“Which way should we go?” she asked her parents, contemplating the intersection of trails that presented themselves in front of them. It was indeed a perplexing question. Both trails seemed similar, and they couldn’t see any trail markers on either. They wished they had taken one of those trail maps, the ones proclaiming “Pearl Falls Trail” in large white font. Then they would know which way to walk to reach their destination: Pearl Falls.

“Let’s go with the right side,” her father replied. “It seems a little bit smoother.”

Looks, however, were deceptive. The right-hand trail was smooth at first, but it soon became rocky, full of unprecedented twists and turns like a writhing snake. Sometimes,the number of branching trails made it seem like they were walking in circles, while other times, the trail would suddenly take a sharp turn. Her parents were still trying to be cheerful, but she knew that it was all show.

“You have to admit it - we’re lost,” she stated, firm yet frustrated, as they came to the third intersection they had seen in the last five minutes. “We should turn back.”

But turning back was even more difficult than going forward. The path they had chosen had become a labyrinth, and after trying to find their way back, they were even more lost than before. They decided that it was no use trying to walk anywhere in particular, but if they took all right turns, they might actually make some progress.

“After all, all these trails have to lead somewhere,” her mother exclaimed, exasperated. 

So they started this part of the hike again with a right turn. Then another and another. Until, about half an hour later, they were still wandering aimlessly on endless paths when their hike was suddenly interrupted by water. One of their right turns suddenly brought them up short before a rushing river, far too wide and swift to cross.  They could see the shadows of people moving with a fairly straight track on the other side. The real trail was tantalizingly close, just on the other bank of the river, but it might as well have been miles away, for all they could do to reach it. Was this a hike or an endless obstacle course? she wondered, exasperated. But she swallowed her thoughts, trying to remain calm.

Looking up and down the river, they saw the shadow of a bridge right at the destination. Seeing that the trails had come to an end and wary of turning back, they decided to continue forward along the riverbank. But that proved harder than they thought. Though the trails were thin and erratic, they were at least ready-made paths cutting through the dense vegetation. On the riverbank, there were no paths, and they had to struggle through dense riverine undergrowth. Mosquitoes quickly became a problem, too, orbiting them like tiny satellites. 

“I’m starting to regret this,” she grumbled. “We’ve been walking down the river for ten minutes already and we haven’t gotten anywhere.”

“It’ll all be worth it when we get to the waterfall,” her mother replied, but she didn’t look like she believed her own words. 

After continuing on the riverbank for nearly two hours, during which the level of tension rose like a column of hot air, the end of their arduous trek came into sight. They could hear water roaring, and the bridge was no longer a phantom in the distance, but a clear, solid structure. There seemed to be fewer roots and brambles on the ground, too, but they soon encountered another obstacle. The ground was nothing but wet mud,boggy and impossible to walk across. 

“Let’s try walking in the river,” her father suggested. So they took their shoes and socks off and started wading in the rocky river that was cold as a winter day, eventually reaching the waterfall.

There they stopped, in shock. The rushing river seemed all of a sudden to have disappeared, and the waterfall was merely a muddy trickle, not the rushing white torrent that they had seen in pictures. 

Pearl Falls? she wondered. This looks more like Amber Falls. It was true—the light of the sun, tilting towards the horizon, filled the water and made it glow with a rich, honey-colored tint. They found that the river had plunged into a hole in the ground, causing the roaring they had heard earlier.

“What kind of a hike is this?!” her father angrily burst out. “As if it wasn’t enough that we encountered so many obstacles getting here, we can’t even get a decent view!”

“Calm down!” Her mother snapped back, startling everyone by her departure from her normally calm and optimistic demeanor. 

She was tempted to burst out, too, realizing her own nerves were more frayed than she had thought. But she took a couple of deep breaths, telling herself to calm down. And she did. However, she wasn’t so successful at keeping back the tears that rushed to her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. But that was a good thing, because the sight of those tears did make everyone cool down a bit.

When they looked back at the “fall”, it wasn’t even “Amber Falls” anymore, just “Mud Falls”. The sun had disappeared behind a pile of dark, baleful storm clouds that looked like an angry face frowning at them. So they turned onto the trail and went towards the parking lot.

As they made for home, they could feel oppressive humidity pressing down on their shoulders, lightning flashing like swords in the sky, and thunder rumbling like the grumbles of a newly-awakened giant, yet no rain. Not that they wanted it to rain right then, but after all, it was a drought and the land needed some rain. When they reached the end of the trail, they found that they could go no farther.

Because the gates were shut.