Page 16 - Life's Outtakes 12

mountain lions, so I was taking no

chances. None of us men expected to

run into any trouble, and we

definitely hoped we wouldn’t, but we

felt responsible for the young men in

our charge and didn’t want to take

chances.

The boys, on the other hand,

didn’t seem to think twice about it.

We had barely lifted the packs onto

our backs for the five-mile hike into

Hidden Lake before they were hiking

fast and increasing the distance

between themselves and us. They

were young, healthy, and energetic,

and we were much older, with

declining energy. Our packs were