*This is a test*

It was a fridgid winter morning in late January. The icicles droop off of the towering Douglas Firs. Pads of snow blanket the branches of the towering Doug FIrs. A light dusting of snow passed through with wilderness with gentle winds, and fluffy snowflakes. It was time for the two friends to pack up, and continue on their hike.

Luckily enough, the snow was dry, and easy to swipe it off of their gear. Unfortunately, this isn’t a happy tale. The two friends, Dalton and Beth, are en route to seek emergency support. The group of hikers were left behind to tend to one of the hikers.

Thomas slipped and fell down steep, icy terrain. It appears as though he has a broken right forearm, maybe a few ribs (due to the notion he can’t breathe in deeply), and wincing about. A couple other hikers have been left to tend to him.

This is Dalton’s first trip on a long-footed hike. He’s a leisure outdoorsman that prefers weekend adventures, but this time, he’s agreed to a 5-day hike through the rough and rugged trails of the Pacific Northwest. His biggest hike was two years ago when a few friends went camping. They decided to test their strengths in primitive camping. They already had set up camp about 3 miles into the trees, but after a couple beers amongst friends, the challenge was on!

The friends would take two items, one snack, and packed one backpack to share. It was one of the longest days of Dalton’s life.

Now, he’s on the recovery team to help Thomas.

Beth is a med student from Arizona. She spends most of her time wandering the clay pathways along the lazy, rolling river. One of her favorite places is on the hillside near the old copper mining town. It’s said that it’s one of the earth’s vortex of energy. People travel from all over to feels the rejunenting surge of the Mother Ether’s energetic power and strength. Folks have said they feel more at ease, relaxed, lighter, filled with more joy, ridden from anxiety, and many other things that those who’ve felt it, can say so.

It’s been 3 hours since Dalton and Beth have taken a break. The sweat leaks into their undershirts. With each step, the blister rubs and mulches the dead skin into the open flesh. The water is almost out.

“We’ve been travelling for hours,” gruffed Dalton, as he stops rest his foot on a nearby bolder to catch his breath. He knew that if he continued to complain and become a bother, it would waste more precious time that they don’t have. He takes a gulp of water, and passes the canteen to Beth.

“Look, the map says this way. That’s where we came from,” Beth points out their trail , “and then just go around the basin, and that’s the Ranger Station.” She says with confidensce.

At this point Dalton glared at the map with his tired eyes. He wiped the blur from his eyes, and noticed something strange.

“I think we went the wrong way! Look here, we needed to take a right at the fork. The two trails appear to overlap, and they took the wrong one.

Beth looks again, then out the mountainous horizon. “Ugh. What? I… I must’ve…” Beth thinks quickly in silence for a split second.

It was yet another unfortunate kink in their hiking adventure. If the wind filled with haste that filled the sail, at that moment, it gave out a defeating exhale. They didn’t have enough food or water. They were now stranded.

Two parties remain stranded in the middle of nowhere. The mountains grew bigger as their thoughts of survival grew thicker.

A big storm settles in over night, dumps 30 feet of snow across the horizon. It was too stormy for the search team to fly a helicopter to search from the skies from above. As quickly as the storm decicrated the picturesque mountainside, the sun was close to follow.

Anthoner morning under the beautifully bright blue sky, came with a haunting chill. Every person in the hiking group perished - frozen solid.