part one

sam and i were pretty good friends. in the summer that followed what had been our 12th, and ultimately our last, year of school we took a trip to lake carlson. we wanted to hike mt. sherman. i had mentioned the idea to sam before, months prior to our adventure, while she was on holiday with her family in alaska. "the only way to start off the most epic summer ever!" i had written on plain white paper, scribbling little stick figures of the two of us atop the mountain. she came back before having the chance to write me in return. but the feeling stayed. and throughout the coming months until just recently we planned our adventure.