The mid afternoon sunlight filtered through the trees making lazy sunbeams as I hiked along the trail. I remembered how hard it had been to convince my mom and dad to let me go on this trip on my own. They would be proud when I went off on my own and came back. I reached the campsite. I went over to the water and took out the water filter, when I pulled it out it basically disintegrated into its component pieces, I almost panicked with no water I wouldn't make it back to the trailhead. Then I remembered the iodine pills which you put in the water and the iodine kills all the germs. I looked through my backpack.  With a sinking feeling I realized that I had packed a bottle of iodine pills that was almost empty.
I could still boil water so while it was boiling I decided to go exploring. I walked for a while exploring the surrounding countryside. I thought I saw a tent at the other side of a large lake but it was too far away to see properly. The shadows were lengthening so I decided to turn back but something caught my eye. 3 vertical gashes in a tree. Bears do that to mark territory and sap was still flowing out of the gashes which meant it was very fresh at most a couple of hours ago. I turned back and went back to the campsite going faster than I had before.
It was almost nightfall and I was thinking about what to do, this is what I have so far, I can't just leave because I wouldn't make it back as long as I stay here I am fine until I run out of food. It wasn't until the fire was a glowing bed of coals that I remembered the tent I had seen at the other side of the lake. If it was a tent and not just a rock then I could probably borrow a water filter or more iodine pills from whoever was using the tent. The only problem is it's a long distance in the wrong direction so if I go that way and I don't find a tent I will certainly die, of course I don't really have a choice because if I go towards the trailhead I won't make it anyways. I stared at the three deep vertical gashes in the tree, they were still oozing sap although it was beginning to dry. My overactive imagination provided me a sudden horrifying image with the claw marks in me instead of the tree and instead of sap blood. I shuddered and moved on, it was morning and I had set out towards the tent. All of a sudden I heard a rustling in the brush, I immediately dropped to the ground just as a huge bear emerged from the brush. Luckily I was downwind so the bear couldn't smell me, but there was a very real possibility of it stepping on me as it foraged around for berries. I chanced a look up and saw that I was right next to a berry bush and that the bear was on the other side of the bush. the bear started moving around the bush to get the berries on the other side. I quickly rolled through the bush so that the bear wouldn't see me. The bear having eaten its fill ambled off. I rolled out of the bush and half walked half jogged in the approximate direction of the tent. It was night but I knew I was close to the tent then I hit something flimsy and canvaslike. I had found the tent. Inside there was a water filter, food, and bear spray which you spray into the bear's eyes and they run away, with it the bear wouldn’t bother me. I got away safely and made it back to civilization.