4th December

"This is the lake." Jake pointed at a big white plateau that filled an area surrounded with trees and started just a few steps away from the path they stood on.

None of the kids was looking at the ice. All eyes were on Jake, like it had been for the whole tour. Jen even forgot to feel nervous around the other kids and was not the center of attention for once.

She did not even notice it, because like the others, she only watched Jake, who explained them that they were not allowed to go on the lake without him or Sophie.

Jake and Sophie had led the kids around the camp and showed them everything and explained the rules. Jen did not completely remember all, because, like the other kids, she mostly just looked at Jake and felt this magical sensation again, that she noticed the last evening.

It was safe to say, that the kids were not used to Jake enough to stop aweing him all the time and Sophie giggled a lot when her gaze went over the horde of cubs. She seemed to know Jake for a while already and she did not treat him any different than other people.

The camp was quite big but there were many areas where they were not allowed to go or where one of the adults needed to be with them.

The frozen lake, that they were shown right now, was one of these places. The short glance, that Jen spared it, made it look more like a big flat plain covered by snow, but Jake explained that there was a thick layer ice under all this snow.

Even though the ice was thick enough to carry all of them, it was very slippery and because of some warm current caused by a river that entered the lake, the ice could be thin at some areas, which was why the cubs were forbidden to go on the ice by themselves. Jake and Sophie however promised, that they would play on the ice regularly.

They also already had seen the river. It was more like a small stream of one meter, that curled through the forest.

The river started midway of a small mountain that was still in the camp perimeters. The water in the well, that exited the rock into a small basin that was like a big bathtub, was so warm, that the snow around this basin melted and the water sent steam into the cold air, making it look like a steam machine and casting a thin fog around the area.

The river then flew down the sides of the mountain, still vaping, and finally entered the river under a layer of ice.

Sophie explained the cubs that it was possible to bath in the basin, but the mountain was off limits for them to go alone, because the path was narrow and dangerous, especially at nights.

They also warned them to play in the warm river water, that went through the forest near the houses, because if their clothes got wet, the cold weather would make them ill in no time.

On the other side of the camp, there was a steep cliff and there were 3 fences before this area. Both caretakers reminded the cubs multiple times to stay away from this cliff. It was very dangerous, even though it only went down 10 meters.

Jen realized just at the moment they passed the first two fences to show them the cliff and how dangerous the descent down into a bigger half frozen river, that was apparently the stream that exited the lake to rush further down, that the camp was at a plateau and not in a valley like she first thought.

"Don't ever cross one of the fences alone and do not even get close to the last fence." Jake reminded them. Apparently in the past someone fell down the cliff into the stream and hit his head. This person died in the hospital later.

The small hill right behind the housings was the highest point, except the mountain with the well, in the camp. It even went over the treetops and at the top of this hill, which Sophie called "Sled Hill", it was the only time Jen took her eyes away from Jake for longer than a minute to look at the view.

The forest around them went on for miles and from the hill, Jen could see the decline that started half a mile away from the camp. The valley was hidden behind the treetops and she only saw, in the distance as a shadow and only because the day was sunny and nothing hindered her view, other mountains many miles away raising behind the treetops again.

To the other side, the trees climbed up to the mountains. The area of the hot well was clearly visible by the steam that was clearly visible between the trees like a cloud that was captures by the plants and held at the side of the mountain.

The rocky giant went on for miles and Jen had to put her head into the neck to actually see the dark top of the mountain against the blue sky. The camp apparently was half way up towards the mountain side at the edge of a valley.

While the kids looked around, Sophia explained, that this whole valley was actually a crater of a super Vulcan that went inactive hundreds of years ago. Because the Vulcan still had some fire in himself, at some areas around the mountains there were hot wells, coming up from miles beyond the ground, where the warmth of the Vulcan still had effect, and coming to the daylight at multiple positions.

"Don't worry. The geologists checked the Vulcan and it has no danger of erupting. The water is only warm, because it comes from very deep underground rivers and lakes." Sophie explained.

Jen found it interesting to imagine that the water they had seen had already traveled a very long way and came from the center of the earth. This was at least the imagination of Jen, even though it was far from the truth.

The caretakers led them through the forest trail, that went around the camp. It had signs every few hundred meters with different gymnastic or athletic tasks like crunches or sprint and so on.

Jake explained, that this was a fitness trial that people used in summer and that it went on for miles even outside the camps direct neighborhood. In summer, apparently, the camp was used as a normal hotel to allow people to stay here for a few days or weeks and enjoy the wild nature.

The street, that led to the camp and went through the forest towards the valley, was off limits for the kids. Not because it was dangerous, very few people came here, especially during the winter, but because the camp ended with the parking lot at the entrance and they did not want the cubs to get lost in the forest. Sophie explained, that it was miles until the next city came in this direction, so walking the street was not a very pleasant thing to do, even more because it did not go straight.

The camp had a big area with forest around it, where the kids could play by themselves as well, when they had free time.

Jake and Sophie showed them, that every hundred meter there were boxes at the trees. "These are emergency stations." Said Sophie and opened one of the boxes. "They do have first aid kits and a speakerphone. If something happens and you need to get help, just press the big red button here and it will connect to us." She waived with a mobile radio in her hand.

"And do not cross the fences inside the forest. They are marking the end of the camp." She reminded them and showed a low fence close to the tree with the box they currently surrounded.

Fence was a big of an exaggeration in Jen's opinion. It wasn't even one meter high and where it crossed the path, which was part of the forest trail, it had a gate to exit. It also was not having a fence under the log, that build the upper edge, but it looked more like a bench that went on for miles.

"The fence is just a marker to know where the safe area around the camp ends." Jake explained. "It was built to ensure, that the feral animals could cross through it without problem. Just remember to not cross the fence without our approval, okay?"

The camp itself had much more houses than just the ones the cubs lived in.

There were in total twenty houses of the same size, including the ones that Sophie and Jake occupied, that stood around the path that took a round through the camp.

In the middle, circled by the houses, there was the big house with the dining room, the kitchen and a gathering area.

There were two other bigger buildings, with one being right between the house of the girls and the houses of the boys, which housed the showers, a bath and the toilets.

Apparently, the houses where they slept in had no own toilets or bath and so they would have to leave the house to relieve themselves. There were two entrances to the buildings, one for boys and one for girls.

On the one side of the camp, behind the houses, was a big square. Jake called it the "Stadium" but it was more like a flat area surrounded by a fence. Jake explained that this was for outdoor sports and his explanation of it being designed to host all kind of sports from soccer and football to baseball, explained why the fences were over five meter and surrounded the whole area.

Two lonely football goals were at both sides of the field, but the soccer goals were apparently stored away at a big house at the other side of the field.

"We might get some balls from the storage room to play." Jake mentioned and pointed at the house at the other side. "But this is mostly used in summer."

The other side of the camp hosted a big gym. It was the largest building in the camp and build mostly for sport in winter.

The cubs were led through the gym, shown the big hall where they could play volleyball or just play catch, and the locker rooms. The gym was also the only place, that had inbuild toilets and showers, so one did not have to go to the bathing houses for that.

Jen just noticed how big the whole camp was, when the sun already started to set red at over the edge of the mountains, when they returned from the big lake.

Even though there was not that much, they took the whole day just learning about the camps facilities. Especially the forest around the camp was so big, that if they wanted to explore it, they had to take several days, even without crossing the fences.

All the cubs were quite exhausted from running around the whole day and after the dinner, they all went to bed.

Jen heard the screaming of a few of the boys from the outside while she lay down in her bed.

"The camp is bigger than I thought!" said Ginny and Jen heard one of the other girls answering her, but she could not understand the words. Her eyes already had closed by themselves and she drifted off to sleep.