This past week I went on my first adult-less trip. I mean, technically, 18 legally constitutes an adult, but socially, we all know 18-year-old boys aren’t exactly mature.

My friends John and Andrew joined me on a 4-day camping trip to Allegany State Park in New York. We had all be camping before, whether that be boy scouts or with family, so we weren’t overly concerned with difficulty. If anything, I was nervous about starting a fire (which we did successfully do every night). On the other hand, John was scared of anything that moved but luckily had confidence in his PB & J sandwiches on smushed hot dog buns. They were basically flatbread by the time he opened his pack.

If the context includes only those few facts, the trip would appear to have gone smoothly, but that’s not quite the case. On the way there, the bike rack on the car was angled sharply down, leaving our front tires just inches from the road. Any bump would bounce the bikes high into the air as the tires caught the ground. After two pull-overs, we took apart the bikes and continued with a more relieving yet irritating rattle of the spokes now in the trunk.

That same night, as I was about to undress in the tent, John hollers like a chimp and jumps down the hill that connects our campsite to the adjacent one.

“There’s a bear! There’s a bear!” he emphasized through the tent screen, eyes shot open with terror.

Deep shouts ensued along with battering pans saying, “Get out of here, bear! Get out!"

Headlights blinded me briefly, my sight soon reappearing to see two park rangers in full SWAT gear with air-soft guns running towards what must’ve been the bear. The lights moved further into the forest, shots firing to the increasingly distant successive “Get! Get!”s of the rangers. I think we were safe for now.

To me, the black bear sighting was a wonderful lead to my forest initiation but left John paranoid through mostly sleepless nights and Andrew doing everything he can to get far too close to any future bears.

The next day, the raised voices were no longer in fear of fuzzy teddys but instead manifested within the group. Three angsty teenagers relying on each other to eat is not necessarily the most intellectual decision. Still, sporadic adventures must have that element of lack of thought to function, right? All of our bickering did resolve with time and some intervention, thankfully. Still, I felt the need to include sharing the imperfections of the trip to not wrongfully romanticize the entire experience.

We eventually suffered through the Allegany slopes on our bikes and made it to Coon Road: a dirt road that led to the New York and Pennsylvanian border about two miles down. Of course, as a Johnny Harris fan, I had to cross this essentially artificial line. The walk was beautiful and sunny, with occasional twinkles of rain ever so slightly meeting my body. Unfortunately, there was no Pennsylvanian declaration, and here I thought states had an excessive amount of pride. Instead, we took a picture with a New York sign to suffice.

Next, Andrew and I embarked on our next hike with a twist. We went barefoot. The benefits of barefoot walking, commonly known as “Earthing,” is actually quite interesting so I encourage looking into Earthing yourself. I love feeling the grounding sensation that comes with barefoot walking because I more fully connect myself with the Earth and my more immediate environment. I felt everything. The fluffy porous mud and angular rocks combine the much-desired pleasure with the much-needed pain to build tolerance and acceptance to all facets of life.

Later that afternoon, Andrew and I relaxed in the tent while John took a much-needed shower (just kidding). Suddenly we heard the familiar “Get! Get!” of last night and immediately went to the tent's screen. The rangers were hustling through the trees and out from the barriers of tree trunks appeared a small black bear. The bear seemed to be in no rush, casually walking onto the road. Andrew and I stumbled around the tent trying to find a camera, managing only to take a severely underexposed picture before the bear went into a trot into the bordering mountains. The rangers soon followed. The only things left were two ear-to-ear smiles on Andrew’s and my own face.

On the third day, we returned to the trails and climbed over 1,000 feet. The trail was named “Bear Caves,” inspired by the enormous boulders that spotted the end of the hike and at points conjoined to create possible shelters for the local bears. The boulders were gigantic, reaching heights halfway up the pine trees. There was even a Lion King pride rock that John promptly launched off over 10 feet across to a higher boulder. The feat was quite astounding, considering the fear of a 15 feet drop that often stops many of us from taking such a leap of faith.

We then visited the Allegany museum, which held so much history about the park and was well worth the visit.

The day soon came to a close, and with it, our last full day in Allegany. Looking back, I am beyond grateful for the world I was able to explore and those I was able to explore it with.

Stay tuned for a video of my trip to Allegany!