“There better be a prize when we get up there,” I said to Rio.

“Just the climb down,” he muttered underneath his breath.

We were hiking up what felt like a never ending trail when finally, we got to a fork in the path. We were absolutely clueless, and nobody in the group knew which way to go. Rio and Erik thought we should go to the right, Ben, Alex, and Mr. Feinberg thought we should go to the left, and I was too tired to add anything to the conversation.

“This, this is not an ordinary class trip,” I thought to myself, looking all around; there was no tour guide, no air conditioning, and no sign of civilization anywhere . We looked around for a little green triangle that had been hammered into the trunk of a tree, marking the foot path we were on. Nothing. It was blistering, and there was no breeze, not to mention we were all exhausted. I could feel the sweat dripping off the tip of my nose, an awful reminder of how far away the summit of Algonquin was. We decided to take a rest, sit for a while, and wait for the rest of our group to catch up. We sat down and started listening to the sounds of nature; the birds, the bugs, and… the water? There was the faint, distant sound of rushing water, not like a river, more like the sound of water falling. We decided to start walking towards the peculiar sound.

The path we were hiking on was very rocky and physically draining. The trees above our heads started to get thicker and thicker until there was no sunlight available for us to see. The only reason we kept walking on was because of the sound, the sound that kept on getting louder. The sound that was leading us through the dark. As we got closer, we could feel mist floating towards us. With every step I took, my heart started racing faster in anticipation for what was around the bend.

Suddenly, the dense, leafy canopy above our heads disappeared, exposing us to the baby-blue colored skies. The path beneath our feet stopped, and was replaced with a few rocks to lead us over the pools of water to the other side of the trail. The trees and forest in front of us disappeared, and in their place was a massive waterfall. Trying to take it all in, I looked up to the highest point of the huge boulders, to the left and the right until finally-- I found it: the trail to the top. Without thinking, I started following Erik up the path. I dropped my bag; that way I would have less weight to carry. The trail was steep, and it went under logs, over big rocks, and around fallen trees, but I didn't care, I just wanted to get there.

Slowly but surely, the trail started to get less and less steep until I could see the top of the waterfall. I climbed the last few steps and could feel the cushion of the dense layer of moss below my feet, I could hear the roar of the water hitting the rocks at the bottom, and I could see… everything. I was on the top of the waterfall.

“It’s… breathtaking,” I sighed as I tried to take in as much of the view as possible. Rio had just climbed up to the top, shortly followed by Ben. We waved to Mrs. K, who had just arrived and was sitting at the base of the waterfall with all of our classmates. We were all silent, looking around in awe; and as I was standing with my friends on the top of the waterfall, I realized I had found my prize.