IT WAS THE ROAD TO NOWHERE. They hadn't planned to end up there, of course. But there they were: two counselors, five campers, one bunkhouse dad, and the gaping western wilderness all around. Dusk was falling, and so were some of the campers' spirits. And a night spent lost in the woods was looking increasingly more likely.
In retrospect, counselor Jess Wood calls the situation a great opportunity to put into practice what she'd been learning all summer. "That's what I love about camp and the counseling experience," she says. "You never know what's going to happen, so you just have to be prepared."
Although Jess and her co-counselor, Katie Crocker, were as prepared as they could have been, given the circumstances, Jess isn't referring to the emergency blanket, map, compass, and the smattering of other supplies they'd toted along. She's talking about spiritual preparedness—the one provision she knew she wouldn't run out of, no matter what challenges they faced on the trail.
