There is a place that is pure and clean and natural. Not like New Jersey, New York, or Philly. There is a place open and free. South Dakota. Medicine Mountain Scout Ranch, Black Hills of South Dakota.
It is so different there, unlike any other place I have ever been. The air is so clean, almost hard to breathe in at first. The land, barely touched. Beautiful forests, left and right. Thick trunks and branches. Even in the summer I saw colors of fall.
Once the bus reached our destination, girls from all over the country just stared in awe. No one that got off of the Greyhound bus has ever seen such peace and grace. It was silent for a moment. I could hear bird tones that I never heard before. There were tall, muscular looking trees, tall like skyscrapers. As I hiked up to my cabin, I saw underneath of me green, yellow, auburn leaves accompanied with pine needles and pebbles. I looked to my left to find a plain filled with sage. To my right, as I hiked up further, I started to see a glimpse of tall, wheat looking grass. I put my luggage on my temporary fourteen day bed and walked back down to the bus. The girls and I waved goodbye to our driver “Cowboy Kevin” and headed in to a small yellow building, the cafeteria. After eating I decided to take a walk with my friend to explore our temporary home. We exited the cafeteria and saw a great big plain of deep forest green grass. There was a wide sand colored dirt road in the middle. Light grey rocks of all sizes were spread out on both sides of the path. We walked down the curvy path until we met a lake. Lake Alexander. The setting was made to look like an amphitheatre. A huge bonfire pit almost touching the lake with steps naturally made and not so naturally made stone benches for us to sit on. Facing the water, we just watched.
As days went on, the girls and I noticed a pattern. It was as if we were in the Hunger Games in Catching Fire. When we all woke up at 7:00, the grass was wet with dew. A bit chilly. By around 10:00, the sun would be fully up and warmed our skin, but once it was 12:00, the sun would begin to burn. Sun lotion would need to be applied and for some, hats put on. Once it reached 2:00 clouds the size of the sea, the color of a dark gloomy day would appear out of no where. The clouds came from all sides and met in the middle of the sky like a team would meet a coach in the middle of a field. Eventually it looked like a dome. It would begin to drizzle and then boom!...pour. There was no in between. Everyone ran into the cafeteria to stay dry and I heard a girl standing near a window, “Is it snowing!?” But it was not snow. It was hail, hail the size of a penny which gradually turned to the size of tennis balls. The girl is from California, they don’t get hail in California. After mother nature had her fun, the clouds would disappear at around 4:00 to reveal the bright blue sky. Occasionally, there would be a full rainbow visible from the top of the mountain. Every couple of nights, mother nature decided to play her game once again and give us a thunderstorm. Just like clockwork.
Humans have to learn how to preserve the environment rather than hurt it because sights like these and weather like this does not happen in New Jersey, New York, or Philly. Sights, sounds, and weather like this happen in South Dakota.