Mystery in Rocky Mountain National Park

Wes is Jake’s cousin and one of the three kids participating in Jake’s grandpa’s scavenger hunt. Wes and his parents come along for the two-month journey, along with Jake’s and Amber’s families. Wes is directly characterized by his red hair and brown skin, as well as the fact that he has a Black mother and a father with bright red hair and light skin. Jake admires the family’s diversity and Wes’s unique appearance, which often gets glances from passersby. Wes is academically successful and athletic, making him an essential part of the team. He solves Jake’s Morse code clue before he even knows why he is doing so, simply because it is natural for Wes to want to solve problems. Like Jake, he is a practical thinker but easily prone to excitement.

Wes enthusiastically dives into the scavenger hunt, speculating about the object inside the locked box and always looking forward to solving the next clue. Wes fears heights and small spaces, but he fights through this fear at Twin Owls with the help of Jake and Amber. The moment parallels Abe’s own experience of climbing and overcoming his fear. This shift makes Wes a dynamic character. At the same time, by helping Wes through his hesitation, Amber and Jake demonstrate how The Power of Sharing Responsibility extends to emotional support as well. Like Jake and Amber, Wes is Finding Freedom Through Adventure and discovering who he is.

Amber Catalina is a key secondary character and a member of the trio that undertakes the great scavenger hunt plotted out for Jake. Amber and her parents are family friends of Jake’s family, and they come along for the two-month excursion across the national parks. Amber is directly characterized by her Argentinian heritage, her dark skin, and the purple streak in her hair, and Jake is clearly intimidated by her when he first sees her. They last met years ago, and Amber has grown since then. Of the three children, Amber is the most practical and level-headed. She is the voice of reason and keeps Jake in check as he becomes deeply invested in the scavenger hunt. Amber is also helpful and practical, and she has a keen eye that allows her to find things that the boys often miss. Amber is the one who spots the numbers on the rocks at the Apache Fort, and she is also the one who keeps track of time. Like Wes and Jake, Amber is an adolescent who is just discovering her independence while Finding Freedom Through Adventure. She hopes to prove she is capable, mature, and trustworthy.

Abe is a foundational character in the story whose life is separate but directly connected to the events and people of the present. He is Jake’s great-great-grandpa, and in 1880, he was just a boy who saw two men burying a valuable object. Abe is indirectly characterized through his decision to take the spearhead rather than leaving it behind and by the period in which he lives. He escapes being captured and travels to a nearby ranch, where he is taken in and given lodging in exchange for labor. It is there that Abe learns the ways of the world and about his own potential as a human being: “Abner rode with the ease of a man who knew exactly who he was and where he was going. And Abe wondered if he stayed long enough, if he too might become such a man” (122).

At one point, Abe has to follow Abner up the side of the steep Longs Peak mountain to plot a trail, and doing so pushes him to his limits. Although terrified, he fights through his fear, and reaching the summit is an experience unlike any other. Abe decides that the sense of exploration, discovery, and power is the true meaning of Freedom. Abe created a scrapbook of his early experiences in Rocky Mountain National Park (before it was named as such) and hid the spearhead and his journal in the park. He left his scrapbook for Jake’s grandpa, who searched for Abe’s journal for years but could not find it. Jake was the one who discovered the journal and became the new Keeper of the spearhead, thus Connecting to One’s Family Legacy through these important, symbolic objects.