Pitching a Tent

Camping holds a special place in my heart. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and spent many a summer night camping outdoors with my family. During my college years, my friends and I would sometimes spend days at a time out in the wilderness, hiking, fishing, drinking heavily, and usually smoking quite a bit of weed. Those were some of the best days of my life, and some of the most memorable nights. Off the top of my head, I can rattle off at least a dozen hilarious stories from those trips, the kind my friends and I never tire of retelling when we get together. But none of those camping stories even remotely compares to the one I'm about to tell you. It's truly the story to beat all stories, one that's so incredible -- and so erotic -- that I won't even blame you if you don't believe me. I'm not sure I would believe someone else if I heard this story.

It happened last July when I went camping with my wife, Emily, out on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. I haven't lived in the Northwest since college, and Emily never lived there, so whenever we get a chance to go out there, I'm eager to take her to some of my favorite places. My absolute favorite place to camp is up in the Elwha River Valley in the Olympic National Park, near Port Angeles. Emily is not much of a camper; in fact, she'd never been camping in her life prior to dating me. But I'd worked on her gradually, starting with a couple of trips that were more "glamping" than true camping and eventually getting her closer to the real thing. But we'd always had the safety net of having our car nearby. She'd never had to backpack her way to a campsite.

The Elwha River was the perfect place to take that next step. The site I had in mind, the one my friends and I had always loved the most, was a couple of miles upriver from the Whiskey Bend trailhead. Not terribly far, but certainly far enough that you can't just go back to your car to get stuff. You need to carry in everything you'll need and hope that you packed well. And we did just that. We had a lightweight tent, some food and drinks, a change of clothes, some cooking tools, and even a couple of fishing poles. We didn't need much because we were only planning to stay one night. We'd left our 18 month old daughter with my parents in Seattle -- only the second time we'd ever been away from her overnight -- so we couldn't justify staying longer.

It was a Wednesday in late July when we arrived at the Whiskey Bend trailhead. There were surprisingly few cars for this time of year, likely because we were in the middle of an uncharacteristically brutal heat wave. But we were only out West for a week and this was the only night that worked for us, so we'd decided to push forward, hoping it would at least cool down to a reasonable temperature at night up in the Olympics.

The hike up toward the Hume's Ranch area was as pretty as I remembered, but it was absolutely grueling. It's only a moderately difficult hike by normal standards, but with the climb, the heat, and the weight of our backpacks, we were both drenched in sweat within 15 minutes. It also didn't help that we were both wearing ugly, uncomfortable pairs of Teva sandals that slipped around on our sweaty feet. Though neither of us would be caught dead wearing Tevas in any other context, I had insisted that we wear them because we needed to wade through the river, both for fishing purposes and in order to get to the campsite I had in mind, which was on the opposite bank.

By the time we got to Michael's Cabin, an old abandoned homestead along the route, we were contemplating turning back. But after resting and downing a lot of water, we decided to persevere. The last part of the hike, as we descended back down toward the river at Kraus Bottom, was at least a little more pleasant.

UNEXPECTED COMPANY

The next major wrinkle in our plans came as we stepped out into the clearing overlooking the bend in the river, when I realized that our site was already occupied. In this part of the national park, there aren't any designated camping spots, nothing you can book or reserve; there are just some spots that have been frequently used by campers over the years because they check all the right boxes in terms of scenery and utility. The one I had in mind, the one my friends and I always used, was on a bluff on the West bank of the river, right at the bend. It had some flat ground, perfect for multiple tents, and a panoramic view of the river.

Though we were still on the East bank of the river and at least a few hundred yards upriver from the spot I had in mind, I could see a small, bright orange tent set up just beneath the bluff. When I squinted I could also see what appeared to be another couple. All I could really make out was that one of the two people had black hair and was wearing a bright red, two piece swimsuit and the other looked to have really short hair and was wearing a white "wife-beater" style tank top.

While I didn't want to encroach on another couple's territory, the best fishing spot in the entire valley was right at the top of that bend, just below their campsite, so I suggested to Emily that we cross the river and at least try to do a little fishing near the bend before looking for another spot to set up camp. It was early enough in the day (just before noon) that there was still some hope that the couple would pick up camp and leave before we had to make a decision as to where to stay that night.

So we hiked upriver a bit until we got to the pair of old fallen trees that had, as long as I could remember, allowed hikers to cross the main river channel without getting too wet. Once we got to the other side, we hiked back downriver along the West bank until we got to the spot where I'd always had the best luck catching fish, a little back eddy that trout seem to congregate in. By the time we got there, we were within 50 yards of the couple and gave a friendly wave to show them we meant no harm. From this distance, I could see them much more clearly and was surprised to realize that they were in fact both women.

The one in the wife-beater, who I had assumed from a distance was a man, was actually a woman with a very short buzz cut of the type someone might get in military basic training. Other than the haircut and the wife-beater, though, there was nothing masculine about her. Even from that distance, I could tell that she had a remarkably feminine body. She was wearing very very short shorts that revealed a set of sexy, athletic legs, and her sizable chest was straining the confines of her tight tank top. While I couldn't confirm it at that distance, I was pretty confident she was not wearing a bra or swim top underneath.

Her companion was a sight to behold as well. She was wading knee deep in the river as we waved to them, splashing water on herself to stay cool. She appeared to be of Asian descent and was wearing a red bikini that didn't hide much, especially on the bottom half. She too appeared to be in great shape, slender and lithe, but with the muscle tone of someone with an active lifestyle. Her hair was short, but in a more traditionally feminine way, and she appeared to have a few tattoos on her back and a cluster of piercings on her right ear that glistened in the sunlight.

As we were both sweating profusely from the hike and about to wade into the river to fish, we decided to strip down a bit as well. I took off my t-shirt, leaving me in just my tan hiking shorts. Emily did the same, though she had on a blue bikini top underneath her shirt. It wasn't terribly revealing, as far as bikini tops go, but Emily is a very attractive woman, and I never minded an opportunity to stare at her chest. Emily, for her part, is about 5'5'' with thick, curly brown hair, which she had tied back that day in a simple ponytail. She has a natural olive complexion -- genes from her mother's Italian side -- and a body that does not look at all like one that gave birth to a child just 18 months ago. She has the same slender, athletic build she's always had and the simple, disarming, girl-next-door beauty that instantly attracted me to her when we first met in grad school.

It didn't take long for me to set up our fishing poles. My dad had taken me fishing so many times as a kid that it was all second nature to me now. And while Emily hadn't ever fished before she met me, I had taken her stream fishing a number of times before this, and she seemed to really enjoy it.

It didn't take long to get some action. On my third cast I felt a tug and, a second later, the fish was already taking line. Emily heard it and immediately began reeling in her own line so as not to get them tangled. I knew by the way it was taking line that I'd hooked something of pretty decent size. Not wanting to lose it, I waded further downstream and continued to let it tire itself out.

The women downriver from us must have noticed the commotion because before long I heard footsteps approaching on the rocky bank behind me and heard one of them ask "do you have one on the line right now?"

I turned and saw that it was the one with the shaved head. My eyes were drawn immediately to her chest and the nipples that were clearly visible poking through her thin tank top. Definitely no bra to speak of. I quickly returned my gaze to the river. "Yep," I answered, "seems like a pretty big one; really strong."

"Oh, I can't wait to see it." It was the other woman speaking this time, the Asian one. "I always wanted to see what fishing was like."

I quickly stole a glance at her as well and noticed that Emily was doing the same. She was strikingly pretty in a particular kind of way. She looked like someone who might be DJing at a rave if she wasn't out here camping. Seeing her up close, I guessed she was no older than 30 and while I was sure she had some Asian ancestry, it looked like maybe she was of mixed racial background. The tattoos on her right shoulder blade looked to be a sequence of Japanese or Chinese characters.

As I waded further out, I could hear Emily introducing herself to the women and striking up a conversation. She was very good at that, an extrovert to her core, the kind of person who could make new friends almost instantly. Eventually, the fish began to tire, and I slowly reeled it in. It was a good one. A rainbow trout at least 20 inches long. Once I had it in hand, I turned toward the bank and held it up for the women to see. "I think we found ourselves some dinner," I said triumphantly.

Emily cheered and clapped and, to my amusement, so did both of the women. As I approached the bank, the women both came closer to get a good look at the fish. "Jake," Emily said, "this is May," gesturing at the Asian woman, "and this is Hannah" gesturing at the one in the tank top. "They've been hiking out here for three days already!"

"Nice to meet you both," I said. "Did you say 'May'?" I asked, as I hadn't heard Emily clearly.

"Yes, that's right, though it's spelled M-E-I," Mei answered.

"Well, Mei and Hannah, just a warning, you may not want to watch this next part. I'm planning to cook this fish tonight so I'm gonna break its neck to make this as quick and painless as possible."

Emily looked away, as she always did for this part, but to my surprise, neither Mei nor Hannah did. They seemed fascinated by the whole process.

Before long we were all fishing together. I had given Mei my pole and was standing with her in the river, showing her how to cast. Emily was doing the same with Hannah about 30 yards upstream. The women were incredibly friendly. I got the sense that they'd run out of things to talk about with each other and were happy to have other people to talk to. As I had suspected from the moment we approached, they were a lesbian couple; they'd been together for several years and were planning to get married in the Fall. Mei was 29 and Hannah 28, just a few years younger than Emily and me.

Neither of them had ever been fishing before, but Hannah was a chef who worked at a nice seafood restaurant in Seattle; and they both loved to cook, so they had jumped at our offer to show them how to fish. And the conditions couldn't have been better for it. The trout were biting left and right. In less than an hour, we caught eight more fish. We kept the first four, including my 20 incher, to cook for dinner, but we released the rest.

Hannah and Mei were ecstatic and so appreciative. Hannah insisted that we let her prepare the fish for dinner. When I mentioned that we needed to find a spot to set up camp, they practically begged us to take the spot on the bluff, just overlooking their own site. Given it was the best spot in the valley, I didn't put up much of a fight. If they didn't mind us being there, we were more than happy to take them up on the offer.

SETTING UP CAMP

Once we were done fishing, Emily and I went about setting up camp up on the highest part of the bluff. The area we chose was only about 50 feet from where Hannah and Mei had set up their tiny tent, but it was on a little plateau about 5 or 6 feet above their site, so there wasn't a direct line of sight from their tent to ours. Our spot was also further from the water and up against the treeline, so we had the added benefit of the shade the trees would eventually provide later in the afternoon.

We also had the benefit of a significantly bigger tent. While ours was by no means huge, it was square and big enough to at least comfortably sit up in. By contrast, theirs was a classic backpacker's tent, tiny and triangular, big enough for two people to lie horizontally right next to each other but with no room to turn or sit up.

After we'd set up camp, we joined Hannah and Mei for a bit of a makeshift lunch. Given the midday heat, none of us were interested in building a fire to try to cook anything, so we settled for some of the pre-made snacks we'd brought with us. As we had more than enough and were only planning on staying one night, we shared some crackers and chips and various other packaged snacks we'd brought. Both Hannah and Mei were super appreciative; while they still had some food left, they'd long since gotten bored with their own provisions and were eager for anything new.

In return, they insisted that we allow them to cook the fish up for dinner and suggested we pool whatever potential ingredients or side dishes that might go with it. We readily agreed and handed over the pack of rice we brought, a couple of sticks of butter, two lemons, a tiny tupperware container of flour, and our plastic salt and pepper shakers. I also gave them my trusty camp skillet and pan, and my kerosene mini-burner.

As we sat there eating, it was my first opportunity to get a good, long, sustained look at both of the women, and I couldn't get over how attractive they both were, in their own distinct ways. Mei had exquisitely fine features. She looked like a model, or an actress playing a part, the kind of person who was too pretty for real life. Every bit of her face looked like something that was chiselled by a master sculptor. As we'd later learn, her distinctive look was in part a product of her half Japanese, half Peruvian ancestry, her parents having met in Peru and emigrated to the U.S.

Her short black hair wasn't done up in any particular way; she likely just used her hands to ruffle it up when she got up in the morning, but it somehow looked as if every strand of hair had been intentionally placed in a particular spot to make it look casual and windblown. It was unreal. And her body was almost as perfect, slender and toned from top to bottom. Her breasts weren't particularly big, but they seemed perfectly suited to a woman of her size and build. She had earrings in both earlobes, but her right ear had at least six other piercings, from the top of her ear all the way to the bottom. In short, she was the kind of person you would be way too intimidating to approach if you hadn't already been introduced.

Hannah, by contrast, gave off a completely different vibe. Her face was very pretty in a wholesome, all american kind of way, and her body was curvy and buxom. She was in no way overweight -- indeed she looked quite fit -- but she had wide hips and enormous breasts. It was as if you took a very pretty mid-western cheerleader, buzzed off all her hair with a set of home clippers, and put her in a tight, dirty wife-beater too small to contain her breasts. She gave off a real GI Jane kind of vibe, at least from a physical appearance standpoint.

I could tell that Emily was sizing up these women's appearance just as much as I was. While she'd only ever dated men, she'd confessed to me before that she found women attractive and she never objected to even gratuitous female nudity in movies and tv shows. In fact, she would often joke with me that, if things didn't work out with us, she might just switch teams. She was certainly getting an eyeful now, as both of the women in front of us were very scantily clad. Mei was still in her red bikini swimsuit, and from this distance, Hannah's top did very little to hide her breasts. I could see the outlines of her areolas through the thin white material. And her little jogger shorts rode so high that we could see half of her ass when she was facing away from us.

Eventually Hannah addressed the elephant in the room. "You guys are so nice. I hope we're not scandalizing you with the way we're dressed. We've been out here for three days, it's ridiculously hot, and we have basically nothing left in the way of clean clothes."

Emily laughed and responded before I could. "Oh please, we're all adults here, and I can assure you that Jake is thoroughly enjoying himself." I shrugged and smiled; there was no point pretending otherwise.

"Well, we appreciate the company," Hannah said, "and obviously feel free to dress down as much or as little as you like around us. It's hot as hell and you won't get any complaints from us even if you're buck naked." She laughed as she said the last part, but she was looking directly at Emily when she said it, and there was no mistaking that it was meant, at least in part, as a compliment about Emily's appearance. I could tell from the uncharacteristically sheepish look on Emily's face that she also took it that way.

A TRYST ON THE RIVER

After lunch, Emily and I decided to give our new friends some space by going for a hike up along the river. It was so hot that we didn't want to stray too far from the river, where we could periodically dunk ourselves to cool down. In light of our conversation after lunch, Emily had elected to ditch her hiking shorts and was now just wearing her two piece blue bikini and her Tevas. It wasn't quite as revealing as the suit Mei was wearing, but I still very much enjoyed watching her walk ahead of me.

Once we were sufficiently upriver and out of sight, I pulled Emily out onto the edge of the river with me and began kissing her. She hungrily kissed me back; it was the kind of kissing we rarely did anymore outside of the bedroom. I think we were both pretty stimulated by all the sights we'd seen since arriving at the river. In no time at all, I was hard as a rock, and Emily definitely noticed. I groped her ass while she reached a hand up and touched me through my shorts, confirming that I had an erection. "Wow, that's a good one," she said playfully.

The truth was that I was almost ravenously sex-starved. We hadn't had any opportunity for intimacy on the trip so far, and I had been on a business trip for most of the week prior. It had been at least three weeks since we'd had sex, and with all the sexy, nearly naked women surrounding me all morning, I could barely think straight. It was as if all the blood had left my head and gone south the moment I kissed her. Without even really thinking about it, I reached my hand up and pulled her bikini top down, exposing her breasts.