I work as a child care of

I work as a child care professional, and one of the kids I was taking care of had recently

developed a keen interest in hiking.

Eager to encourage his newfound passion, I decided to take him to Salt Fork State Park for a memorable

hiking trip.

The chosen trail for our adventure was Hosak's cave trail,

a route I was quite familiar with. It was relatively short, spanning about half a mile in total,

making it ideal for our daily hike. What drew me to this trail, aside from its manageable length,

was its popularity.

Whenever I had been on it before, it had always been bustling with people, and it felt like a safe

and well-trodden path. However, this particular summer had seen a series of severe storms that

wreaked havoc on the trail. To my surprise, it had become more complex and oddly devoid of hikers.

Nevertheless, I wasn't too concerned about the solitude since a small construction crew was

working on a bridge, albeit barely visible from the trailhead. The child was excited about the

hike, even though the entire width of the trail had been washed out,

leaving only a precarious foot-wide path with a substantial six-to-12-foot drop into a creek bed below,

strewn with rocks and fallen trees. His athleticism gave me confidence in his abilities,

and his enthusiasm for the adventure was infectious. I couldn't

bring myself to deny him this experience. We eventually reached a platform that provided a breathtaking

view of Hossack's cave. Surrounding the platform were numerous downed trees, and unfortunately,

the cave itself was closed off at this point.

Nevertheless, we had come this far, and our determination led us to maneuver around the barriers

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