The Hike
By Quantummist
It was a warm summer day when I decided I needed a break from the pressures of my work. So I called the office and said that I was walking away for a couple of weeks in order to clear some cobwebs from my mind.
I packed a back pack with many supplies including a bottle of red wine I planed to open by a fire some night real soon. I decide to head into Canada along the north shore of Lake Superior and take a long hike to a stream that feeds into the lake, I had read of, in the Lake Superior Provincial Park wilderness area. This was to be my time to get lost in the woods and find some serenity for the pace of life.
As I parked my car in the area near the trail head I noticed that there was only one other car there, a small Carmen Gia . Was relieved that I would perhaps be able to enjoy my seclusion with out running across a horde of hikers and pack packers that had thought as I of this much needed retreat. With 80,000 acres of wilderness should never meet these others that had beaten me to my woodland trail.
I pulled on my pack, checked my camera for film, checked my canteen and headed out with a song on my lips. I walked the well-marked trail for several hours before taking a break to check the maps I had brought and catch a bit of breath. Along the trail there were pink and white Trilliums in full bloom, and their fragrance delighted the senses as I sat and listened to the sounds of the woods around me. After a while I continued on, hoping to make the beach of Lake Superior by dusk. I guess I got lost in the sounds and looking for a glimpse of a deer or a bear as it traveled the woods we now shared, but I made better time than I had thought.
I arrived at the beach about an hour before dusk and decided to setup my tent and build a fire from the drift wood scattered about. As darkness fell I was so relaxed, and maybe a bit sore, from the fast hike I had made. I sat for hours watching the sparks from my fire fling themselves into the dark sky. A sky so filled by the sparkle of stars that it amazed me that this was the same dull sky I saw from my balcony back in the city. I made a small meal from one of the freeze dried packages I had brought, heated a cup of water on the fire, made a cup of the most delicious coffee I could imagine. Then I headed into my tent for a good night sleep. I feel asleep with thoughts of tomorrow and hiking to the mouth of the river I came in search of. I thought of the 7 water falls the map showed and was excite to take a long cold shower under one of them the following day.
I awoke to the sun shining bright and the sound of the waves as they crested just 10 feet away. I decide to forgo a morning camp fire and decided to break camp fast and head down the beach for the 3 hour walk to the rivers mouth. To the south the sight of an eagle caught my eyes. Flying high above the beach I felt as if I were up there with him in his flight of fancy? Off I went?
In a few hours I saw the wide mouth of the river, the sound had been drawing me closer for the last 300 yards. I stood for only a few moment watching the water as it flowed around a small island in the middle of the rivers mouth, Then continued on up the river following its winding path, searching for my elusive water fall.
First I heard it, the sound of water crashing into the pools below. And as I rounded the next bend I almost fell into the river at the site that met my eyes.
A water fall about 10 feet high, or better it was really 3 falls all falling into a pool at their base. Just over too the left of the 3 falls set was a long rock outcrop across the river with 4 more falls all about 10 to 15 feet in height and about 10 feet apart across the main center of the river. And while I had to look several times to make sure my eyes were seeing what I saw, in the center of the pool with 3 falls was the most delicious vision that I could imagine.
She had dark brown hair and was standing in the falls letting the water flow over her long brown hair. Her body was stunning in the early morning sun as she washed her hair in the fall of the river. Her back was turned to me as I stared at her curvy legs rising from the pool splashing around her thighs. While I had planed to make camp at the falls I wasn??t disappointed that I had been beaten to the best camp by a pretty lady instead of a group boy scouts playing survivor screaming through the woods.
I tried to be very quite as I circled around her site, didn??t want to intrude on her space. So I back tracked quietly for a bit and turned off through the brush so as to give her camp A wide birth and head up river a mile or so to set camp.
I found a very nice sand beach area along a slow area of the river just about three quarters of a mile up stream of the falls. As I dropped my pack I could just hear the falls down river and it gave a nice background beat to the setting up of camp. I set about gathering pine limbs to lay out for the tent and some stones for a fire pit. Just as I was pounding a stake in for the tent I heard a crack from the tree line about 20 yards up from the river.
As I stood I saw the same girl from the falls walking up the tree line wearing a pair of the tightest jeans I had ever saw and a bright red sweater. As she walked up she yelled ??hello campers? and waved. She walked up directly to me and put out her hand and said ??I??m Debbie, I noticed you when you hiked by earlier, ya didn??t have to go all that way out of your way sweety.?
I told her I didn??t want to startle her so I figured I would skirt her camp. Debbie told me she had heard me coming since the lower bend in the river before the falls. She offered to help finish setting up my tent but it was pretty much done so I told her thanks but didn??t need to bother her with it. I was trying to be cool and calm in front of her but heck, inside I was still seeing her breast being covered as the water poured over her in the falls. Her she was, right in front of me, and I didn??t want her to think I was some pervert or idiot slobbering all over her. But the little guy in my head that was saying ??Jump up and Down? was being kept in check as we talked about the hike we had both taken.
Debbie told me that she had to get back as she had a solar oven set up and was making acorn flour bread with blueberries and would drop me off a hunk if I plan to stay for a while. Stay for a While! Hell I might move here permanently with her as a neighbor. But I kept it cool and said that would be great and that I would love to try some. Trying to come up with some smooth thing to say I blurted out ?? mind if I borrow your water falls to shower up in sometime??
Debbie turned and said to make myself at home its as much my falls as hers. So as the sun started to set on my camp that night I sat by my now blazing fire not thinking about going fishing tomorrow as I had planed, not thinking of hiking up to the cliffs for the view as I had planed, but thinking of how soon I should walk, no run, down river to take a shower in the morning. No.. Gota be cool.. I??ll give it a bit and then walk down after I??ve settle in a day or so. Just wash up in the river on the beach. Yea, that??s it , I??ll just chill and fish a bit tomorrow.
About 7am the sun woke me from a deep sleep and I slowly rolled out of the bag to look into stoking the fires and making some coffee. I walked to 30 feet down the beach to get some water and look to see Debbie walking up the rivers edge. She waves and heads up the beach. Which by the way is a nice beach!, Its in the bend of the river and the fine white limestone sands collect there as the water heads down stream. The sand is white and shimmers in the sun. As she walks up she throws a large beach towel down and drops a pack she had strung over her shoulder down.
??Hey Paul, mind if I use the beach to catch some sun today?? she asked and I said the same thing she had told me the day before. It??s as much your beach as it is mine darling.
So she proceeded too lay out her towel then in a wink of the eye she strips off her sweater and starts unbuckling her jeans. I turned away to try to be discreet but she saw me and started to laugh. I turned and looked directly into her eyes and said well didn??t want to seem too forward darling. Debbie looked back with eyes that held mine in there grasp and said ??Sweetie I been around far too long to get embarrassed over a handsome guy checking me out? ?? I saw you watching me in the falls the other day and I thought I could see a red glow from your cheeks all the way from camp. Was so cute the way you headed off in the woods. Now how bout making some coffee and let me catch some rays.? And then she continued to strip out of her jeans as I turned and took the water back to the fire.
As I sat down on my little folding chair and stoked the fire up a bit as I watch this absolutely delicious lady spread out her naked body on My Beach right in front of my eyes and me not being able to come up with even one good line. For the first time in a long time I was speechless. Her breast were round and tanned with large dark nipples. She was laying there with one leg bent and one stretched out straight. I acted as if I was watching the water boil while sitting at an angle where my eyes would be glued to a view as beautiful as the mountains that surrounded me.
I pulled out my canteen cup and a small cup from my mess kit added a small bag of ground coffee I make up out of nylon stockings. Found if you make up little pouches of grounds and make single serving coffee bags it packs nice for good coffee in the woods. I yelled down the beach if Debbie wanted a cup, and if black was ok as I only brought the coffee and no powdered creamer. She turned her head and yelled back that she would love one.
The water boiled very quickly or maybe its true that a watched pot never boils because I??m not sure I even glanced at it until I heard the water roiling. I put the bags of grounds in the cups and poured over the steaming water. The smell was wonderful as is the taste and smell of pretty much anything when you??re back in the sticks for any time. Seems to add a spice to the menu of the senses that??s not in the smells and tastes of home, where ever that is.
After letting the coffee stand a bit I grabbed the cups and slowly strolled, trying to look cool and all, down the beach with cups in hand. Debbie was lying on her back and had dark tan flesh that so nicely formed around her well built frame. I told her as I walked up that it was very hot and she might want to let it set a bit , didn??t want her to burn those lovely lips. She turned her head and raised it a bit and with a very nice smile said thanks just set it down and I??ll have it in a bit. With that she turned her head and that was that. I was a bit stunned as I had already had this whole scene of what would happen in my head and this wasn??t it. She didn??t even seem to notice me and I had figured she would at least flirt and hit on me as it was her laying naked on My beach.
I just tried to play it cool and said ok darling its right here. I told her I thought I would go up river a bit and see if I could catch a trout for dinner. Turned around and walked, a bit dejected, back up to camp to grab my gear. Put together my rod and put on the reel, grabbed my tackle pouch and headed up stream.
When I returned about 2 hours later I arrived at camp to find my sunbather nowhere to be found. So I headed down to the stream to clean the 2 nice speckled trout and set about making that dinner I had planed before I had ever head out on this hike. I wanted to relax over a bottle of sweet red wine and my bacon wrapped lemon trout way back in the wilderness as the sun sets with the sound of water falls filling the evening. Now that I had lost my dreamed of camp site I would at least fill in part of it. Then I figured out my ice breaker move. I would make dinner for two and take it down to her camp along with my wash gear bag and maybe see about that shower later. The worst that could happen is she had made dinner already and I would look like a idiot again.
So I cleaned the fish and placed half slices of lemons inside the cleaned fish, I then take some of the bacon I packed in and wrap each fish so that you can??t see the skin anywhere. I then wrap each fish in aluminum foil. I then toss the fish right into a area of hot coals in the fire pit. This allows the fish to fry in hickory flavored bacon while its skin does not burn against the hot foil, and the lemon fills the fish with flavor from the inside out. I put a package of Uncle Ben??s wild rice into my large mess kit pot and set on the hot stones to cook while the fish fried.
I headed back into the wood while dinner cooked to find my dinner plates. I found a small stone outcrop and started looking for a couple large flat and thin pieces of limestone that juts out of cliffs all around this area and is the source of the white sparkly sand of my little beach. I get back to the fire and toss each stone on the fire to sear a bit and heat up. After a bit I grabbed the stones with a couple sticks and pulled them out of the fire and poured some water over them and wash them so there nice and clean. Stuff those slabs into my back pack and grab the bottle of Lambrusco I had wrapped in a towel into the bag with my utensils and a few spices.
I heard the loud thunder of the set of falls getting louder as I approached the ring of light created by the nice warm fire burning in the opening just 20 yards away. As I entered the camp area I yelled lightly ??Debbie, I brought you some trout if you would like.? I heard ??Just a moment? coming from a small dome Timberline tent with a silver rain fly. She then said to go have a seat by the fire and she would be right out. So I walked over to the fire and sat out the stones on the fire ring rocks and placed the foil wrapped trout on the stones to keep hot.
I took out the wine and cups and set it aside out of the heat of the fire. As I sat there looking up at the sparks flying into the clear night sky. The moon was not quite full but lit the falls in an ere glow that was in full view in its entire splendor from where I sat. There??s no doubt that this was a much better camp site than I had chosen. The set of seven falls stretched over the full 200 yard width of the shallow river. Formed from what looked like a 12 foot cliff that ran across it, the falls had notch out of it about 15 foot from shore where 3 streams flowed into one large pool about 3 foot deep. This was where I had first saw Debbie washing her hair in the falls. Her camp was only 10 yards or so from the shore and had a rocky outcrop where you can climb into the river.
After what seemed like an hour, but was really just a few moments, I heard the familiar sound of the tent zipper whipping open and then closed then there she stood. Dressed in a tight pair of jeans and a oversized sweatshirt she brought a small fold up stool and sat it next to me and said ??You caught some fish? I tried to make a trap but I forgot to bring any fishing gear. And I haven??t had fish since I hiked in 5 days ago. ?? I told her she needed to get her camp utensils as I only had one set and we sat down for what was to be my dreamed of meal and wine in the bush but with a lovely lady to share the view.
I told Debbie of my recipe for the trout and of the red wine I had brought and she looked at me like I had yelled damn it at a Baptist Revival meeting. She wanted to know why I would carry a bottle of wine for mile after mile through some pretty rough terrain to only drink it alone in the woods. I explained my plan and how she had beat me to the place I had circled on the topo map I had used to find this place. Debbie then offered to trade camps if I wanted because she really liked the beach at my camp. I told her that no I liked the arrangement, you have to come visit me to sunbath and I have to visit you to shower. I could not see a down side anywhere in there.
She looked over and ask if I smoked. At first I reached for a pack of Kools in my pocket thinking she wanted a cigarette then I got it and said that I had been know to spark up. She pulled a joint from under her hair and I assume behind her ear and ask if I would like to share. I moved a bit close as she held it between her lips and reached for an ember to light it. Pretty good smoke too, as we chatted waiting for dinner to finish of the fire.
We opened the foiled of our meals and I pulled the cork from the wine and poured 2 cups and placed each on the stone plates. The trout came out perfect, the fish fries inside the bacon and the lemon fills the fish with a lemon flavor that never needs tarter to flavor. We sipped the wine and spent time talking of her and her reasons for being here, 100 miles from nowhere. We talked of her job as a real-estate executive and how this was her yearly sabbatical to relax and hide. After a great meal and wonderful conversation we sat quietly and watched the fire flicker in the moonlight.
She was humming a song I had never heard as I ask if I might use her falls for a shower as I had needed one since the first night of the hike in. She smiled and said ??It??s your falls too? which put a huge grin on my face. I reached over and took her hand and gently pulled it to my lips and kissed it softly then looked her in the eyes and said that the evening has been absolutely delightful. I could see in her eyes that she was intrigued by my not coming on to her hot and heavy as I??m sure she has had to put up with far to many time in her life. I then grabbed my pack and told her I would be back in a bit and walked off into the darkness outside the ring of light from the fire. As I walked down to the rocks to walk out into the river to the pool I looked back to see Debbie watching me walk away from the fire.
I stood on the rocks next to the river and striped down to my boxers and then stood wondering if I should leave them on in case Debbie could see me in the moonlight, But figured that she had no such reservations about stripping in front of me that morning so off came the shorts. As I stepped off into the water I saw her get up from the fire and walk over toward her tent. I walked out the 20 yards to the pool with the 3 falls flowing above my head and stepped over some larger boulders and into the pool. The water was cool but not cold as I had thought it would be. I took the small bottle of biodegradable soap and stepped gently into one of the falls.
The water had a lot of force, but not so much you that you could not stand in it. I lathered up outside the falls and stepped into it to wash off the lather. It was so refreshing to feel the water beat against your skin while glancing at a sky full of stars and a moon that seemed to grow larger the closer it fell to the horizon.
I was startled when I heard a splash in the river quickly turned to see Debbie wading out into the river, backlit by the roaring fire of her camp. Her body was silhouetted in the red glow and I could see she was totally nude and walking toward me carrying what looked to be the rest of that bottle of wine.
