Among forests of trees, and countless mountains is a highway that runs its thin stream of pavement along the dirt surface. On the interstate speeds a small vehicle carrying a trio of cousins who haven’t seen each other since they were tall enough to run their heads into the kitchen table. With the persistence of Kylie and Evans’ parents, Leigh the oldest of them all has plotted to take them on a particularly special camp trip.
Leigh particularly aspires to venture into dense thicketed mysteries near Ellensburg, Washington. This time in the car, all the way from San Diego to the Ellensburg area is actually the longest the three of them have spent time together without parental supervision. In fact, this trip is prefaced by the fact Kylie is close to graduating from high school and Leigh has volunteered to take her on this senior expedition and by the parents’ absolute insistence that the three bond more before becoming adults.
Attempts of semi-awkward conversation are made between all of them. They use what they know already of talking about their parents. Yes, mom is doing well, she recently took up gardening and dad has taken up a new hobby of being a hand radio operator. I’m so glad finally graduated, I think I want to major in psychology.
This can only go on for so long.
The extended small talk drags out to a suitable natural stop. Kylie turns her attention to the outside as they pass miles of rock and forest. She’s from the city, so she’s not sure if she’ll like camping. But she gradually finds herself captivated by the numerous seas of trees and the mountains that make them seem like waves of earth frozen in time. The idea of time brings her mind to a time when they all played together.
They had visited Yellowstone National Park and had gathered and they’re parents were helping them sort out what each rock was. They had put all our rocks in a pile and lost track of who had gathered what, but Leigh’s dad identified a small uncut diamond. And as young kids do, they fought over it. Kylie argued the rock was closer to her side so therefore she was the one who found it. But then Leigh said Kylie had picked out mostly bigger rocks so had to be his.
This fighting continued until the adults stepped in, grabbed the rock, and agreed to settle the dispute at the end of the trip. The children reluctantly agreed and continued the trip through Yellowstone. However, the dispute was never resolved. They had continued their tour of the park and the argument was mostly forgotten about, except by the children. Kylie had waited until the end of the trip to finally get back was hers. She asked her parents, her aunt, and uncle about the rock, and while they remembered both promised her that neither of them had the stone. Kylie felt a huge injustice. She was convinced that someone was lying to her and had the stone. She interrogated everyone as well as a 9-year-old could with little success. She finally gave up the endeavor as her family splits apart watching the car drive away in the opposite direction.
Unsurprisingly, Kylie does not like camping, and nor is Evan a fan either. For the first few days are Kylie is huddled up inside a tent and bounded up in more clothes than she’d ever need and encased in a sleeping bag. This is not fun. At first, she was put off by the absence of human activity and the lack of faraway structures. She is confronted with the ideas of mortality and emptiness during their hikes, and it would fill her with anxiety if the forest also wasn’t so calming. When she’s alone it quite hums on a frequency she can’t hear but feels with her skin. She might be getting used to it.
Leigh tells them that he’s searching for Mel’s Hole, an urban legend of the Pacific Northwest. In the late 90s, a man had called into a radio station to announce an amazing discovery on his property. On his property near Ellensburg, he had discovered a bottomless pit at least 80,000 feet deep from what he measured with fishing line. He had said his neighbor’s dog had died and was thrown into the hole. And that days later, the dog was seen to have been alive. He had claimed the US federal government had seized his property and had gone to drastic measures to conceal his discovery.
Leigh was on a mission to find this hole or at least something resembling it during this trip. Kylie is fascinated by this story but doesn’t believe it, especially the mystical qualities. Who cares if there are ten bottomless pits in the world that we don’t know about? What does that do for us? But she humors Leigh by continuing his fruitless pursuit.
They continue to hike for several days for several hours to Kylie’s annoyance. Finally, she tells him they should end the trip and go spend the rest of the time in Portland or Seattle. However, Leigh is driven. He believes that he will find Mel’s Hole. That he’ll uncover the truth and be applauded as a hero.
Kylie sensed this arrogance. He will not be convinced. In a form of protest, Kylie declares she will not move beyond this point. Evan, the neutral party, says he is not interested in searching for a fairytale and wants to follow the river back the way they came to at least enjoy himself. The three are at a standstill.
Hours pass and Kylie’s remains camped out in the original area of the argument. Leigh has gone his own way, as had Evan but Kylie assumes he’ll be back soon. It begins to get dark. Leigh returns, giving into Kylie’s demands but wants to keep searching in another direction for one more day. Kylie is relieved, except Evan hasn’t returned yet. If he wasn’t back now, he really needed to be back soon.
After more time and more arguing the anxiety creeps up upon them that Evan is lost. And after more heated disagreements they pack up camp to search for him. They follow the river where Evan said he would be following looking for any evidence of his existence near it. The arguments are put aside for this time.
When it is the latest that both should be up, they decide to just settle where they are and continue to search in the morning. Kylie can’t sleep. With her anger repressed at this moment, the anxiety that Evan is hurt or possibly worse makes the openness of the forest feel suffocating. When it’s morning they continue to follow the river but split off from it when they see mine to the west in the distance. But what draws them to it is not the structure itself but the bright colors of the tent that tell them it’s Evan. They rush to the location to find him about to leave.
He apologizes several times, but it’s not necessary for Kylie and Leigh’s peace of mind. He tells them that he went too far and saw the mine and wanted to see it. But it was too dark but the time he got to it and didn’t want to get lost in the dark trying to get back to them. Kylie takes in this explanation while Leigh studies the mine in awe. Kylie registers this and tells him that he still agreed to leave with them.
Leigh sighs and proceeds to gather up just a couple of agates just as a souvenir.
During their drive to Portland, Kylie is picking through the rocks Leigh picked up when she goes wide-eyed. Shocked, she slowly reaches into the bag, grabbing it to see the small diamond. She could swear that it was the diamond from their Yellowstone trip.
She gestures to the stone to Leigh and Evan asking them if they remember it. They remember the trip to Yellowstone, but they don’t remember what the rock was or looked like. Kylie asks if she can keep it. And Leigh tells her to have at it.
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