Our expedition of twenty five Quest student and adult leaders plus a few friends arrived at Minister Creek ready for adventure. Steve and I struggled with the steady uphill climb and the heat, stopping frequently to rest. My pack felt like it weighed more than it did for Quest because I was carrying a gallon and a half of water. It's a challenging trail, but it's worth the effort.
Twisting through the hardwood forest, the trail lead us through graceful fiddlehead ferns and fragrant mountain laurels. Huge boulders called glacial erratics left by the glacial retreat littered the hillside. Tumbled into place at odd angles, many were composed of layers of colorful quartz pebbles. Every step offered new delights; fossils, butterflies, wildflowers all in the company of good friends.
Lots of other campers were on the trail, but we were still able to claim our favored site. A swift rocky stream flowed through a pine grove at the valley floor. Previous hikers had fashioned chairs made of rocks around the fire pit and repeated the process in the creek. We dunked our steaming bodies into the cool water and then sat chilling our feet and enjoying the sights and sounds of the forest.
Dinner was a smorgasbord of dehydrated meals: Hawaiian chicken, Santa Fe chili, beef stroganoff, pizza, trifle, taco rice, pad Thai, and lots of others. We sampled bites of each dish prepared by the campers. Evening came and we made s'mores and sang around a campfire, things we never do on Quest. All around us, hundreds of fireflies glittered and glowed in the darkness. Some chose to leave the rainflies off their tents so they could watch the fireflies and the stars all night and fall asleep to the sound of creek.
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