I was at Jasper National Park in Canada camping by myself. I had become used to camping by myself, I had not wanted that but my sons were now interested in girls and my ex was interested in keeping them home.
I had a semi girlfriend but she was not a teacher and could not take off on long camping trips. I assuaged her feelings by taking her to Las Vegas as soon as I got back home.
I had just gotten set up and decided to walk around and take in the sights. In truth most northern forests look pretty much the same and smell pretty much the same. What I liked was the quiet, the isolation, and the surprises.
My campground had at least eighty tent sites but there were less than ten of us there. Of course it was still June and most campers of the northern woods don't vacation until July. In fact twice so far that trip people looked at my Texas license plate, shook their head and smiled. There was a fast running shallow stream behind my tent site and a trail that led up a mountain across the highway. I took that trail and encountered a couple of guys from Germany. They told me the trail ended about five kilometers further up at a ten meter wall of snow that blocked the trail. I turned around and walked back down with them.
I saw a small trail going down so I said bye to them and took it. The trail became a ravine and made walking difficult so I took a small trail that led me to a small valley. I did admit it felt a little spooky there.
I sat to rest and and must have fallen asleep because it was afternoon and would be dark soon. I took the small trail back but never found the ravine.
I heard a truck somewhere above me so I hiked up. I came out to a highway about a kilometer down from the campsite so I followed the road back. I fixed myself a can of corn beef hash, drank a beer, and watched the stars appear.
I heard something thrashing through the stream behind me and saw a moose heading away from the highway. I wondered if the bridge over the stream was high enough for him to go under or if he had to cross the road. Even though I already had many pictures of moose it was my first Jasper moose so I took a picture.
It had been a long day for me so I went to bed. It was probably before nine in the evening.
I was up before the sun had completely cleared the horizon. No one came into the restroom while I was there and was happy to see my water was already boiling when I got back to my tent. I did remind myself that I was at altitude and the water was not that hot but it was hot enough for my instant coffee and I ate peanut butter cookies with it. I was just starting on my second cup of coffee when a bear just walked through my tent site.
It was a small black bear, perhaps born two winters before but I looked around for its mother anyway just in case. The bear settled in by the stream and began munching on the new grass. Again it was not the first black bear to walk through my campsite but I took a picture anyway.
Something on the far side of the stream suddenly got the youngsters attention and it began to sniff the air. With resolute steps it suddenly walked through my site and away from the stream. "What would scare a bear? A bigger bear?" I asked myself.
I looked towards where it had been looking and saw nothing but thick woods. I took a picture anyway then went back to my second cup of coffee.
After a while I picked up a faint whiff of skunk and decided the bear may have had an unfortunate encounter with one earlier in his life.
I was a good hiker that never lost the trail I had taken, until yesterday. That bothered me so I decided to repeat it and see were I went wrong.
That time I took some red tacks before I began. I walked up the trail until I saw the small one I had taken the day before, except this one never turned into a ravine and ran more or less parallel to the stream. I had placed tacks by the head of the small trail and had continued to do so about every two hundred meters or so.
The trail just went down and so did I. It felt strange since across the road from the park there was a mountain. About a thousand meters down I needed to make a choice so a put tacked a tree and took a trail that seemed to be mostly level. A thousand meters later I decided it was a boring trail and decided to turn back but decided to eat my snack and drink some water first.
I was enjoying some marshmallows when I smelled a skunk. But no, it wasn't a skunk. It was a different aroma, more like skunk cabbage but a bit less irritating. I looked around and saw nothing. I took pictures of the area the smell was coming from, I figured if there was anything there I would find it when I loaded the pictures to my computer after I got home
On a whim before I began my trek back I left a small stack of marshmallows on a rock. I hoped it would be of interest to Stinky.
I was about halfway back to my tent when I began to feel I was being followed. The last time I had that feeling I was in fact being followed by a grizzly bear. That encounter became a happy memory for me. The bear was an old female and was simply walking the trail I happened to be on. We were in Glacier National park and she was apparently very much at ease with humans.
Like now I was headed out of the trail. I had turned to see what was behind me and she stopped when I did. I said good afternoon then walked on at my previous pace. I talked to her for about two hundred meters before we came out to the trailhead. Just in case I went to the far side of my car and I took pictures as she looked both ways before crossing the road.
However, this time I did not see anything moving behind me but took another picture on general purpose. The tacks led me back to my campsite well enough and I was soon relaxing on my folding chair by the camp table. After a supper of canned chili and oyster crackers I decided to see if anything was in any of the pictures.
I zoomed in on the images and still saw nothing. I though I again smelled the somewhat unpleasant aroma and walked to the stream and took a picture of the other side of the stream. That time my flash went off and whatever was on the other side reacted to it.
I hurriedly apologized and put the camera in my pocket. No more pictures I promised. Then I did something stupid, I walked across the stream and left a stack of marshmallows on the other side. It was stupid because the water was cold and now my sneakers were wet.
It was also stupid because I had approached an unknown creature I could not see but had pissed off.
Anyway the creature did not go far, I could still smell it. I went back to my table and brewed some tea to which I added a bit of rum. I had taken one sip when I took my camera out of my pocket and decided to see which creature would never trust a human again.
My mind refused to accept it, I knew they were myths but right across the stream looking at me there it was, Bigfoot. It took me a while to calm down and stop shaking as I inspected the picture.
Maybe there is more than one kind of Bigfoot, this one was somewhat slim and no taller than me. I expected the creature to look like a middle linebacker but its body shape was more like a basketball player. Then I noticed her breasts, she was a girl.
I wondered if I was the first human she had ever seen. I felt like she was young although likely an adult. I wondered how many there were around me. It may have been three in the morning before I got any sleep.
The following morning I took my chair and my coffee to the bank of the stream and talked to the forest. I hoped she would still be there but there was no sign of her. As I got up to get more coffee I looked to see if the marshmallows were gone and they were. I knew any number of creatures could have eaten them but I preferred to think she had accepted them as my apology.
My sneakers were still wet so I was just wearing socks but I decided to take another offering across the stream. I had a stash of garbanzos and poured some in a bowl then added marshmallows to the bowl. Then I added a peanut butter cookie.
I took my offerings further back but to a place where I could see her if she came out.
After changing socks I went to the car and brought out my flute, got my coffee and resumed talking to her. After I finished my coffee I began to play my flute. I had been a member of the symphony orchestra for five years but had to give it up when I moved out of the city after my divorce. I still practiced regularly but I normally did not have an audience. That morning I hoped I did.
I played a bit of Mozart that was not composed for flute and hoped she would be fascinated by the sound. I saw her, she was peeking around a tree trunk to see where the sound was coming from.
I caught her eye and explained the thing in my hands was a flute and it made sounds if you blew into it just right. I demonstrated a good sound and a bad sound then resumed the Mozart piece.
She again hid behind the tree trunk. Then I though I saw an arm move from behind a different tree. There was more than one of them.
As I played I looked intently and decided there were three of them. I was going to run out of cookies. I fixed two more plates and put them next to the first.
Soon I noted I needed to pee. I decided to do so into the stream and just took my cock out and peed. As expected they were not looking, probably. My cock was OK in size but unlikely to approach Bigfoot standards. I put it back into my sweatpants as soon as I was done.
I went back to my tent site and moved everything around so I would now be facing the stream while there and resumed playing my flute.
The one in my picture was the first to come out. I nodded to her just as she was about to carry her plate away but even though she did move back she remained in my sight. She apparently dared the others to come out and both did together. They quickly picked up their plates and hurried back to where they first were. There was apparently an argument about whether they were far enough away until I resumed playing my flute.