It all started when we met this guy named Steve. My brother was buying some wheels and tires from him. He owned his own construction company so you just know he makes a lot of money. He said he made 600k a year which is a lot of money. So my brother of course talked to him for a good hour, maybe two but I didn't mind at all because they were talking about stuff I liked. He showed us all of his toys like four-wheelers and snowmobiles. He even took my brother on a ride in his razor. You could tell he was a pretty cool guy. Then he was telling us about this place he's been going to since he was a little kid. It's up in hill city, mn.  The way he described the place was amazing. He said they would go every once and a while with his buddies and their family and bring their all-terrain vehicles. The place was extremely muddy. Then all of sudden he tells me and my brother that if we get an all-terrain vehicle he’ll take us up there. At that moment he said that I would be so excited if we went to hill city. 

Within a week my brother found an all-terrain vehicle on craigslist. The next day Me and him went on a two-hour drive to go pick it up. The all-terrain vehicle he got was a yellow 2016 can-am maverick 1000r thing that was pretty fast and fun. Once we got home he sent a picture to Steve and said “when are we going up north”. Steve couldn’t believe my brother went out and bought an all-terrain vehicle within a week. So we planned the trip we were going to up to hill city memorial weekend. We couldn't wait so three weeks before that weekend we went to some trails in Farmington. It was the first time we went out and rode four-wheelers. My brother had his all-terrain vehicle and I had mine. I had a crappy all-terrain vehicle but I didn't care if it was my first one. We even had to rent a trailer because we didn't have our own. Once we got to the trails I was a little nervous because I have never done this before. I had just driven in my yard or on the street. In the back of my head, I was just thinking what if I crash or flip. I said, “what's the worst that can happen”. So after just riding around for a while, I hopped in with my brother. We went in some deep water and we got all wet and it was super fun.

Three weeks later is the day that we leave for the big camping trip. It was a Friday. I was super excited and couldn't wait to get there. My parents let me skip school so that was even better. It just made my day. I had to wait for my brother to get off of work at three. Then we could go pick up the trailer, load everything up, and get on our way. Everything was going well but of course, something had to go wrong. When we picked up the trailer the lights on the trailer didn't work so we couldn't take it and we had to wait until another person dropped off a trailer. Once we got the trailer he loaded everything super quick and got on the road. It is a three-hour drive so I got to see a lot of nice views. We passed by a bunch of lakes and flatlands but it's Minnesota so what do you expect. When we got there it was like a ten-minute drive to the campsite where you enter but we had to go super slow with all the potholes. We got out of the truck and the campsite was right next to a lake and you can imagine how many bugs there were. We got there so late we didn't even get to do anything so I was a little disappointed.

Day two was the best out of the three we were out there. On day two we woke up early, ate breakfast, and went riding for the rest of the day. The trail that we went on is super muddy and everything is pretty deep. Me and my brother were the most unprepared people out there. It wasn't hot out yet so I couldn’t go on the trails in shorts and boots. I had to go in sweatpants and some boots that were just under my shine. All the water went into my boots and my socks got soaked. All I had was some sweatpants, a raincoat, and boots. I was freezing my butt off the whole day but I didn’t mind because I was having fun while I was out there. We were out from like ten to two. It was a pretty long trail full of mud deep and water. On our way back to the campsite there were some straightaways so we hopped on those and Steve would yell “try to keep up”. So of course my brother keeps up with him even his second time driving an all-terrain vehicle. Once we got back to the campsite we ate lunch and then went out to ride again. We came back around seven and had a bonfire before we did that. We had to hop in the lake and take a shower.

I learned that going up North is pretty fun, spending time outside, and being with family is all a great experience, with the bonus of getting to know myself more. I learned to pack more on trips or I will end up with not enough clothes but it was just a great experience, mentally and physically.