The names, characters, places and events in this story are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. All characters are over the age of 18. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Thank for reading and I hope you liked this tale. Please do leave a comment as I read all of them and take them all onboard.
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HER LEGACY.
The storm broke as we were half way up Lockegee Rock hiking trail. It's a steep trail in eastern Kentucky's Appalachian Mountains. If we'd made it up to the top in good weather we would have been rewarded with jaw-droppingly magnificent views stretching for miles over the rolling, heavily wooded hills and mountains of the Daniel Boone National Forest. A truly inspirational vista. But it in this deluge it would have been stupid and dangerous to carry on. We found some shelter beneath an overhanging rock ledge and tried to wait it out but after an hour the storm showed no sign of abating. With the rainfall the temperature had dropped and we were shivering with cold. I turned to my companion, Tim, and shook my head flicking rainwater out of my hair and eyes.
"It's a bust," I said at last. "Let's turn around and get back to the truck."
Tim looked at me. He was disappointed that we couldn't continue up the path but another flash of lightning and rumble of thunder convinced him. If possible, the rain became heavier and the path was rapidly turning to mud and a rivulet ran down the center of it. I huddled deeper into my waterproof and shivered.
He nodded and turned around. I am glad we made that decision as another lightning flash and thunderclap showed the storm was rapidly approaching. We hurried down the path, our boots slipping and sliding in the soft mud. The wind was getting up and branches overhead were thrashing wildly. One rotten branch snapped off and crashed onto the trail mere yards ahead of us. We didn't hear it fall, such was the fury of the tempest.
"This is a nightmare," Tim shouted over his shoulder.
We were towards the end of our vacation. Tim and I had been friends since high school and had stuck together over the years. Every year, in early fall, we took a week's vacation and enjoyed exploring different parts of our great country. Last year we had gone to the Everglades and the year before around Vicksburg, Mississippi to see the place where General Grant had won the battle which cut the Confederacy in half that ultimately led to victory for the North. This year, we wanted to see part of the Appalachians and decided upon Kentucky. We had done the Bourbon trail a few days earlier and picked up some great single-vat whiskies but now we were way off the beaten path.
Putting thoughts of our warm and comfortable motel room to one side, I concentrated on putting one foot in front of another. Slipping and twisting an ankle or worse would be no laughing matter in this weather. We hadn't seen any other hikers for several hours so we felt very isolated. It was like we had gone back in time a couple of hundred years when Kentucky was an untamed wilderness.
We made our way back down the mountain going slowly and carefully as water cascaded down and thunder boomed overhead. The landscape was lit up by intermittent lightning flashes as the storm lashed the mountain. However, we gradually descended but I noticed that under this downpour we were both getting colder and my teeth were chattering. It felt more like late November than late September. I didn't think Tim was in much better shape. Worse, with the thick cloud cover, the light was failing.
"I'm not sure we'll find the truck before dark. We need to find shelter," I said.
Tim shrugged. "Where? It's not exactly downtown Manhattan," he grumbled.
"C'mon, something will turn up," I said, trying to sound cheerful and optimistic. Tim was right; we were out in the boondocks.
We carried on through a thick stand of trees, our footsteps silent on the duff, the scent of wet pines all around.
"Hey, what's that?" Tim called, grabbing my arm.
I peered through the downfall. "What? Where?" I said.
"You blind or something? There...," he said, pointing between a couple of nearby oaks.
I rubbed raindrops from my eyes and squinted at where he was pointing. Did I see a distant flicker of warm, yellow light? Or was it only wishful thinking? I peered harder and was sure he was right.
"Let's check it out. They'll probably give us shelter at least. Maybe let us dry our clothes as well," I said.
We pushed our way through some scrub bushes and downhill. Our way was blocked by a creek which would normally be a trickle but now was in full spate and the water foamed and raced below us. The water was brown with tannins and looked more like tea than stream water. With difficulty we made our way downstream until we came to a place where the creek was partly blocked by a boulder fall. I carefully led the way up onto the boulders, testing each footstep before putting my full weight on it. They were stable and fortunately the top stone was flat and likewise the boulder on the other side of the creek. The gap was only about three feet so on a warm, dry day it would be an easy leap but in this storm it was much more dangerous. Without thinking too hard about the risks I took a step and jumped to the other side. My left foot skidded on the sandstone grit but I quickly recovered my balance.
"Easy," I shouted across to Tim.
I watched as he gathered his courage and also leaped across. I gripped his arm as he stumbled, steadying him.
"Wouldn't want to do that again in a hurry," Tim said with a grin as another clap of thunder resounded overhead. Perhaps we had been foolish but we'd gotten away with it and now we felt we should be able to reach safety.
On the other side of the flooded creek we made our way uphill slipping and sliding through leaf mulch and soft mud. We lost sight of the light and our spirits sank until we crossed a ridge of higher ground where the tree cover thinned a little. Now there could be no mistake. Both of us saw a window of warm, yellow light which was only a few hundred yards away. We turned to each other, grinned, and gave each other a high five.