So Zack had set out striding along the path through the shady woods taking deep breaths of the pine-scented air his thumbs hooked through the straps of his backpack his legs feeling strong and sure His whole life he’d dreamed of walking through the woods all on his own like this And the hike was great just the way he’d always imagined hiking would be up until now Now there was trouble dead ahead The big path split into two smaller trails But the map showed the path dividing into three trails and it was the trail on the far left the one that didn’t seem to exist in real life that led to Birch Cabin Knowing how to read a map was important Zack knew that from studying his favorite book in the entire universe The Outdoor Adventure Guide The Guide told almost everything there was to know about the great outdoors how to build a shelter or start a fire how to use a compass or navigate by the stars 10
Zack could feel the book hard and flat against his back inside his backpack Zack had read The Outdoor Adventure Guide from cover to cover over and over He practically had the chapter on map reading memorized But this was his first experience actually using a map to get where he wanted to go It was harder than it looked particularly now that Zack was deep in the woods and especially when the map didn’t match the path I guess this is the challenging part of the map challenge Zack thought Zack could feel his hands starting to sweat He wasn’t scared but he couldn’t help thinking he must have gone wrong somewhere Stay calm he told himself He knew what the Guide said about getting scared A little scare isn’t always a bad thing It can help you pay attention It can keep you on your toes But it’s hard to think straight when you panic If you get too scared you can put yourself in danger So remember It’s okay to just stop walking 11
12
Well Zack thought I can handle the stop part It’s which way to go that’s the problem At least there were no distractions none of the city sounds that Zack was used to No horns honking or sirens blaring No radios turned up too loud Instead the wind made a kind of restless sound moving through the tree branches way up high and every once in a while a bird called Oof Wham Something hit Zack in the back Hard Aaah Zack cried He spun around to see a kid backing up so fast that Zack was afraid the guy would trip over his own feet and fall over backward Oh man the kid said I ran smack into you didn’t I Sorry sorry I didn’t watch where I was going I mean I did But I was trying to look at my compass and the map and the path at the same time and I 13
