The Legend of Youngs Corner IX

PART IX
The Great Quest Begins

2001 – June

The day had arrived. It was the last week of June, one month since my birthday party, and the pact remained. However, the participants had changed. Nathan left for boot camp the week before, Will was working that night, and Nick was away. But others had joined our quest- Brian L., Brian St. P., Ben, Kevin, Joe D., Joe M., and Katie. Yes, our team was large but it wasn’t enough to make us feel any more comfortable with what we were about to do.

We gathered at Nicholas’ house around midnight. From there, we decided our rendezvous-point: Lost Valley Ski Area. It wasn’t far from my house. Just follow the road past my house, the road bends into a sharp left and down a hill. When the hill levels off, there was a road on the right with a large sign which read “Lost Valley.” Down that road, which is a long, narrow, and curvy path through the woods, is the ski resort. That was our meeting point. We were to pull into the ski area and park on the side of the narrow path. From there we would set on foot, up the steep hill, and then straight across the field along the woods to the old snowmobile path.

And so, we gathered our flashlights and set out to Lost Valley. There were about 5 cars in our caravan to the ski resort. Once there, some of us were having second thoughts; some were getting sick. Was it from fear or something else? In any case, Joe M. and Brian St. P. left our team. Now it was down to 10. We were about ready to leave when, from out of nowhere, a large truck came howling down the narrow path behind us. It pulled up and the driver, a woman, spoke to us from the window.
“Where are you all headed to?” she asked.
“Just out for a walk,” one of us replied.
“Alright. I just came from a conference at the lodge, but I won’t tell anyone about you guys,” the lady said.
“Thanks,” someone shouted.

A minor delay, but now we had to press on. Up the hill we marched.