If this trek goes off perfectly, though—if everyone leaves a good review—we’ll be well on our way back up to four stars or more.
But I’m trying not to worry about that. All I can do at the moment is my job. Stay focused, keep everyone safe, open their eyes to all the reasons I love this place—really help them have the experience of a lifetime—and save my own big decisions for later.
Our campsite is dusky blue when we finally arrive. The sun hasn’t set yet, but it might as well have—it’s hidden behind all the trees and rocks and craggy cliffs. Won’t be long before we break out the flashlights.
Matteo and I slip easily into our old roles as soon as we get to the clearing. He loves making fire—and he’s good at it—so I don’t argue when he takes campfire duty. For once, we’re not on a wildfire ban, thanks to some healthy rains over the last few months.
Which means I’m on tent duty.
I don’t usually mind tent duty. If someone were to say,Hey Thorn, I’ll give you ten million dollars if you can set up a tent in under a minute, I’d be swimming in cash (but probably still camping out in the woods, just with nicer gear).
Today, though? Tent duty is a headache.
We stopped earlier than I’d planned due to the waning light, so this clearing isn’t the one I had in mind—and it’s not quite big enough forthe eleven of us. We can fit seven tents easily, but everywhere else is too muddy or too rocky or too close to the stream. We’ll have to consolidate to make it work.
Not helping my headache: Joshua and Zoe are back to punctuating their every conversation with a kiss, despite their tense afternoon. Did he seriously tell her we’d beglamping?
“The three of us can share,” Brittany offers, and her tennis teammates—Parker and Emma—agree. “We’re used to rooming together on the road.”
I don’t want to point out that they’ll practically be sleeping on top of each other tonight, since it’s the only configuration that makes sense without shifting one of them to a stranger’s tent (or putting Matteo and me together).
It’s more complicated with the coffee bros.
There are three of them, but we only have space for two more tents. Hunter is six foot five, the human equivalent of a giant sequoia. He needs his own tent, for obvious reasons. Trey and Silas aren’t exactlycompact, though—they’re both over six feet, so sharing would be tight at best.
“It’s just for one night?” Silas asks.
Trey peeks inside, probably wondering how on earth they’re both going to fit.
I let out a long exhale. “Our next stop has a lot more space, yeah,” I say. “But we’ll have to make up some ground tomorrow in order to get there.”
“I don’t know, man,” Trey says. “I think I’d rather set up in the mud.”
“You might have issues with stabilizing the pegs,” I say as his face falls in disappointment. “But, uh, you could try it?”
He brightens and sets off into the muddier part of the clearing.
“It doesn’t go likethat, Zoe,” Joshua says—right before their entire tent collapses in a heap.
I very much regret the fact that I told them to set up right next to me. Sadie will be on my other side, which should be mostly okay…unless she spends the whole night complaining like the last Instagram influencer who came out here.
“Wow,” I say, heading over to check out her progress. “This looks pretty good.”
Sadie beams, clearly proud of herself. “Did I do it right? I watched a lot of YouTube tutorials.”
I laugh. “Your preparation paid off.”
“Want the full tour?” she says, peeling back the flap.
“The full…Sadie, what on earth?”
I peek inside and it’s like she’s set up a miniature version of her own home. There’s a small green book in the corner beside an LED touch lamp, along with a translucent bear canister holding lip gloss and hand sanitizer and bug spray and a small package of wet wipes—lavender-scented and eco-friendly, according to the label. Her pale pink silk pajamas are folded neatly on top of a small pillow (complete with what appears to be a satin pillowcase), with a matching eye mask on top and some cashmere socks tucked underneath. And there, in the far corner, is her makeshift coffee bar.
“You know you’ll just have to tear all of this down in the morning, right?” I’ve never seen such an elaborate setup.
She shrugs. “Guess I’ll have to become an expert at packing it all up again.”
“Your back hurting yet from carrying all of that?”
