The road seemed never-ending-- Twisting like a slithering snake for miles upon miles through sketchy parts of Dupo. It seemed like forever. Finally, we arrived to the correct destination, got out of our cars, and stared into the deep void of the woods. We walked into the opening of the huge forest onto the pathway-- none of us wanting to be first or last in line considering it was ten thirty at night. Our only light source: the flashlight app from our phones. Slowly creeping through woods, we heard many noises. Anywhere from dogs barking to thin branches cracking creepily in the dark. We skimmed through the trees looking for any signs of a pathway up the huge cliff to “The Plateau”. Finally, Quinten Spivey, a veteran of The Plateau, discovered the hidden, leafy, and rocky pathway to the top. Unfortunately for us, the path wasn’t straight. Once again, the upward sloped path that lead us to our location, twisted and turned like no other. The path consisted of rock walkways and steep hills. The only way up these rollercoaster-like hills is to use the tiny trees along the way as slingshots and use leverage to pull yourself up. After a series of slingshotting our way up, we finally found The Plateau. Like nothing I’ve seen before, the Plateau opened up, revealing St. Louis. A long rocky ledge that appeared over the never-ending forest we just wandered through. As we made our way along the top, we noticed many crevices in the middle of rock that led to the bottom of the woods-- A fall that would seriously injure anyone who fell. Being careful with every step, Jake Hillen, Trey Search, Quinten Spivey, Michael Barker, Chris Donovan, Nick Hamilton, and I moved to the edge of the Plateau and gazed into the night sky. The outline of St. Louis gleamed into the dark sky. The Arch looked magnificent with the lights of St. Louis as its background. Before we left, we looked back one more time, taking it all in. Finally, we began our trek back to the cars. Another problem arose: How do we get back? We took a route that, what we thought would take us back to our cars, only took us further into the dense forest. After hearing loud booms from the quarry and running frantically, we found a familiar looking broken down bridge with graffiti all over it. Following the discovery of the creepy, old bridge, we found the exit of the forest to our cars. Yet again, we were on the never-ending, snake-like road going home.