Outdoor Essentials

The sun had long since blazed out of sight to the west and the reflective strips zipped past hypnotically. I turned up the volume on my playlist to keep myself alert and squinted against the glare as a car whizzed by going the other way down the interstate. I had several more hours to go and I was going to need a coffee in the next town if I wanted to arrive in one piece after a long day in the office.

The music was interrupted by an incoming call. I thumbed the key to take the call through the car's sound system.

"Hello?"

"Hey there, have you left work yet?"

"Already a few hours on the road."

"Wow, so you're actually going to make it up this time?" I could imagine my dad's faux-astonished face on the other end of the phone.

"I told you I would."

"That's true, but you've said that before."

"It hasn't been that long since I saw you guys."

"You haven't been up to the cabin in years, though. We always have to come to see you."

"Well, I'm on the way now. Give me a break, Dad."

"Ok, ok. We're just glad you could get away. What time do you think you'll get in?"

"Late. Leave the door open and I'll tip-toe in by myself. There's no reason for you to wait up for me."

"I wasn't gonna anyway," he joked.

"Gee, thanks, Dad."

"I'm old. I need my beauty sleep. Are you bringing anyone with you?"

"Who would I bring?"

"I don't know. Maybe you met someone."

"Nope. Just me, your disappointment of a son," I said. Dad laughed.

"You know we're proud of you. We just worry you're working too hard. There's more to life. At your age, you should be having some fun and meeting people. And visiting your parents." The last he added with comedic emphasis.

I sighed. "Thanks, Dad. But it's not that simple."

"All right, all right. I'll drop it. We're just happy you're coming to visit for the long weekend. Really. See you in the morning!"

"Love you, Dad."

"Love you."

Despite making it to the cabin very late, I was the first one awake the next day. I was too used to rising early to get into the office. With the first grey glow showing through the window, I got up, padded up to the kitchen, and made a pot of coffee.

Looking out the windows overlooking the lake, I noticed the water and the nearshore were blanketed in fog. The pine trees that grew next to the shore were shrouded in the mist. I walked back downstairs, put on a fleece against the morning chill, and slipped out the back door to sip my hot coffee on the dock.

As I walked down the creaking planks, I noticed someone's indistinct outline on the end of the dock next door. Although the neighboring cabin was not visible through the trees, the lake shore curved sharply so that the end of the dock was very close to ours. I sighed in annoyance, as I had been hoping to enjoy a quiet moment.

The phantom in the fog resolved into the form of a young woman, probably also in her early thirties. Like me, she looked like she had just rolled out of bed and wandered out to enjoy the fog on the lake. She heard me coming and turned in my direction. I guessed the reason for the scowl on her face and resolved to be polite.

Wordlessly, I greeted her by raising my coffee cup in a salute. The cross look on her face changed to a polite smile as she apparently remembered her manners too.

"Morning," she said.

"Morning. Nice moment for a cup of coffee by the water."

"Ugh, are you trying to torture me?"

"Pardon?"

"There's no coffee in the cabin. My folks don't drink it and I forgot to pick some up on the way down."

"Would you like a cup?" I asked. She hesitated, but I could see the way she was eyeing my drink.

"Sure. If you don't mind." She shrugged. "Thanks!" Her polite smile seemed to be more genuine now.

"Your folks? Did they buy the place from Tom and Cathy?" I had a recollection of the older childless couple who used to own that property.

"I guess so. I don't know who was in it before. It's been two years since my family's owned it." I was sure my mom must have mentioned new neighbors at some point, but I couldn't recall.

I walked back to the house, poured her a large cup of coffee, and then skirted the lake shore to join her on the other dock.

"Thanks," she said. After taking a big sip, she let out a contented sigh. "There we go. Had to get my fix somewhere." She took another big sip before looking up from the cup. "I do love mornings on the dock."

"It's peaceful. Probably more so before I showed up."

"You're forgiven because you brought me coffee," she said. "So. You must be Matt."

"How did you know?"

"I told you. I've been coming up here for two years. I know your parents pretty well."

"Oh, okay. Well, then you have me at a disadvantage."

She offered her hand. "Aurora. Rory to most."

"Good to meet you, Rory." I shook the proffered hand.

"They talk about you a lot. I think they are very proud of you." She smiled. "Fancy Manhattan firm, right?"

"Well, do they say anything bad about me?" I asked with a grin. "If they do, it's not true."

"Only that they wished you visited more often."

I laughed out loud. "I probably could have predicted that one. Ok, that's fair." I shrugged. "Well, you know how it is."

Rory shook her head. "No. Not really."

"Oh. Uh, just, work, I guess. It's hard to get away." Rory nodded but looked unconvinced.

"What about you? I caught you saying you were coming 'down' to the cabin. I can't imagine the lake being south of anywhere. It feels like such a long drive north to me. Where from?"

"Oh, up in Maine."

"Lovely."

"It is. Although my apartment is not as nice as this." She gestured about us at the scenery that was beginning to show through the thinning mist. "This is my happy place. I come as often as I can."

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty great. We came here every summer when I was little. I actually grew up not far from here. My parents retired up here full-time when I went to college. Do your parents live here year-round?"

She shook her head. "No. They live down your way. But they spend most weekends of the summer here."

"Nice. Maine is supposed to have some great hiking. Do you get out in the woods much?"

"You could say that. I'm a professional guide."

"Woah, that's really interesting. How did you get into that?"

She smiled. "Well, the short answer is, I studied for it in college, but the reality is that I've spent about every free moment I could in the woods since I was old enough to walk." She laughed. "What about you? Are you a hiker?" she asked

"Oh, absolutely. At least, I used to go a lot."

We launched into a discussion of the best places to hike around the lake. Rory had been visiting long enough to have discovered most of the good places. I had enough memories of younger days spent in the mountains nearby that we had plenty to talk about.

When Rory asked me where I went hiking last, I was left momentarily speechless while I tried to think back. My most recent recollection was almost three years back. Rory made a sympathetic face and declared that to be the saddest thing she had ever heard.

We finished our cups of coffee as the first beams of the sun were burning away the fog. The green hills around the lake were just visible now. We walked back up the dock, said goodbye, and walked back to our respective cabins. I was already hoping I would get to see her again that weekend.

My parents were up when I walked back into the cabin. After hugs and a kiss on the cheek from my mom, we sat down to have breakfast. It was wonderful to have a chance to catch up in person. My dad and I always had a lot of laughs. Mom usually just smirked and shook her head at us. Now that I was there, they didn't give me a hard time about how long it had been since the last visit. I enjoyed the moment and cursed myself for being so busy. We took a long time over our breakfast and several pots of coffee. After we all pitched in to clean up, it was late in the morning. Dad was just showing me the drawings for their planned kitchen renovation when a scream and laughter drew my attention to the window.

I walked over to peer down toward the lake. Out on the swim platform, which was anchored several yards from the end of the dock, I could see two women and a man horsing around. They seemed to be around my age. Walking outside, I was sure one of the two women was Rory, but they looked very similar to each other.

"Oh," said my dad, as walked over and followed my gaze, "looks like the Halls' girls are up for the weekend."

"Halls?"

"Next door. You know, they bought out Tom and Cathy a few years ago. The girls are about your age. Rory and June. The guy with them is June's husband."

"Ah, I met Rory this morning by the water."

My dad broke into a grin. "Oh, yeah? We really like her. Nice girl." I nodded in agreement.

"She said she knew you."

"I'd say so. She's here at least a few times a month. Pretty much whenever she isn't guiding."

"I might go for a swim and say hello. Is that all right? I don't want to abandon you guys."

Dad chuckled. "By all means. We can entertain ourselves. You came up to the lake to relax and have fun, right? Don't feel obligated to spend every minute with us. It's a long weekend. Go and meet the other kids."

"Kids, Dad? I'm 32."

"You're all kids to me." He shook his fist. "Get off my lawn."

While I walked downstairs to change, he was still laughing at his joke. I was sleeping in a small bedroom off of the entertainment space in the finished basement. The cabin was built into the hillside so that the back of the basement opened to the waterfront. There was a bar a TV, a gas fireplace, and a large couch down there.

After throwing on swim trunks, I walked out the back door and down to the water. Rory spotted me as I reached the end of the dock. The three of them were battling for control of the swim platform. At that moment, Rory was in sole possession.

"Hey!" she called. She paused for a moment to wave. "Come on out. The lake is nice." Her sister used Rory's moment of distraction to attack. Rory shrieked with laughter as June pushed her off the swim platform into the water. June's moment of glory was short-lived, as her husband seized her around the middle and pitched her into the water after her sister.

Rory made hasty introductions as she and her sister set about trying to assault the platform. June's husband, who was named Vance, deftly dodged Rory's attempt to sweep his feet out from under him but was brought low by June sacrificing herself to drag him down into the water with her.

Rory was the sole ruler of the objective again, but she spent too long laughing at her sister and Vance splashing each other in the water. I pressed up onto the far side of the platform. She heard the slosh of the water as I swung my legs up and ran to defend her kingdom. She thought she could nudge me back over the side with her foot while I was still off balance, but I managed to grab her lower leg. I knew I would fall off the side as a consequence, but I hugged her leg and she had no choice but to follow me into the water. We ended up tangled in each other's limbs as we plunged under the surface. After some half-hearted further wrestling, we both popped up again laughing.

Rory was beautiful when she smiled, I thought. Her brown eyes lit up and her dimpled cheeks were red from the exercise of swimming and horsing around. Rory was very tan in the face and arms, although her body was paler and she had tan lines around her neck and shoulders. She looked fit in her conservative two-piece suit and freckles showed at her shoulders and on her nose. Her hair had been messy when I met her that morning, but now it was pulled back in a neat brunette bun.

Her sister was her identical twin, but I was struck by how different they looked. While she was also an attractive woman, and they had similar features, June's skin was fairer, having been spared the harsh treatment of long days working outside.

The battle for control of the swim platform was over and we took turns jumping into the refreshing lake water. Rory pointed out a cooler of beer on the Halls' dock and I swam to bring back four.

In chatting, I learned that June's full name was Juneau. With names like Aurora and Juneau, it wasn't hard to guess that their family had an Alaska connection. The girls confirmed that they had grown up there. They had both come east during college and their parents had moved to be closer. June and Vance got married after graduation, and that led to the whole family staying in the east instead of returning to Alaska. Though they lived several hours apart now, they were close enough to get together often.

"So, is that where you got started in the outdoors? In Alaska?" I asked Rory. "I remember you saying you have always been in love with the woods."

"Woods, water, glaciers, mountains. I'm not picky," she said with a smile. "Yeah, we were always outside as a family when we were kids. We all still enjoy it, too."

June nodded in confirmation. "That's how I met Vance, in the Mountain Club at Maybury College. We went on a trek together and the rest was history."

"The three of us were planning to hike tomorrow," said Vance.

"That's right," said Rory with a nod. "You should come with us, Matt. You were saying how it's been a while since you have been on a hike. Eight o'clock tomorrow?"

"That sounds great."

Vance and June started talking to each other about some trivial apartment issue they were dealing with, which left me to talk with Rory. June and her husband were sweet together, but I got the impression that Rory was pleased I had joined them. Otherwise, she was somewhat of a third wheel. We enjoyed the lake and a chat for another hour. I pressed Rory to tell me about some of the more interesting places she had led treks. I was pretty impressed by her outdoor credentials.

Eventually, I wandered in to see what my parents had gotten up to. I knew I owed them some more quality time, especially if I had already made plans for the next day. We spent the evening enjoyably on the back deck.

The next morning, I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before I walked over to meet Rory, June, and Vance. They were standing around Rory's Jeep and checking out the contents of their day packs. Rory smiled when she saw me walk up, but then she tilted her head in curiosity.

"Did you forget your bag?"

"No, most of my old hiking stuff's in storage, but I brought some water." I held up the big bottle I had brought along. Rory and June exchanged a look.

"Don't you usually carry the essentials when you hike?" Rory asked.

"I suppose I always used to. But it's been a while. I didn't think much about it."

Rory shrugged. "No big deal. Come one. We've got some extra gear." Soon we were in the basement of her parents' house. She found a small pack on the shelf, dug through a few bins of gear, and tossed me a headlamp, raincoat, first aid kit, and a few other things. On the way out of the house, she insisted I take a handful of energy bars and some more water.

I knew she was right. In days past, I was a stickler for this backwoods safety stuff as well, but I had sort of forgotten about it. After long enough, it's easy to forget, even if it's something important.

Rory drove the Jeep to the trailhead, where we all piled out and readied our packs. Unsurprisingly, Rory took the lead. By habit, she switched to her professional role of navigator. June and Vance brought up the rear together and I walked with Rory. We were all working up a sweat as we followed a winding, steep path up the side of a mountain. I joked as we went along that this was a better workout than my treadmill. Rory laughed and shook her head.

"I know you grew up around here, but you'd think you were a dyed-in-the-wool city kid."

I grimaced. "That hurts," I said pretending offense. Rory shrugged.

"If the shoe fits."

"What about the hiking boot? They still fit pretty well, too."

"Well, that's something at least. It's not a hopeless case, yet."

We continued climbing. June and Vance began to fall behind us. When we reached a spot where the ground to the side of the trail fell away steeply leaving a scenic view through the trees, Rory and I stopped to appreciate the view and let them catch up.

I spent several moments looking out over the rolling green mountains that stretched away below us as far as the eyes could see. It had been years since I had seen anything so beautiful. The more I thought about it, it had been at least nine months since I had even left the city. A large part of my identity was wrapped up in early memories of time spent in the wilderness and living near the mountains, but I had lost touch with that. I was remembering why I loved it. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I soaked in the view. A hawk wheeled over us and swooped down toward the lower valley and the leaves rustled in a gentle breeze.

"You look like you are having an epiphany or something," said Rory, startling me from my trance. She was standing at my side, looking at me with curiosity.

"What?"

"You just look lost in thought. Everything okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's just been a long time since I've been out here. It's almost like I forgot what it was like. If you asked me what my hobbies were, like in a stupid corporate icebreaker session or something like that, I would have said I was a hiker. This is my favorite thing to do, but I haven't been in years. I didn't even think about bringing the obvious essentials. It just didn't even occur to me."

She smiled. "Well, that's easy enough to change. Now that you've gotten a little taste again, you should stay with it. Come up to the lake again. I bet your folks wouldn't mind. I'll hike with you."

"I'd like that," I agreed, "but it's complicated." I sighed slowly.

"How so?"

"Work. I just don't have the time to get away. If I want to be a partner in my firm, I have to keep grinding. It's just how the culture is."

"Is that what you want? To be a partner?"

"Well, yeah. I'd be at the top of my field. It's what I've been working toward."

"What happens when you get there? Will you have more time then to do what you want? Go hiking or spend time with your family?"

I had to think about that for a second. "I'm not sure. I don't really think so. It comes with more responsibility, not less."

She considered that for a moment. "Will that make you happy?"

"Happy? I don't know. I haven't thought about it like that."

"You haven't thought about whether the path you are on will make you happy?"

"I don't know if it's about happiness. I'm not sure what I would call it. Ambition?"

"This is what makes me happy," she said, gesturing out at the mountains and the woods around us. June and Vance were almost caught up to us now. Rory looked down the trail to watch them come, then she looked back at me. "And family."

I nodded in agreement. "Me too, I think. The last couple of days have been the happiest I can remember in some time. It's been great to see my folks and get out here."

Rory smiled. "That's what I'm talking about." She reached over to shake me on the shoulder. "We've got to get you out of that windowless cubicle more." We turned to continue up the mountain as June and Vance rejoined us.

"Actually, I do have a nice office. The view's not bad. It's just a city and not a mountain."

She smiled and shook her head. "That is so not the point."

"It's nice to have attractive company, too," I said. Rory's head swiveled to look at me and she grinned. For a heartbeat, her booted foot was suspended in the air as she froze mid-step, but she quickly regained her self-awareness. Her cheeks showed some red through the brown tan.

"Uh, thanks," she said. There was an awkward moment of pause before she continued. "So, um, you have not mentioned. Are you, uh, seeing anyone back home?"