Hiking.

“Woah…!” Noelle exclaimed, eyes wide as she looked forward and into the distance. “Woah, woah, woah!”

“Alright, I admit defeat,” Grace said. “This IS pretty amazing.”

“See? Maybe one day you’ll learn to trust my tastes,” Sarah said.

I never doubted Sarah’s taste for beautiful vistas, but seeing it ourselves was something else.

We got there at the expected time, meaning around 9:00 am. We got out of the van after parking in an open, designated area. It was the start of the path towards the resort, marked by a small advance post after driving up a large hill. There was a small building with an office, a parking lot and a large sign with the name of the resort. What made it all interesting was that, from where we were standing, we could see the resort all the way in the distance, maybe some 15 kilometers away at the very top of another hill.

The view was lush and green and even red in some spots. To get to the resort we would have to walk a clear dirt path down the hill, go through the forest of sparse, thick trees growing in the valley, then hike all the way up to the resort again. A large river passed through the forest and the valley, and we could trace it to the larger mountain right behind the hill the resort was sitting on. The bright blue sky made it all even better.

The resort itself looked to me like a row of several large houses from this distance. Four floors if I was counting the windows correctly. After a more thorough look, I noticed they weren’t many houses, but instead a single building with different sections separated by green, triangle-shaped rooftops. At least, I could only see a single building from where I was.

The reservation was to Sarah’s name, so I went with her to the office to get everything ready. They asked us if we had come in one of their buses by car. When we told them we’d come in a van, they asked us if we would like them to take the van to the resort or if we would do it ourselves.

“...”

“Oliver, nothing’s gonna happen to your van,” Sarah told me.

“I know…” It still made me uneasy to leave it in someone else’s hands, though.

I gave a man the keys, we got our backpacks for the trip and put on our hats. We were ready.

“Oh wow, the path is surprisingly well kept,” Grace noted. I was about to say the same.

Even if the path was of dirt, there were no stones or random plant growths. It was clean and with as little dirt as a dirt path could have. If it rained it wouldn’t be a huge, muddy mess.

There were also stairways made of stone as we made our way down, complete with railings made of wood, or rather thick tree branches. Very artisanal.

As we reached the bottom of the hill, we saw a small stream right next to the path flowing past us. The water looked extremely clear. Curious, Noelle got close to the stream and kneeled down. I went with her and gently grabbed her backpack, just to pull her back in case she were to slip and fall.

Noelle dipped her hand and quickly took it out with a gasp. “Gah! It’s so cold!”

“It’s mountain water, of course it’s cold,” Sarah told her.

“But isn’t this a hot spring resort?” Mila asked.

“Yeah, but not natural hot springs. The water is from the mountains but they heat the water with machines. There aren’t any natural hot springs around here.”

“Ah. That makes sense but it’s kind of a bummer,” Mila said.

Sarah nodded. “Yeah, a bit. But at least it means they have various pools with the water in different temperatures, so you can pick whichever you like best.”

“Oh, that does sound nice,” Diana said. “I’m not great with high temperatures.”

On top of the well defined roads, there were even short stone bridges to easily cross the spots where the streams met the road. For a while we walked with flowing water to our left and grass as tall as we were to our right, following a curved path that revealed a gift shop of all things behind the corner. A gift shop and coffee shop.

“Boy, they are ready,” Grace said.

I nodded. “Make a high-profile resort, make the hike to it an attraction and put coffee shops and gift shops along the way. I’m honestly surprised Luke doesn’t own this.”

“I think I heard him say he’s not much into rustic aesthetics,” Diana said.

“Should we stop by?” Alice asked. “We’ve only been walking for 40 minutes, but…”

“Let’s keep going,” Grace said. “The more stops we make, the more time it’ll take to get to the resort.”

I heard Mila whispering to Noelle. “She says that now, but she’ll be asking us to stop every ten minutes before long.”

Likely, but not that I would blame her. With only 40 minutes into our hike, we still had over 4 hours to go.

We weren’t the only ones using the road, of course. More people were taking the long way with us. Some walked faster than we did, some we left behind.

“Mostly older people,” Alice noted. “Haven’t seen anyone our age.”

“A few around mine, at least,” Diana said. “But then again, maybe some hot springs in the middle of the mountains, so far from the city, aren't exactly the most exciting summer vacation spot for younger folks.”

“What’s Thomas doing now, Oliver?” Noelle asked me.

“He was going to the beach with Maria this weekend. Quite literally the opposite way we came.”

We continued walking and eventually entered the forest. Like we’d seen from afar, it was mostly made up of thick trees, yet with a lot of space between one another. The clean road became messier with old leaves and branches, and the neat tall grass we’d seen before was replaced by thick, thorny foliage that practically made a wall to our right. The stream, however, became a larger river as the stream we were following joined the larger current. Although I suppose it’s actually more like that little stream had separated from the larger current.

It was louder now, and the strong current made the water look white instead of clear. It wasn’t that much further that we encountered one of the waterfalls Sarah had mentioned. it wasn’t a huge leap, but it had to be at least some 15 meters long.

“Oooh, I like this!” Noelle said, giggling and bouncing. “Mila, take a picture of me in front of it?”

“Sure. Let’s also take one all together.”

“That sound good, but first…” Diana sighed and looked around. “Would you mind giving me a few minutes? I… have a bit of an emergency.”

“Oh.” Alice winced and whispered. “Bathroom time?”

Diana nodded. “I was hoping we’d see another coffee shop or gift shop soon, but no a one in sight. I… I have to go. Oliver, would you mind keeping watch for me?”

“Yeah, of course.”

I followed Diana past some of the thick foliage, away from the main road and behind some more trees. And thus, without realizing it, I had fallen into another trap.

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