Chapter 1 - Hiking In
My plan was to hike into a mountain wilderness area I knew and camp for two weeks. I'd planned to spend my, much needed, vacation relaxing and fishing at a lake high in the middle of the area. I knew no cell phones could reach me there and that the lake had been recently stocked with trout. They did the stocking by air using water tankers like the ones used to fight forest fires. It was quite a sight. I'd been privileged to watch it once. The plane looked huge floating almost silently, just above the treetops, growing by the second. Then the release and a blob of water was floating in the air below the plane. The whole mass of water and fish hit the lake surface like one huge bomb. There was an impressive splash and the plane was gone in a roar climbing and turning away from the ridge to the south. I was surprised when no dead fish floated to the surface of the choppy water. The memory made me smile.
My pack was heavy. Even with freeze dried trail foods made for backpacking, it took a lot for a two week stay. I planned on eating a lot of trout to supplement what I carried on my back. Still I was looking forward to two weeks of getting up with the sun and going to bed with the moon shining down. Two weeks of quiet to recharge my batteries.
I was soaking up the serenity of the woods as I hiked up the trail. There were a few fluffy white clouds floating in a deep blue sky. A nice cool breeze flowed thru the trees, the only sound was the quiet whisper of the wind in the tall pine trees. The sense of being alone was wonderful.
It had taken me about an hour more than I thought to leave an itinerary for my two weeks with the Rangers at the station. That was an important part of my backpacking routine. The delay was caused by their computers being down. I almost chuckled. As a systems administrator I fully understood the quirks of computer systems. I finally got underway about ten in the morning.
Just after noon, when I was about two-thirds of the way to the lake, I stopped to eat a sandwich I'd picked up before leaving the city. I was about to hoist my pack when I thought I heard a plaintive voice calling.
I shouted, "Hello! Anyone there?"
I was greeted by silence so I tried again. "Hello!"
This time I heard a faint answer. "Help!"
I shouted, "Keep talking so I can find you" Are you above the trail or below it?"
"Below. Please help me. I can hear the creek below me."
"Keep talking. I'm getting closer"
I was a bit surprised when, finally, I was able to recognize the voice was feminine. She was hoarse but she kept talking to me. Instead of continued pleas for help she told me that her foot was injured then she started talking about what a nice warm day it was and how cold it was at night.
It didn't take long to locate her, just up the trail from where I ate there was a steep dropoff to the creek. She was down off the edge. It looked like she'd slipped and fallen about thirty feet. She was leaning against a tree and didn't look too much the worse for wear.
I carefully worked my way down to her and handed her my canteen of water. She drained the entire thing and then shivered. I asked, "How long have you been down here?"
She smiled a wan smile, "About a day and a half. I was stupid and kept walking after it got dark. I walked over the edge and did some serious damage to my foot. I managed to scoot over to this tree so I didn't fall any further. Thank you. I was so thirsty." She handed back my empty canteen.
"I'll try to get you back up to the trail and then go back for help."
She gasp, "No! I can't be found! I can't go back." She was really panicked. Tears were leaking from her eyes as she plead with me.
The only way to calm her was to agree not to take her back down to town. Once she calmed down, I offered her a handkerchief to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
She handed my handkerchief back and asked, "How are you going to get me back up to the trail? I can't climb. Every time I put any weight on my foot I almost black out."
"I'm going to put you on my back and carry you. It shouldn't be too hard then we'll figure out what we need to do to get you up to the lake. How does that sound?"
"It sounds good. Do you really think you can do it?"
I said. "Sure. Now which is your hurt foot?"
She pointed to her left foot. I noticed she had cheap tennis shoes on with no ankle support at all. Definitely not good for hiking in the woods. Looking at her foot I could see her ankle was badly swollen and had the dark black and purplish bruises that come with a bad sprain. I just hoped it wasn't broken. I checked her over for other injuries then gently got her situated on my back. I guessed she was about five foot three and weighed in at a little over a hundred pounds. It wasn't quite double what the pack I'd been carrying weighed.
I carefully worked my way back up the slope taking full advantage of small bushes or trees as hand holds. It only took a few minutes before we were sprawled on the trail catching our breath. I was thinking to myself, "
I'm really out of shape. Need to hit the gym more."
I retrieved my pack and took out some beef jerky and offered it to her.
She bit off a piece and moaned, "Oh God this tastes good."
I took my canteen and started back down the slope.
"Where are you going!" she asked. There was a panicked look on her face.
"I'm going back down to the stream to get more water. We're going to need it." I carefully worked my way down the slope to the stream and filled my canteen. I looked around for her pack but couldn't find anything. I climbed back up onto the trail wondering about the woman and how I was going to get her up to the lake.
I got back to where she was and she said, "Oh good I'm so thirsty" as she reached for the canteen.
I pulled it away from her. "It has to be purified first," I explained. I dropped a purification pill in the canteen. "It'll take at least half an hour."
