Stampede Trail

Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved the Adirondacks. My family has a house up there, right next to our grandparents, where we spend a number of weeks every summer. For the last five years we have stayed in our house, before that up the hill in the larger one. The houses are right outside of Keene Valley, a town of less than a thousand people, nestled in the heart of the High Peaks, the region so named because it is home to all of the tallest mountains in the park. The mountains are incredibly…

The clock struck midnight. Four of my closest friends piled into the back seat of my car and convinced me to drive them to an all-night party. Reluctantly, I slumped into the driver’s seat and began to drive. All my life, I dreaded a night like this, and tried to avoid it at all costs. After all, I loathed making decisions that made people think differently of me. Knowing the tough choice I would have to make later that night, and trying to ignore the mess of thoughts that tormented me, I turned…

Throughout the world various cultures have excelled in particular sports. However, despite this wide array of sporting cultures some athletes prove to be particularly amazing. Throughout The Sports Gene we encountered athletes like Donald Thomas, sled dog, and to an extent basketball players. However, athletes like Dan McLaughlin, Jim Ryun, and Dominican baseball players seemed to be the product of arduous practice and their environment. Both of these factors allow devoted athletes to reach…

Call of the Wild The Alaskan forests can be harsh. That is where the book Call of the Wild takes place. Call of the Wild would be a good book to try out because of a nice challenge in the writing, good life lessons being taught, and it also had relatable characters. Some people may argue that the plot is too simple, with too difficult phrasing, maybe how there are too many lessons, and not enough entertainment, and too many characters, but not all readers may think that. Call of the Wild is…

In America every year, thousands gather in Alaska, to watch the greatest dog sled race in the world. 100 mushers start at the starting line in Anchorage, Alaska, and travel thousands of miles, to the finish line is Nome, Alaska. They are put out with many challenges along the way. Frost bite, below freezing temperatures, etc. etc. But somehow they all have a goal, the goal of being an idol to someone. To show people and kids, that it’s okay to go out there, when the chances are slim of surviving…

“I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.” Abraham Lincoln Located at the end of County Line Road, near Alfalfa, Oregon, the large sign at the entrance served as a notice that I was entering the Oregon Badlands Wilderness. Exploring the wilderness areas in Central Oregon and absorbing the seclusion they offer is invigorating. Beyond the dirt parking lot at the trailhead a gravel road continued into the federally protected wilderness area. Designated…

went horseback riding at the Sugarland stable in the Smoky Mountain. The trail was beautiful. We saw a black bear. The ride was two miles long. Then when we were done, we walk around the town. We saw Ripley’s museum and we walked through it. After a while of walking we went to the Gatlinburg aquarium. After than it was late after we walked through the Gatlinburg Aquarium, we headed back to our hotel. The next day we went to trail ride at Smoky Mountain stables. Which was also very nice.…

“Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” This is what Roman poet Horace believed to be true but if this was true then Chris McCandless would have been able to go on his journey and stay alive. He ran into obstacles like starvation, malnourishment, and he got lost and he was not able to overcome these problems or bring out the talents that could have saved his life. John Krakauer wrote a book about Chris called Into the Wild. In…

When it comes to cattle and the American West, Texas has been a large part of molding it into what it is today. Cattle drives also played a large part in supplying meat to different parts of the West. Due to the driving of cattle from Texas up north or even west, many settlers were able to have things like beef in order to feed their families. The purpose of this paper, is to inform the reader about cattle drives and how they helped shape the American West. In the 19th century, cattle drives…

For the first few months things went pretty well for Chris. He tried to continue to hike along the Stampede Trail but it proved impassible. He did manage to kill a small moose, only 600 pounds. Chris desperately tried to preserve it by smoking it but he failed. When maggots start to appear he says in his journal "I now wish I had never shot the moose. One…