Northern_Lights_2019

12 Footprints By Jacob Swanson In 1964, the first footprints were left on the Phillippo Scout Reservation. Ten years later, in1974,my father left his first set of footprints on the grounds. He camped there for eight years, leaving his footprints all over the campgrounds. He explored most of the 450-acre campsite. He climbed the bluffs, learning the footholds and hand placements very carefully. He swam the river with his friends. He hiked every winding path and hill. He ate countless amounts of meals and spent many nights around the fire. He looked at the stars and could see clearly, away from society, away from the bustling city. But as the years went on, the campgrounds changed, the bluffs started to erode, caves just collapsed. The bluffs were no longer climbable, but something to look at, or look off of. The caves were just a memory to him. Thirty-six years after my father first came to this site, he joined me on my first campout. The footprints from his experiences in the past were washed away under all the change to the Phillippo Scout Reservation. After the forty-five-minute drive, the scouts were all anxious. They ran out from the cars and ran to the cabin before they could grab their gear. The footprints went in every direction. The snow had just stopped as we finally began to haul our gear to the cabin. The mile and a half walk seemed far at night. Maybe it was the cold air, maybe it was the number of layers I was bundled in. The animals seemed to be active that night. I watched them as they ran along the path. I heard the crunches that the deer made as they slowed down and noticed that someone was there, and then they dashed off in every direction. As they darted, I looked to the west, and I saw the giant drop. The sandstone cliffs cut the world in two, fifty feet apart from each other. As I looked out from the cliff, the entire world was in front of me. The forest stretched to the horizon, no end in sight. The river separated the forest and the ice stopped the loud rush of the waters. As I turned from the cliffs, I noticed the snow had started again. I walked to the cabin, separated from the mass of kids. As we got to the cabin, we forgot the outside world and started to focus on who got what bed, and who got to cook dinner. As the lights of the cabin illuminated the small corner of the forest, the animals continued to play, and the outside world continued. My dad pulled me aside and took me to the middle of a field. He told me to look up, and for the first time I saw the stars, and the way they truly light up the night sky. We were away from the city, secluded in our own piece of the world. The glistening snow filled the footprints from the day, so new ones could be made the next.