What do you want the most when your body is covered with dirt and additional massive amount of mosquito bites?
The first day we arrived at the camping area was eased with some excitements. The camp took place in the Beckler River Campground in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, located northeast of Seattle. The environment was not humid or hot at all — it was extremely fresh and cool. At the time when I dropped my jacket next to my sleeping bag, I felt what I cannot normally feel at home — I am in the wild. “Why don’t we take a shower in the river?” I said. “Hell no!” The others exclaimed. “The water is freezing!”
I slowly walked out of the van. From what I remembered, I had a massive amount of mosquito bites behind my neck and next to my arms, but soon I will wash them all out with an unfamiliar shower head. “Is this school haunted?” Duong, my showering partner asked apprehensively. “No,” I replied. I rather think this is my birth place.
We started our first real hiking on the second day. I was asked to bring my water bottle and I do thank the person who forced me to do so. After we hiked for one mile, I see that I am already above the clouds, but still, the nameless bugs bothered me. They reminded me that I am not high enough to avoid all of them. In some ways, the bugs were my most diligent friends throughout the whole camping trip. At the end of the second day, I was told that I may have an early shower in a school near this area.
Although I only have minutes of showing time, I was not in a hurry at all. Even seconds of a wash were satisfying to me — and dandy as a feast. The minutes I spent in the shower room felt like days. I did not realize that a daily life shower can be this joyful and precious. I understood a new thing — it is never the same to be outdoors compared with home.
The third day I was assigned with a duty of moving a rock which weights about seven hundred pounds. My duty was simple: move the rock out of the hiking trail. After three hours, we successfully moved the rock and completely drained out our stamina. We will soon need another shower.
When I look back into this camping trip, the flies and mosquitoes fly out from my memory and the selfless shower head appears in my dream once again. Long live the shower!
