Chapter 1
It was another hot summer day in August. My friends and I just graduated high school and we wanted to do a final trip together before we take off to college. Our friend group is something that is rare. In our friend group their are six guys and four girls. We have been going to school together ever since we could walk, and not all of us are about to go off to college and start a new life. So we all gathered together and decided to make a plan to all take a trip to hike the tallest mountain in Maine. We decided to hike Mount Katahdin. I was never one to go hiking or go camping, but I wanted to be with everyone so I sucked it up and decided to go. We left on Friday and decided to stay over in tents Friday night, then hike Katahdin Saturday morning. All ten of us packed up our suitcases, sleeping bags, food, tents, split up into two cars and made our way up North to Baxter State Park. I didn’t know what this trip was going to lead to, but I know it was going to lead us somewhere.
Chapter 2
Driving through Maine is something I always appreciated. I loved the beautiful sceneries and the cool fresh air. The drive up was the easy part. It took us about four hours but car rides with our friends are never boring. We blasted music and told stories the whole ride up. When we got their we started to set up our tents. Jake started to grill the food, while Sam started the fire. We all gathered around ate and laughed together. It is never a dull moment with friends like these. We started to talk about the hike tomorrow and how everyone was nervous to cross Knife’s Edge. Knife’s Edge is a path you have to cross right before you get to the top of the mountain. It is a straight line of thin rocks that you walk on and you have to balance yourself while walking cause their is nothing on either side of you. We have heard multiple stories about people dying on Knife’s Edge and the risk you take with walking across cause one slip and you could fall. While everyone was talking about it I was getting a little nervous inside and had a gut feeling that something wasn’t ok. The fire was winding down and everyone started to get into their tents. Before going to bed, we all agreed, that throughout the hike to check if everyone is okay and everyone was following we would yell the phrase “Hayo” as loud as we can. After we all agreed and made the pact, I got into my sleeping bag and laid down, staring at the wall of the tent all night. I knew something wasn’t right.
Chapter 3
My alarm wakes me up at 5:00am. I get up, put my athletic clothes on, my hiking sneakers, brushed my teeth, and was ready to go. We packed all of our bags with snacks, water, and first aid kits. Everyone had a little something to eat, then we started to make our way to the start of the trail. We decided to put the boys in-between each of the girls so the girls could feel safe on both sides. As we walked in a line we saw the entrees to the trail and started our hike. Dan pulled out his speaker and we plugged in one of the phones and started listening to music in the beginning. The beginning of the trail was a never ending trail. Their tends to be five parts of Hiking Katahdin. The first part is the steady incline of little rocks and just following the trails. The second part is the medium size rocks, when you start to use your body more and its like your stepping up a flight of stairs for miles. The third part was bigger rocks, they were the ones you needed to use your whole body to pull yourself up or someone to lift you to get onto one of the rocks. The fourth part was the up and down motions through the rocks. And the final part was Knife’s Edge before you get to the top. We were on the first part. We made our way on a steady incline. Talking, laughing, and enjoying the hike so far. At first I saw woods around me for the first couple of miles. We had to stop a few times so people could go to the bathroom and take a rest if needed. I then noticed the rocks becoming bigger and we were going into more of an incline than before. I knew we hit part 2.
Chapter 4
The rocks were getting bigger and I noticed myself taking bigger strides. It was like climbing actual stairs for miles on end. Then I notice I come to a big rock and I was as tall as it. Thats when we knew we hit part 3. During this part I needed the guys to lift me through half of it. I remember not being able to lift my body up on the rocks, and I had to hold on tightly that my hands started to cramp. Amanda was guiding all of us through this hike since she was our leader the whole time. She knew what ways to go and what rocks to climb and not climb. We noticed we started to get higher and higher up the mountain. We all take a break before hitting part 4. We started to notice everyone getting irritated with each other and getting under each others skins, especially the guys. We decided it was time to start part 4. We gather all our things and start to make our way. A few hours go by and everyone is getting tired and dehydrated. The rocks started to get harder and steeper. Matt started to get ahead of everyone and we kept yelling at him to slow down until we could catch up to him. Before we knew it we was already on part 5, which was Knives Edge. We all didn’t want him to cross it alone, so Andrew and Jack start moving faster so they can get to him. When they got to Matt they started arguing with each other. We all start to catch up to the three of them, and we noticed we were on part 5.
Chapter 5
As all 10 of us stand their arguing on Knives Edge, we try to calm everyone down. Everyone was hungry, dehydrated, and exhausted. Andrew and Jack started to get under Matts skin, so Matt decided to go on by himself. As he starts to move faster we tried to keep up with him. Then the worst thing that could ever happen on this trip, happened. We see Matt slip off one of the rocks and fall. My heart dropped, and 3 of the girls dropped down on their knees. It was like our whole world froze in that one minute. The guys start to climb as fast as they could towards where Matt fell. We all were in shock. Their we were, 9 of us, standing on sharp rocks, risking our lives, trying to figure out what went wrong. As we all start making our way to where Matt fell, Andrew and Jack insisted to go down and try to see where he fell. We told them we would follow them as soon as we could. Tears were rolling down our faces and the shock in our bodies were too barring to handle. We were inches away from making it to the top of the mountain, until we had to turn around and go find Matt. We all started to make our way down the mountain. It was harder to breath, and it was silent between all 9 of us. As soon as we got to the spot we started to look for Matt as much as we could. We were scared what we were going to find and what we were going to see. The biggest part of all, we found nothing. We all started to panic and we did not know what to do next. Amanda then finds something that shocked all of us. She found Matts cross necklace laying on the rock. Nothing else except that necklace. Matt wore that necklace everyday, not once has he ever took it off as long as I have known him. Everyone was confused and tears kept rolling down our eyes. The question was, what do we do now? Is he gone? What happened to him? Where does this necklace lead us?
As night started to approach us, we all sat on that one edged rock for hours, trying to process what happened and what to do. Do we leave? How do we get help? Where did he go? These were questions that were going through ours minds. Andrew finally breaks the silence, he suggest we try to make it down the mountain and call for help. None of us had any service on the mountain, so the only thing we could do was to make it down the mountain and be able to call and look for help when we get down there. And thats what we did. As we make our way down the mountain so many emotions were going through all of us. At this point it was almost pitch black out. We had to whip out of flashlights and figure out how we were going to get down. While we were climbing down the mountain, here and there each of us would yell Matts name, hoping for a response. All we heard was echoing.
Chapter 6
It took us 5 hours to get down the mountain. All of us were pacing and and out of breath. We were starving and while hiking down the mountain we ran out of water too. At this point we did not know if we could make it either. Before we hit the trail leading towards our camp sight, we all gather in a group, and pray for the best outcome. Whatever happens, we will be friends for life. My eyes start to go back to normal because at this point the sun was coming up. As we approach the camp sight, we all stopped. All of us looked at each other, then look at the bright yellow stretcher. With Matt on it, simply said to us, “Hayo.”
