I had always loved mountains. I didn’t really know why I did, but growing up the only thing I ever wanted was to feel the cold breeze of a mountain valley, to drink from the freshwater streams and to enjoy the freshness of untreated water. Quite frankly I wanted to just leave and go live alone on some mountain peak In the far north(where most of them are still unexplored by tourists), sadly I couldn’t.

I still had my family and friends, and no matter what I tried they never could get them to agree about him living on a mountain. Social bastards.

Plus to live out In the wilderness I probably needed to buy the actual land and I didn’t have nearly enough money for that.

No, I couldn’t go and fulfill my dream… permanently that Is, when my third decennial birthday came around I had asked(the grownup equivalent of wished) for as much hiking equipment and dry food a man could carry, anything else needed for a extended trip was bought with the rest of my life savings. And so here I am, sitting In a helicopter whose pilot I managed to convince(heavily overpay) to fly me to the base of Mt. ExToSe with only my trusty backpack on me (and a small plastic bag with the remains of a sandwich I bought for lunch).

And finally after almost three hours of flying, I had arrived. The chopper set down In a clearing on a small landing platform. Similar platforms dotted the entirety of Ecoputon, they were emergency landing stations and were used by medical helicopters In case of… well, emergencies.

“I’ll see you again In two weeks then”

The pilot(Jeff I think) said as I waited for the rotors to slow down enough for me to get off.

“Yup, two weeks. Just don’t forget me, wouldn’t want to get stuck here.”

Please forget to pick me up.

“HA, with the money your paying how could I forget you Mr. Auden! Its safe to get off now, remember to get clear before I take off!”

Drats, I knew I paid too much…

“Bye”

I say as I quickly get off and go down Into the forest surrounding the platform. Once I reach a safe distance I turn around and watch as the helicopter takes off and heads back towards society… well lets get going!

I take out a map from my backpack and start heading up the mountain.

Finally! After I reached far enough past the tree line that my view of the valley wasn't blocked I started looking for a camping spot… except Its a stony ass mountain and I couldn’t find a good enough moss patch that will allow me to pitch a tent, THREE AND A HALF HOURS until my dumb ass remembers I already marked potential camping spots on the map beforehand so I wouldn’t have to go looking…

Anyways the spot I FOUND was wonderful, It was situated next to one of the cliffs In the mountain with a waterfall leading into a gentle stream towards the setting sun. The place I planned to pitch the tent on on a patch of moss around a 70 paces north from the stream on a decently sized patch of moss. I even found a stone that I could use as a chair!

Furthermore the entire place had THE best view of the nearby valley with a backdrop of snow capped mountains, the place was perfect.

Well better get started then, the sun was almost setting and I wanted to have time to go look at the moon(or something) tonight. The tent was easy to set up, after all I had been preparing for this day for ages and had already done thousands of times (187 times to be exact), and even the dry food tasted better than I remember. Must have been the mountain water.

Thinking about possible effects that mountain water has on food I walk to the nice chair-stone and sit down. Life really Is amazing huh…

I look up at the setting sun and… where's the sun? I check my clock, the sun Is supposed to be visible for another half hour Isn’t It? Oh well I probably misread about the setting times at home, should I climb up the mountain to see the moon rise? Nah… too much effort, I’ll watch It some other day. After all I got all the time In the world.

I watch the “sunset” for another minute before heading to sleep. Tomorrow Is gonna be great, I just know It!