“Grab this piece!” Chloe says, her gloved hands gripping a slab of ice, trying to pull it out of the water. Along with Chloe and my sister, Valentina, I sit hunched over the half-frozen river, breath forming little white clouds. We were hiking through Section A of the Billy Goat Trail in Great Falls, Maryland and gotten a little sidetracked at the shore of a river that was iced over. I’d been waiting for this as soon as I walked onto the C&O Canal trail and discovered that it was frozen.
We had already climbed the rock face and scrambled the boulders that were the “most exciting” parts of the trek, but that had already left my mind as I help Chloe heave the ice at the rest of the frozen river, watching in delighted awe as it shatters into a thousand glittering shards and falls into the moving water with a melodic pliplop. The surface of the ice is cracked where the slab made contact. The ice, not thick enough to support my weight, fractures when I put my foot on it and step down. I can never predict when the ice will break, though, resulting in icy soaked shoes.
With a gleeful grin I stoop down and fish the ice from the equally cold water — just because it’s not frozen doesn’t mean it’s any warmer. One hand is not enough so I enlist the help of the other, and together, they haul the ice up out of the water. “Watch this,” I tell Chloe and Valentina, and we watch as the ice arcs over the frozen river and shatters. The sunlight reflects blindingly off the water.
“Chloe! Angelina!” Our parents call from higher up the riverbank. “It’s time to go!” I leave first with a smile on my face, waving to my friends to come with me. It’s not much longer to the end. Once we are all assembled, we finish our hike.