The business was finally going well enough to be left in the care of the staff. It had been a hard slog for three years but my wife Katrina and I finally had the chance to spend some time together doing the things we enjoyed.
There hadn't been much time for long leisurely sex and no real time for exercise except for fitness sessions at the gym. I hated the gym, although Katrina seemed to have made a few friends.
So, in early Spring, to celebrate my 40th birthday, we decided to go hiking in the Garnet Lakes Wilderness. If you haven't been, then I should tell you it's one of the truly great experiences of the Pacific Northwest. Hidden in an obscure corner of the Olympic National Park, it's a truly magical hike. Kate had promised to give me a time I would never forget.
The normal way it's done is as a three to five day trip, either East-West or West-East. We planned to take seven, going East-West, allowing for ascents of some of the side peaks along the way, and a luxurious break at the newly refurbished Rainbow Falls Lodge half way.
We'd promised each other that we'd make up for all the intimate time we'd lost but I knew it was for real when she showed me some of the extras she planned to take along. Besides the normal hiking gear she had a couple of skimpy bikinis, enough exotic underwear for a Victoria's Secret catalogue, and her two favourite dildos.
One of the many things I love about my wife is that she's multi-orgasmic. Sometimes I can caress her in the morning while she's sleeping and ever so gently slide a finger or two inside her and then slowly bring her to climax with her cunt walls spasming around my fingers. She always says this is her favourite way to wake up, and makes her horny as hell. She'll either roll over and jump on me and ride me till I come or she'll roll over on to her hands and knees and offer herself to me doggy style. Either way, she'll soon be into another orgasm while she pumps my balls dry, and then, while I take my shower, she'll bring herself off again with one of her toys. She's a bit of a show-off, so she'll often wait until I am just coming back into the room before she comes,
We both had last minute things to do before we could get away, so I left her doing the final packing while I went to get the cars filled up and ready. The plan was that I would take my car to the far end of the trip and leave it there and then hitch a ride back to the trailhead, sign us in for our wilderness permits, hike on up to the first lake, and set up camp. Katrina would follow as soon as she could, either that evening or the following morning.
The day turned out to be glorious. It took me about three hours to get to the far end and park the car. I went into the ranger station to let them know it was there and to ask if they knew of anyone going back to the trailhead at the other end. The ranger behind the desk was a very attractive woman who looked about 25. Looking around to make sure no-one was listening, she said
"I'm going that way myself in a Forest Service truck. I'm not supposed to give lifts to civilians, but if you're on the roadside half a mile down the road in 15 minutes, I'll take you."
"Thanks" I said, "That'll help me a lot."
She was as good as her word, and so half an hour later I was sitting in the front of the truck heading down the road.
"My name's Debbie".
"Pleased to meet you, Debbie, and thanks for the ride. I'm Paul."
"You planning to do the Lakes Trail?"
"Yes, my wife Katrina and I have finally managed to take some time off together; we've been meaning to do this for years. What's it like at the moment?"
"Beautiful. I was up there a couple of days ago. The snow's been gone about three weeks and most of the side trails are open. The flowers are all starting to show in the meadows, and there's plenty of deer and marmot."
"Any bears to worry about?"
"There's been a couple of reports, but we haven't had any problems for years. Just follow the usual drills with food, and stay still if you see any, and give them time to move on."
"OK, thanks." We lapsed into silence for a few seconds. I was finally starting to feel relaxed. I didn't have the hassle of having to hitch a ride along the back roads now Debbie had picked me up. I looked across at her. She really was a very good-looking woman. Probably part Latina I thought. Petite, long dark hair tied back in a ponytail, big dark eyes, tanned olive skin and a fit body with finely-muscled arms and legs shown all shown off well by the ranger uniform of forest green short-sleeved shirt and shorts.
She caught me looking at her. "Being a ranger must keep you fit. Have you been working here long?"
"It helps. The outdoor work is the best part of the job, but I'm only part-time and this is my second year. I usually work a week-on week-off shift and there's no work at all in the winter. When I'm off I live in town so I get the best of both worlds."
"What's the worst part of the job?"
"Well, the bureaucracy and paperwork's a pain, but I guess that's the same everywhere and I can live with it. No, what's worst is that the rangers are having to become more and more like police, and that leaves less and less time for conservation, management and customer care."
"Why do you say like police?"
"It's been happening for a while. The last few years there've been more incidents with criminal behaviour at campgrounds and on the trail, and assaults on staff, so from this year we are all trained and armed."
"Are you armed?"
"Yes. We have to carry at least a handgun all the time when we're away from base. I prefer to keep mine in my backpack most of the time." "And have you been trained to use it?"
"Yes, we all had to attend an intensive two week course in firearms, restraint techniques, and arrest procedures." She smiled at me. "So I'm armed and dangerous."
Her flirting made me feel good. "So you're telling me I wouldn't want to meet you on a dark night somewhere?"
"That would depend. If you weren't married, and you weren't a criminal, then you might enjoy it." She flashed me another dazzling smile.
The conversation was getting a bit more personal than I had anticipated and my imagination was beginning to work. I wondered what it would be like to meet Debbie on a dark night, and, like any man, my dick began to stiffen in my shorts. I shifted in my seat, and tried to make things a bit more comfortable. Debbie looked over at me and then looked down at my crotch.
"Are you OK?" she asked, pretending a wide-eyed innocence, but burst into laughter a second later. "You men are all the same. You only think of one thing."
"It takes one to know one. You wouldn't have noticed if you weren't thinking the same thing too." "And looking," I added.
"Anyway," I continued, "It's all your fault. You make a boring ranger's uniform look like a fashion outfit, and you talk about restraint techniques and being dangerous. And you can't say you didn't know what you were doing."
"That's evolution for you. It's natural. Only species with a desire to breed survive. Blame Darwin."
"Just so as you know, "I said, "I'm happily married and don't cheat on my wife."
"And I don't mess around with married men," she answered, "unless their wives agree."
