What Happens in the Woods

What happens in the woods, stays in the woods.

Chapter 1

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Long time reader, first time poster. All feedback is welcome!

All characters are at least 18 years old.

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2020 was a tough year. 2021 hasn't been all that much better. I can't imagine it went how anyone thought it was going to. We went from one disaster to another, one global almost-apocalypse to another. It was hard all around.

I had entirely different sets of coping mechanisms than a lot of my peers. They hunkered down, avoided crowds, did all of the things that we were supposed to do. I did those same things, but I did it in the woods. Backpacking has always been my solace, and during this crazy year, it was no different.

Backpacking is the art of figuring out what you need to survive and stuffing it into a small package. Then, you pick a direction, and start walking into the woods. Sometimes it's up over the mountains, sometimes through the woods, sometimes by a lake. When you're really stressed you might as well pick all three.

I had heard about this trail from a friend. It was up in the Sierras and according to him it was 'always deserted, and I guarantee you won't see anyone'. Which was exactly what I wanted. I rolled up to the parking lot before the sun had fully risen. Mornings weren't exactly my strong suit for anything besides backpacking or a powder day, but when I was up, it was glorious. The sun was just creeping over the mountains past Castle Peak and the parking lot was entirely empty. Which, thank fucking god, because I had had enough of people to last a while, and all I wanted to was to be alone for a bit.

I popped the trunk and started the longer-than-it-should-be process of packing my bag. Sleeping bag in. Tent in. Food, stuffed in after that. Clothes, warm weather gear, a bathing suit, all added to the bag. Overly large bottle of whiskey, check. Normally if I was backpacking I would aim for lightweight and fast, but this wasn't a long trail. It was just a quiet trail, and that was what I needed.

I eventually got packed and headed out. The sun was just cresting the rise and it was starting to warm up. The trick with backpacking is to start cold, warm up as you go, and then find a rhythm that allows you to crank out the miles. Or, at least that's what it was during some of my long hikes. I had to keep telling myself this wasn't that kind of hike.

10 miles, 4 and a half hours later, and a few new bruises later, I got to my first night's campsite. Normally I like to get to a campsite closer to dusk, but I was burned out. I just wanted to relax and read my book, drink my whiskey, and enjoy nature.

I spent a couple of minutes finding the perfect spot to pitch my tent and then got to the serious business of lounging. I found a spot to relax and just let the sun soak into my skin. My book was marvelously mediocre, I had the entire lake to myself, and I could not be happier. I cracked open the whiskey that I brought, and let the warm burn course down my throat. It was glorious.

'Hello, the lake!'

What the actual fuck. I was in the middle of nowhere, and someone was yelling at me? This was not what I signed up for at all. I looked over towards the trail head, and saw another backpacker finishing out the final couple feet of the trail to the lake. I was pissed. This was my fucking lake, or, at least, the government's lake that I was temporarily borrowing, but still. I was told I would be alone.

'Hi...', the apathy in my voice was pretty evident, but I couldn't help it. All I wanted to do was be alone, and no. No matter how far I got away, I couldn't be given a bit of peace.

I looked up to see who was crashing my peace and quiet, and almost choked on my drink. I like to think I'm not too shallow compared to the rest of the guys out there, but dear god, my new camp mate was hot. Like, much too attractive to be out in the woods. She was tall, with slender legs and auburn hair pulled back into a sweaty ponytail. She had a medium size pack, but it was packed well --- which is not a small thing, and pretty hot on its own merits --- and was by herself.

'I'm so sorry! I didn't expect anyone to be out here. My asshole friend assured me that this was one of the least traveled routes up here, and I took her word for it.'

Huh. I started to feel slightly less aggrieved. She was in the same boat as me, and I could feel that. 'No worries! It's a free world, and to be honest, I heard the same thing as you. I didn't expect to see anyone, but you're more than welcome to share the lake. It's been pretty nice here so far.'

No single person has ever taken words more seriously than her. She immediately dropped her backpack on the ground, pulled out a lightweight jacket, sun hat, a bag of snacks, and started to peel off her shoes. It looked painful. There's nothing more important than shoes if you're planning on hiking long distances.

'Umm...that looks pretty painful, have you done much hiking before? Not to be a dick about it,' I asked in a tone that I hoped bordered the line between friendly and sounding like I cared. I didn't actually want to know the answer, I just wanted to sit out there with my book and my whiskey.

'Nope, first fucking time, and sure is going to be my last.' Her response wasn't actually what I was expecting. I might be a salty bastard, but I loved the mountains, and there was a part of me that wanted everyone else to love them too.

I looked over at her. She looked miserable. I knew this from personal experience, but there was nothing more awful than being miserable in the woods. God damn it. 'Hey, it's not that bad,' I said to her. 'Look, feet are tricky in the woods, and you really need to take care of them if you want to do serious miles.'

She glared over in my general direction and said, 'I know, condescending new stranger, I've read that in lots of books.' But, she said it with both a tiny smile and a tiny quiver to her lip. She could not have been more adorable if she had tried.

I laughed. 'Sorry- I just wasn't expecting to see anyone out here. My name is Matt.'

'I'm Riley.'

'Pleasure to meet you.'

'You too.'

We both looked at each other kind of awkwardly for a bit, and then hurriedly looked away. I know I'm a sleeze-bag, but I couldn't help but notice how her shirt was clinging to her chest, the sweat outlining her breasts. It was pretty fucking sexy for being out in the middle of nowhere. I gave my hormones a stern talking to and looked away. 'Look, if you want, you should totally camp here. The lake is nice, there's a ton of spots for a tent here, and you really might need to look after your feet. I'm not a doctor or anything, but that looks pretty gnarly.'

She obviously hadn't felt any of the mid-woods sexual tension, because she was still staring down at her feet. 'I just thought I would be better at this,' she said to herself. Not sure if she meant for me to hear her, so I didn't say anything. Like, what do you say to the girl who's about to burst into tears in the middle of the woods? 'Don't even worry, you might not know how to hike, but your tits sure look good'. Not a good start.

So, I didn't say that. I said, 'Um, I've got a first aid kit and some whiskey?' I'm not sure that was all that much better, but she gave me a devastatingly pretty smile in return.

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It had been a surprisingly nice afternoon. I had shared my camp spot and my whiskey with Riley, and she had turned out to be a really nice rando camp-mate. Once her feet stopped swelling, she offered to gather food for the fire, and did a pretty good job of staying quiet. We both had books, and the sun --combined with the whiskey -- lulled me into an afternoon nap.

I woke to the sound of splashing, some fairly impressive curse words, and a mostly nude Riley.

She had waded out into the lake and was vigorously soaping herself in the sun. It was late afternoon, the light was hitting her in a way that any renaissance painter would have approved of, and all I could do was stare at her body. God damn, she was hot. I had tried my best not to oogle her too hard before, but this was just beyond the pale. She was naked, frolicking in a fucking mountain lake, and I was the only person that could see her. She was slimmer than I had been expecting from what she looked like in backpacking clothes, but she had more curves than I would have thought. I'm still not entirely sure how that's a fair combination.

She was also totally naked. Nipples pointing to the sun, what looked like freshly trimmed bush glistening, and I didn't know what the fuck I was supposed to do.

'Hey!! This water is great!'

I kept my eyes closed. I figured that if I pretended to keep being asleep she wouldn't keep yelling at me.

'Matt! This is great!'

I was wrong. So wrong.

'Dude! What are you fucking waiting for?!'

Apparently for that. I opened my eyes to see Riley staring at me. She was neck deep in the water with a thin film of soap floating away from her like an angel's wings. Once she noticed that I was actually looking at her, she stood up just enough that I could see the top of her areola, but not her nipple. It was the single hottest thing I had ever seen in my life.

'Uh, yeah, that looks fine, but I'm pretty content out here,' fuck that sounded so lame even in my head. Why couldn't I be cooler.

She laughed. But not in a mean I'm-a-cheerleader who is going to murder you way, but filled with genuine glee. Who even did glee nowadays? She could probably see my confused scowl from the shore.

That made her laugh even harder.

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After Riley had drug herself out of the lake, she had demurely wiped herself down and nearly instantly changed into dry clothes. I had no idea how someone could be sudsy and naked in a lake but also shy about changing in camp. The mysteries of women were deep and unknowable.

We had now been sharing a campsite for a few hours and had settled into a sort of routine. Neither of us talked much, and we sure as shit didn't talk about her naked cavorting in the lake. She was nice enough not to mention my raging erection and I was nice enough not to stare at her tits. Much. After a while things went back to normal, and we started to wind down for the night.

'Hey...so, Matt. Question for you.'

I'm actually pretty proud of myself that I didn't spontaneously combust or cum in my pants. I had been so turned on for so long that if she had done anything, I'm not sure I could have handled it.

'Yeah, what's up?' I acted cool. I really did. I don't know if she believed me, and if she did, she would have been very forgiving of the squeaking sound I made.

'Did you like seeing me naked?'

My heart actually stopped. How the fuck do you answer a question like that? 'Oh, no...seeing you naked was awful', 'I would never look', 'Yes, it was the hottest thing I've ever seen'.

I went with the third option.

'Yeah, it was pretty amazing'.

'Awww, and here I was thinking you didn't notice', she said, sounding overly casual. She gave the lie with the way she looked away from me as she said it, combined with a tiny - almost unnoticeable if you weren't staring - bite to her lip.

'Ah, to be honest, it would have been hard to not notice. You were naked after all.' I couldn't match her mostly calm tone. I mean, who the fuck was supposed to be calm while talking to a hot chick in the middle of the woods that they had just seen naked? I'm sure there was some code somewhere that said it was perfectly acceptable and manly to be a bit flustered by unexpectedly naked women. You'd obviously have to ravage them afterwards, but you could be surprised.

She looked back over at me. We were across from each other around the fire, not particularly close, but near enough that you could pretty easily see the other person's expression even in the fading twilight. She looked...nervous? Or some uniquely female combination of nerves and bravado? Jesus, I was so far out of my depth. Backpacking for hundreds of miles, no problem. Talking to a woman I had just seen naked in a lake, shockingly hard.

'Hey, Matt, look,' long pause. Like too long of a pause. 'I'm not going to lie here, but that kind of turned me on. I've never done anything like that, and I was really hoping you'd see.' She blushed. She blushed so hard I could see it over her sunburn and in the gloom. She must be practicaly fucking glowing with embarrassment. I didn't say anything, because, what the hell do you say to that, but I nodded at her in a way that I hoped meant, please continue.

'It's just, you know, been a long year, and I've been trapped at home most of the time. I mean, damn, you know, stupid pandemic and all?', she said while looking through her lashes at me.

'Uh, yeah, I mean, fuck 2020, right?' was about the best I could come up with.

Which apparently was the right thing. She lit up like a Christmas tree, practically twinkling. 'Dude! Right, what a fucking awful mess.' I agreed and nodded along.

'I mean,' she continued with a slightly sly smile, 'I haven't seen anyone in a looooong time.' She extended the word 'long' for like 10 seconds, and did some impressive eyebrow wagging. It was like a cartoon character trying to hint something.

I didn't say anything. Which wasn't the right thing.

She wilted a little bit, her smile fading. 'I said I haven't seen anyone in a long time. And you just saw me naked, soapy, and wet,' she punctuated each of the last three words with a bit of a shimmy while running a finger down the outline of her chest. It was incredibly erotic, and I couldn't help staring. I could actually see her nipples hardening underneath the thin fabric of her shirt.

I don't think I could have said anything if my life depended on it. I just stared. I'm not even convinced I wasn't drooling.

'I. Haven't. Seen. Anyone. In. A. Long. Time'. Each word was said separately, slowly, while she kept rubbing her breasts. She was slowly running her hands over the tops and sides of her chest, gently teasing the sensitive sides and bottoms, while making sure to give her nipples quick pinches every couple of syllables or so.

It was so fucking hot, and my erection that had been lingering all day came roaring back to life. Let me say this, hiking clothes are great for hiking, but they sure as hell aren't great for hiding a raging boner.

'Ah, Riley, that's pretty amazing to, ah, hear, but I'm not really sure what you're saying.' I'm proud enough to have kept myself from panting, but it was a close thing. I also didn't want to be a super creep. I mean there was this amazing hot woman, actually caressing herself in front of me, but still, it's not like this in a porno. No one is that lucky. I wanted to know what she was actually going for. I hadn't seen anyone in a long time either. I wanted to be sure.

With absolutely zero subtly, she looked down at my lap, at what was definitely on display, and said, 'That. I want to see that.'

She was totally staring at my dick. Holy shit. A hot girl was staring at my dick. Alone. In the woods. When I had a boner.

'Oh. I see.' Great response, Matt, super witty. I was so far out of my depth I didn't know what to do. I mean, I was no virgin, and I had had a few long term girlfriends, a couple of one night stands, and even a few crazy college nights. But I had never had a woman that blatantly ask to see my dick before. But, fuck it, we were in the woods, had just survived a pandemic, and what did I have to lose?

Riley was still rubbing small circles around the outline of her breasts and had started to flex her legs together a bit, rubbing her thighs together. At this point what did I have to lose?

I slowly slid my shorts down, revealing the top of my pubic area, and took a huge breath. What the fuck was I doing? Was I actually about to show a random stranger my dick? Dear god. I think I would have wussed out if I hadn't seen Riley start to slip her shorts down as far as I had slipped mine down. She was mirroring my movements, and I could already see her neatly trimmed auburn landing strip at the top of her underwear. Fuck, that was sexy.

Instead of overthinking it, and probably regretting it for the rest of my entire life, I grabbed the edges of my shorts and pulled them all the way down. I was turned on enough, hard enough, that my dick popped straight up and pointed towards Riley. I'm not huge by any stretch of the imagination, but I was definitely average, and after being turned on for hours straight I was sporting a very aggressive boner.

Riley's eyes widened a bit, and my first thought was that I had totally read the situation wrong. I almost pulled my shorts back up, fled the campfire, and headed out to die of mortification in the mountains, but she pulled her shorts down at the same moment.

I had already seen the top of her landing strip and that had been hot enough, but seeing her peel her bottom layer off and reveal her nudity was incredible. Her legs were long, toned, and had an adorable tanline where a bathing suit should have been. Between her legs was even better. The landing strip I had already seen drew the eye towards what looked like a cleanly shaven vagina. Which was my favorite. Even from this far away I wanted to bury my face in her and run my tongue up and down her smoothness. Repeatedly, until she came all over my face. Hopefully twice.

Thinking about that did nothing for my erection, so I did the only thing I could think of. I wrapped one hand around it and started to stroke it slowly. I don't even know if I was aware of what I was doing, but the sight of her nudity this near to me was absolutely intoxicating. I couldn't help myself.

Apparently that was the right thing to do, because Riley let loose an almost inaudible growl and followed suit. She ran a single finger, her pointer finger, down between her lips, stroking herself bottom to top, slowly, carefully, and very, very sensually. I was absolutely mesmerized. The sound she made while doing so was something I would never, ever, forget. Half moan, half plea, all fucking sexy.

We kinda sat there for a while, both slowly stroking ourselves. I wasn't in any hurry, and she was clearly enjoying herself. I still didn't quite think this was real so if I was hallucinating, I might as well enjoy the trip.

'So...is this what you had in mind?' I can't believe those inane words came out of my mouth, but I swear to god my IQ had lowered by more than half while watching herself slowly masturbate. Her fingers were tracing tiny lines around her clit and I couldn't help but stare as she got visibly wetter and wetter.

She looked me right in the eye across the camp site and stuck her fucking middle finger directly into her sopping wet pussy. 'Nope, this is what I had in mind'. She continued to fuck herself with her finger, slowly, pushing it in and out, maintaining eye contact the entire time.

I mean, what the hell do you even say to that?

Each time she bottomed out you could see her breath quicken and her entire frame shake a bit. While she was busy finger fucking herself with her right hand she slowly drug her shirt over the tops of her tits, unleashing some of the more glorious breasts I had ever seen. Perky and on the smaller side, they had the best sort of jiggle as her hand rammed itself into her pussy.

I was mesmerized. It was the single hottest thing I had ever seen in my life. While I was watching I continued to slowly stroke my dick, up and down, just the right amount of pressure to keep things interesting, but not enough to cum too soon. I never, ever, wanted this to end.

'So, was this your plan?,' I asked. And by said, I mean moaned, because holy fucking shit I was so turned on I didn't have much left in the way of vocabulary.

'It wasn't until I got here,' she answered.' And that was the right answer.

As if it was an unspoken agreement, we both kept going. She pushed her finger into her visibly soaked pussy, alternating between going slow and going fast, going harder and slower, before all of a sudden she pulled it out and started to furiously rub her clit. 'I can't usually cum without something on my clit,' she moaned a lot louder than I would ever do in the woods. 'You need to go faster,' she said in the same loud voice.