, Alex shouted back at Nate and Jenny, alarmingly rocking the canoe with the sudden movement. His thick glasses were covered with small drops of water, his face sunburnt and in his eyes Jenny and Nate could clearly see his anger, fear and helplessness. Although the three of them had just known each other for three days, Nate and Jenny knew for sure that Alex wasn’t an outdoor-person at all.

Three days ago they had met at the campground in Banff – one of the best places in the world to spend parts of the long and hot summer holidays – at least if you like the great outdoors, meeting 199 other teenagers from all over Canada and don't mind the total lack of cell reception anywhere in the National Park. The last aspect is one of the main reasons why so many parents are in favour of the camp.
The three of them had been randomly put together as a team for this week – the week of the canoe-trips. The youth leaders and Park Rangers had prepared the groups for the trip – not well enough – as the three of them were about to find out. Or maybe it wasn't so much the lack of preparation but rather their lack of attention to the hour-long explanations that lead to their current dilemma.
“I knew this would happen!”, Alex complained furiously. “Shut up!”, Nate shouted. “This is all your fault! You aren’t even able to steer a canoe. Don’t be such a princess!” Alex immediately stopped crying and stared at Nate. “I still think it is a good idea to paddle until we find the main river again! And it’s not helpful when both of you argue all the time. You’re fighting like my parents. I can’t stand this!” They looked at Jenny, surprised about her sudden outbreak, and felt sorry for her. Both of them were somehow responsible for the situation. Before they had taken the wrong branch of the river, Alex and Nate had gotten into a fight about how to steer the canoe the right way. Jenny, always the peacekeeper, was trying to mediate between the two of them when they realized that the other teams were nowhere in sight. When they couldn't catch up with the others for more than an hour it had occurred to them that at some point they must have taken a wrong turn. “We should stay calm and concentrate on the rapids. I’m sure that there will be a branch that leads us back to the main river”, Jenny stated optimistically. When there was no reaction from the boys, she turned to Nate behind her and realized that his whole body was shaking and he was staring straight ahead. Alex, who was in front of her, seemed to be shaking as well. Following the direction of their stares, Jenny saw the reason why: A giant grizzly bear was standing in the middle of the river. They were headed right towards it and the boys were frozen in shock.
"Aaahh!!!" Jenny's piercing scream and hectic attempts to steer the canoe in a different direction, brought the boys back from their shock. But their efforts to change the direction were thwarted by Alex’s uncoordinated movements of the paddle and instead the canoe capsized.

One by one they got back to the surface and swam to the riverside. By the time all three were back on solid ground they could only watch their canoe floating further and further away. On the positive side, the grizzly was gone as well, probably chased away by all the screaming.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you, Alex! See what you have done! We are lost now. We don’t have a canoe, our clothes are soaking wet and I’ll die stuck with two losers in the wilderness!”, Nate shouted. Alex didn’t react to Nate’s outburst. He was completely focused on searching through his backpack while Jenny was staring at Nate. She obviously couldn't believe his outburst. “You are the most arrogant person I’ve ever met in my whole life. The only thing you are good at is canoeing. Congrats, Nate! And now we are lost in the wilderness with an idiot who can only do one thing: steer a canoe!”, Jenny shouted.
“I found it!” Alex said, unimpressed by all the shouting going on around him and unpacked a map of Banff National Park. “Let me think about it. We started our tour here: Bow River – see? According to my watch that was two hours ago. And we lost track of the others about one hour ago. I can see five branches of the river. I guess we lost the right track here. Hm... Nate, do you know how many kilometres per hour people can go in a canoe?", Alex asked. Nate was puzzled. “I don’t know. The last time I have been canoeing here we did the tour in five hours from one point to the other”, Nate explained, indicating the trip on the map. Alex pushed up his glasses and blinked. “OK, I think I roughly know where we are. Look. We started here, and we were doing about five kilometres per hour. Taking into account the speed of the canoe and....” Alex recognized that neither Jenny nor Nate were able to follow his explanations. So he decided to cut his speech short. “Basically, I'm sure we are somewhere around here.” Alex indicated a circle on the map.“Wow, you’re really smart!”, Jenny said impressed.

They briefly discussed the shortest route back to the camp and then started walking along the river. One hour later they noticed that the sun was setting and they started to feel insecure and nervous as they realised that they would have to sleep alone in the woods. Suddenly Jenny screamed. They were standing right in front of a bloody moose carcass. “Oh my God! Do you know what this means?!?” Alex and Nate just shared an uncomprehending look. “This means that a bear was here or lives somewhere around here! We’ve got to go. Run!” Alex, Jenny and Nate ran through the woods screaming and couldn’t stop until Alex stumbled and fell on the ground.
“I can’t run anymore. Please....” He was wheezing and desperately pointed to his backpack. Jenny immediately understood and searched through his bag for something that looked like an inhaler. “I can’t find it. He carried all kinds of stuff with him. Where is it?” Finally she found the inhaler and gave it to Alex, who took a deep breath. All of a sudden, Alex’s eyes turned huge and he pointed behind Nate and Jenny. He still couldn't speak. Jenny and Nate slowly turned with shivers running down their backs because they feared the appearance of another bear.
“Wow, a cabin!”, Nate shouted. “Alex you are brilliant. This was the perfect moment for you to collapse!” The three of them examined the cabin from the outside. Unfortunately, the door was locked so they couldn’t enter. When it started to get darker and darker they became extremely nervous because of all the strange noises coming from the dark woods around them. Nate then smashed one of the cabin’s small windows and removed the broken glass. “Come on! Hurry up! There's something out there!” Nate helped Jenny and Alex through the window and then climbed in after them. When they were safe inside they saw a moose emerge from between the shadows of trees. They laughed in relief and the sudden noise drove the moose away.
“OK, that was sick. We’re extremely lucky that this was a moose and not a bear or wolf!”, Jenny said with a relieved look on her face. Nate looked at her. “Yes, we are. That is why we should think about an emergency action plan in case our luck runs out”, Alex said. “I have a flashlight somewhere in my backpack, but I don’t know if it’s still working because everything got wet when we capsized.” Alex searched through his rucksack and after some time he pulled out a flashlight. “Let’s see.... Cool, it’s still working! Good quality.“ “I can’t believe it, Alex. Why are you carrying all these things for a canoe trip?“, Nate asked. “I like to be prepared for everything. I just had this weird feeling about the trip. Better safe than sorry, that’s my motto.” Jenny laughed. “I like your way of dealing with things, Alex.“ “Thanks. It’s not the first time in my life that my quirks turn out to be quite helpful.” Alex smiled at Jenny. “OK. Let’s check out the cabin”, Nate suggested, and the three of them started to explore. “Look! This could be useful.“ Nate was holding a gas lamp and matches in his hands. “Awesome”, Alex said and patted Nate’s back. They lit the lamp and continued looking for useful things. After half an hour they all wore dry clothes which they had found in a closet. Alex and Nate were wrapped up in old blankets, eating their provisions. “Hey Jenny, why don’t you join us? What are you looking for?”, Nate asked. There was no reaction from Jenny but suddenly she squeaked excitedly: “Yes, that’s exactly what I was hoping to find!” In her hands she was holding a map of Banff National Park that she had found in a drawer. “But we already have Alex’s map.” “Yes, but check this out.” Jenny proudly showed the map to Alex and Nate. It looked identical to Alex’s but there was a little red dot right in the middle. “See. This is the location of our cabin!” Alex took the map. “Jenny, you’re a smart girl”, he said and Nate nodded.
Suddenly a loud roaring interrupted their celebratory mood and made the three of them freeze. “Oh my God”, Alex whispered. “It’s a bear! It is staring through the window.“ Everyone was holding their breath. “What do you think will happen if we move?” “It will probably get aggressive“, Jenny replied equally quiet. The bear roared again and started to claw at the window frame. Jenny made a quick move towards Alex’s backpack and hastily emptied it on the floor while the bear continued trying to get inside. “Nate, catch!“ Jenny threw a spray can in Nate’s direction and thanks to his good reflexes he managed to get a hold of it. When he had a look at the spray can, his eyes widened in surprise. Nate ran towards the window and shouted: “Close your eyes!”, and sprayed. There was another furious roar and then... silence. When they opened their eyes again, the bear was gone.
“Oh boy, I can’t believe it!” Nate was shaking his head. “You even carry bear spray with you.” Alex turned beet-red. “Oh, I completely forgot about that. Yes, of course I do! We are in the wilderness after all.“ Alex turned to Jenny. “How did you know about the spray?“ “When I was looking for your asthma inhaler, I noticed it in your backpack“, Jenny responded proudly. “We have to put away our food. I guess the smell of it was the reason why the bear appeared in the first place,” Alex said. “You’re probably right”, Jenny replied and after they had put away the remaining provisions they tried to get some rest. They agreed on taking turns at keeping night watch but because of all the previous excitement nobody was able to fall asleep and so they spent most of the night talking.

Shortly after dawn, they were woken up by the sound of a helicopter. “Listen! I bet they are looking for us!”, Nate said. “Hm”, Alex sighed and picked up the map. “Even if they are looking for us, they won’t be able to find us here. There are too many trees around! We have to find a more open space”, Alex mumbled and scanned the map. Jenny and Nate could practically see the wheels in his head turning. A few minutes later Alex looked up and grinned. “OK. There’s only one option. Look. There’s Moraine Lake. It’s only ten kilometres from here. I have seen photos on the internet before and I know that there are only a few trees around the lake which leaves lots of open space for a helicopter to land. And I suggest we take this with us.” Alex took a small mirror from the wall. “We can use it to catch the pilot’s attention.” Jenny and Nate looked impressed and Jenny enthusiastically hugged Alex.
After cramming their belongings into their backpacks they left the cabin behind and trekked through the woods. Two hours later they arrived at the lake. “Wow, it’s beautiful!” Jenny gaped at her surroundings and the boys were equally impressed. They found an open space at one side of the lake and sat down on some boulders. “Alex, if they find us, you’ll be my hero”, Jenny said. “And mine, too”, Nate added. Alex turned beet-red once again. “Nobody has ever called me a hero! Usually, I’m just the nerd to everybody.”

One hour later they heard the helicopter again. The three of them jumped up and tried to locate the source of the noise. “There it is!”, Nate said. “All right. So, let’s see if the plan works“, Alex replied. He took the mirror and tried to call attention to their little group. First it looked like it wouldn’t work as the helicopter was circling away from their position. But then it turned around and came closer to their location. Jenny and Nate were waving and shouting like crazy. “I think they saw us“, Jenny squealed. And indeed. A few minutes later the helicopter landed at a safe distance. A Mountie jumped out and approached them. “There you are! Is anybody hurt?“, he asked. “No“, Jenny answered. “Ok then. You really gave everyone a fright. Your parents are on their way to the camp and the press is already there. You made it into the national news and they’ll probably want your statements. A lot of people have been looking for you. I need to call off the search immediately. Follow me. But watch out for the rotor blades!” Everybody climbed into the helicopter and soon it took off. Jenny looked at Alex. “I guess we’ll have a lot of explaining to do, my hero”, she said.