A Mountain Hie

It's been a long day, we managed to cover almost 25 miles on the trail we have been hiking through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Your skin glistens with a thin coating of sweat and I am drenched from end to end as always. This little box canyon we stumbled on looks perfect for our needs. A nice little stream exits from the mouth of it and a bath looks to be on the menu.

We explore a little way up into the canyon and find an old cowboy camp, there is some left over firewood, and an old grate that must have been used for cooking, I'll probably put it back to work for that purpose later, but for now, a quick dip into that stream while there is still some sunlight to keep us from freezing. We haven't seen any sign of other people for the last two days, and we decide a quick dip together will be ok. I am exhausted, but the sight of you peeling off your jean shorts and those gorgeous legs of yours does have a certain effect on me. I may not be as tired as I thought. This is our second trip up here since we discovered how much we enjoy this kind of hike together, our other trips and hobbies have their effects on our bodies and we are both lean and toned. I'm pretty sure I saw you watching when I peeled my shirt off, I love it when you look at my body with that hungry look in your eyes. I step into the stream first and I bet you could see my equipment shrink, that water is COLD! So much for a romantic swim and lovemaking session, I wash the essentials and laugh at the look on your face when you walk in knee deep. You flash me that "Kiss my ass" look of yours that I love so much and I climb out of the frigid water and go grab the makings of a fire so you will be able to dry off next to it when you are done.

I almost have the fire where I want it when you walk back to the camp site. We are only 10 yards from the stream, and I never lost sight of you the whole time you were in the water. I'll never understand how you can take being so damn cold, but you do like to have a bath at the end of the day. We have been lucky enough to find at least a small trickle coming from the side of a rock face each night for you to wash in, and you seem to be enjoying this trip as much as the other trips we have made into the wilderness together. You always say something about how it reminds you of our trips to the woods when we first started out as lovers. I spread a sleeping bag out near the flames and you stretch out naked to dry off as towels aren't essential enough to have made it into our packs. I tug on a pair of jeans, and you kinda frown because they are the same ones I just took off, but we have three more days to go and I only have one change of clothes. I hand you the pistol in the holster from your pack and tell you I'm gonna scout around a bit.

I had noticed an oddly placed dead bush over by the canyon wall that looked like it might be covering a cave or at least some stashed equipment we could make use of. As I got closer, I can tell there is a small cave, maybe enough for us to sleep in, but probably not, the treasure though is the two fifty gallon drums inside. One has been cut to make a camp stove, I doubt wee will need that, it isn't that cold up here at night yet. The other hasn't been altered, and after a bit of investigation I find why, there is a fixture on the side of the drum that has a spigot on it. I can almost TASTE the smile on your face when I give you a hot shower in a few hours. I fight the drum back to the campsite and place it almost in the fire, the question on your face is almost funny, but when I explain that we will have a hot shower after dinner, you become quite eager to help, and begin hauling water from the stream. You make 4 or 5 trips before you realize you are still naked and I'm watching you instead of cooking supper.

You give me that appraising look as though I will stop looking, but I do remember what I am supposed to be doing and I get the grate I had found earlier over the fire and start some water boiling for our oh so yummy dehydrated supper. Once that is done I use the big plastic bag the food has been in to help you haul water to the drum, you have it almost three fourths full and that is enough, I don't want it completely full. Supper time! I've tried to get you to eat a few of the things I have killed while we were hiking over the years, but you won't touch it and I quit trying, as long as we aren't starving I don't see any reason to pressure you into something you don't want. That is assuming of course that I COULD pressure you into it. By the time we have eaten and washed and stowed the cooking gear and utensils, I can see steam starting to curl off the water in the drum. Course that is deceptive because while it isn't COLD, the sun went down an hour ago and the air temperature has dropped a good bit. I go on and set up our sleeping area by the firelight, no need to use the lantern if I don't have to. You find it amusing sometimes to watch me work in the dark, but at least you finally believe that I CAN see in most anything but pitch dark.

I check the water and then get you to check to see if it is warm enough, it isn't HOT like you want, but it is a damn sight better than that stream. I get the rope from my pack and together we work the drum over by a tree with a conveniently located limb, I use a few bowline knots and with a little effort hoist the barrel to about 6 feet off the ground. You look at it doubtfully for a few moments, then shrug and shed the clothes you had put on before we ate. I fetch the soap and open the valve on the drum enough to let slightly more than a trickle out. When the water touches you, the hiss you let out is enough to get my clothes off in a BIG hurry. When I join you under the stream of hot water and begin to soap your body, you lean against me and I run the soap and my hands all over your body. When I start doing a bit more than washing you though, you step away, give me that hold on tiger look and come back to wash me. The feeling of your soapy hands sliding all over my body gives me a raging hard on in a few seconds, but you decline my attempts at getting you in a position to use it against you. Finally, you are done washing me and slip the soap back into the Ziploc it lives in. This is gonna be a long night. I can't wait...

END Part One