SODIUM:1 Harbinger

by Stephen Arseneault

  Chapter 5

  _______________________

  My time came, and I was awakened by Bull for the final watch of the night. I got up, threw a couple extra pieces of wood on the fire, and made my coffee. First light started to show about 6AM. Fifteen minutes later the others began to rise.

  The night had passed without issue. We ate, packed, cleaned up the campsite, and started on the next leg of our adventure. We were heading all the way up Rancheria Creek to Tilden Canyon Creek. We would camp there for the night.

  The first several miles of the hike were at a decent incline. We would be steadily climbing up 2,000 feet of elevation. The thought of going uphill and being at higher altitudes had me preparing myself for a tough day.

  Ten minutes into the hike, we came upon the rabbit that had been butchered on the rock. Bull pointed over to it as we passed, and I had to stop to take a look. I then asked Bull what the other animal was, and he stopped and turned toward me. There, on a lower rock, was another animal... or at least the remains of one.

  He walked over to inspect it,l determining that it was a doe, probably only a month or so old. Again, it had been filleted open. I wondered if it had been dissected for study. We could not fathom what possible use someone would have for doing such. All the parts of the animal remained there.

  Bull looked it over carefully while Allie watched over his shoulder. Their inspection determined that it had only been dead a few hours. Whoever had done this had once again been near our campsite. Leaning my bat against a rock I slowly raised my hands in the air and pulled them behind my head. I wondered if the red-eyed demon was following us. I became nervous with my eyes darting around, looking for any sign of the beast in our surroundings.

  We took a few minutes to evaluate the situation. We could turn south and head for Tioga Pass Road, we could head back to Hetch Hetchy and head for the dam, or we could continue on. After a short discussion, we came to the conclusion that although this was odd, we had yet to be in any real danger from whoever was out there. As long as it stayed that way, we would continue the hike.

  Our current heading was taking us further from civilization. We were well armed, and with Bull and Allie being extreme outdoorsmen, we felt confident enough to continue. Again, we had to think about the business aspect of the adventure. If completed with no issues other than what we had so far been confronted with, the Yosemite Sportsman Adventure Package would still be a go.

  We hoisted our packs and began our slow climb up Rancheria Creek. I tried my best to stay in the middle of the group. The further from civilization we got, the more rugged it became. We were constantly having to climb up and over large boulders or find a way around. The scenery was still spectacular and the temperature and weather had been perfect, but this part of the hike was becoming a continuous workout for my short legs.

  An hour and a half into our day's hike, we stopped for a break. Just as we did so, I turned to slip off my pack and saw a rock tumble down a ridge a hundred yards behind us. I wanted to say that I had seen something move on the ridge where the rock had come from, but I wasn't certain. And with the fatigue I was already feeling and the jittery start to our hike, I thought my mind might be playing tricks on me.

  I called Bull over and pointed to where I had seen the rock tumble. He pulled a small pair of binoculars from his pack and looked intently for several minutes. I told him I was unsure of actually seeing anything, and he gave me the old better-safe-than-sorry line.

  This time curiosity was getting the best of me, so when we donned our packs, I took up the position in back. Every chance I had, I would turn my head to look back, which only worked to wear me out faster. By the time we broke for lunch I was exhausted. I once again slipped off the pack, found a big, flat rock in the shade, and lay down on my back.

  Our hike that morning had been a constant uphill climb. Susi was in the same condition as I was and was beginning to grumble to Kyle. The joy of the journey was starting to fade as exhaustion set in. I glanced at the others and scowled as Bull and Allie were chipper, showing no real sign of fatigue. Bull had mentioned that one of the reasons for inviting us was to gage the level of adventurer he could bring along. If Susi, Kyle, and I could make it without too much trouble, it would open the door for a much larger pool of potential clients.

  After quick lunch and a good rest, Bull was once again ready to hit the trail. Susi and I both lobbied for an additional half hour of rest. Our argument was that we had made enough progress on the day's hike to buy ourselves a reprieve. I could not have been happier at the time, but as it turned out, the longer rest only made us stiff by the time our half hour was up.

  I slid on the pack, glanced back down the trail, and once again started moving forward. The trail continued upwards, around and over boulders and fallen trees. In reality there was no trail to speak of. It was just a path through the wilderness that we had chosen.

  After a relatively steep section of trail, talk once again surfaced about a rest break. We were just coming into flatter terrain, and I still had the suspicious feeling that we were being followed. So, I ducked behind a large rock and stayed crouched as the others proceeded. I figured with the flat terrain I would easily be able to catch back up if they got too far ahead.

  I waited a full five minutes behind the rock and then slowly peered around the sides back down the trail. If there was someone following us, I was sure I would have caught a glimpse of movement. After several minutes of spying, I came to the realization that I was all alone, as the others had moved out of sight.

  It's not a good feeling to be alone in the wilderness where there are known to be bears, mountain lions, and possibly hostile people roaming around, especially given the fact that my only defense was a hickory bat. I slipped on my pack and made my best time to get myself caught back up to the others.

  Several minutes into my hurried pace, I saw Bull coming my way at an equally fast jog. As he got close I told him of my spying game and that if anyone was back there, they were doing an excellent job of hiding themselves. As I reached him he turned and we made our way back to the others.

  A half hour was taken for rest. My first course of business was to get out of my boots. I wanted to get my tired, hot feet into some cool mountain water. As always, the initial feeling was of bitter cold. After the initial shock the temperature was soothing.

  I dried my feet and made my way back over to my pack. I had rinsed out my socks and hung them on my pack while putting on a spare pair. If anything, the rest had brightened my spirits and taken my mind off my tired legs and any potential followers that had been trailing us.

  Soon our rest was over and we got back on the trail. We still had an hour’s hike to our next campsite. I took note that Kyle and my sister had been having a quiet discussion between themselves. Every once in a while I would catch a glimpse of an angry face.

  Susi had been with Kyle for more than three years, and this was the first time I had ever noticed any contention between them. Given my lack of understanding with relationships, I logged it as nothing unusual. It wasn't long before the discussion had reached an impasse, and it abruptly came to a less-than-happy end with both parties going silent.

  As we continued, Allie had noticed a number of caves along a rocky outcrop on the other side of the creek. We decided it would be a good distraction from our constant uphill hike and made our way across at the first set of boulders that allowed us to jump instead of wade through the cold mountain water.

  We walked up to just below the largest cave, and Bull put his hand up as a caution. He and Allie checked the grounds around us and confirmed that this site was frequented by at least one bear. They drew their handguns and began to follow a narrow path up to the cave entrance.

  I was terrified and kept looking behind us expecting the owner of the cave to be standing there with its arms crossed, staring at me and my little bat. As I turned back again, I was half-expecting one of my friends to come rolling down the hill dead after being mauled.r />
  When they finally reached the cave entrance and looked inside, it was empty. The owner was out or had moved on. I hurriedly made my way up the path to the cave entrance to see. It had a smell that would curl your nose hairs. I turned and gagged, nearly losing what was left of my lunch. Kyle and Susi had followed me up and had a similar reaction. I then suggested that we might want to move on, just in case the owner was to return. We climbed down, crossed back over the creek, and continued on with our day's hike.

  It was approaching 4PM when we reached Tilden Canyon Creek. We found another good spot for crossing and made our way up through the canyon. The terrain was tight by the creek, forcing us to climb up and over many boulders along the way. It was only a short distance to a flattened area that held a small lake. The flat terrain was our target for a campsite for the night.

  As we came out of the tight canyon the terrain opened into a beautiful meadow that was full of summer wildflowers. It would be our spot for the evening. After slipping off my pack I was all too happy to call it home. For the next half hour, I performed my daily duty of gathering firewood and setting up tarps.

  As I walked and stooped, picking up dead wood, it occurred to me that we really weren't all that far from the bear cave. So, I hustled up a load of sticks and hurried my way back to center camp. When I arrived with my bundle, Bull and Kyle had just left to go back down the creek for a shot at a trout or two. The girls had left across the meadow to hunt for small game.

  I dreaded being alone in bear country, so I decided I needed to keep myself busy. My first job was to set up a fire pit. I had watched Bull enough times to know how to stage a fire with the kindling and rolled-up dry grass on the bottom. To my satisfaction, the fire came to life with a fervor.

  The sun was just above the canyon walls, leaving hours of daylight still in the day. My next task was to push some larger rocks around the fire for our front-row seating. The work was keeping my mind off thoughts of ravenous bears.

  I next moved over to our tarp area and began to build a small rock wall surrounding it. I had made it to about eighteen inches high when Allie and Susi returned with a rabbit. I felt a small twinge of guilt over the death of the furry, fuzzy bunny, but that guilt quickly faded when the image of it slow roasting over our fire popped into my head. I could see it being taken off the spit and handed to me as I sat by the roaring fire. My stomach began to growl.

  As the sun dipped behind the canyon rim, the temperature began to fall. We had climbed to almost 8,000 feet above sea level and the thin, dry air cooled quickly. Allie skinned the rabbit by the creek and was finishing just as Bull and Kyle returned, having six good-sized trout on a line. Like the rabbit, they were cleaned and brought to the fire.

  We pulled the last of the potatoes from my pack and made a pot of rabbit-trout stew that would have brought raves back home in an elitist restaurant. Allie had several small bags of spice with her that seasoned the stew perfectly. After chowing down, I sat back against a rock to relax.

  After the dinner conversation died down, I began to notice that a strain was still there between Kyle and Susi. I had no clue what it was about and had no desire get in the middle of someone else's squabble. But this was my sister and my soon-to-be brother-in-law, and I really liked both of them. So, I opened my big mouth and asked what the issue was, which only served to begin a new argument. This time they did not have the privacy they had while on the trail. Again, being without tact when it came to relationships, I laughed and asked for the juicy details.

  My question brought dagger eyes from my sister. Kyle rose and walked over to the creek. Susi followed after him where they could have their discussion in private. Dusk was approaching, and from the looks of it, the argument was not going to be resolved anytime soon.

  After getting a bit too loud, it ended all at once as Susi turned and made her way back over to the tarps. Kyle followed a moment later, grabbing his sleeping bag, and for some reason picking up my bat. He made his way back over to the creek and then across it.

  Bull and Allie moved away from the fire with solemn looks on their faces, going about with their own quiet conversation as they stood by the small lake. I was left alone. With no conversation to be had, I picked up a stick and began to poke at the fire.

  Kyle had been gone for half an hour, and the darkness was beginning to set in. Bull made his way across the creek and up toward where he had seen Kyle walking. After not being able to convince him to return, Bull made his way back. Kyle had taken refuge on a ridge and had said their argument was very personal. He would need an evening alone to cool down. Bull had carried an extra blanket roll with him and left it with Kyle on the ridge.

  From the ridge the glow of the fire could be seen making Bull less concerned for his safety. Kyle, after all, had my bat with him. When Bull returned, he sat down at the fire and just looked at me. I told him that I knew I had screwed up and stuck my nose where it did not belong. I added that it was my patented and trademarked way of dealing with relationships.

  I just didn't seem to have common sense when it came to dealing with touchy subjects. It was like a part of my brain was missing. I had often wondered if it was partly to blame for the dissolution of my marriage, but I could not for the life of me figure out why.

  Bull didn't laugh at my pun, but instead just turned and stared at the fire, poking at it with a stick. Allie had been offering Susi her sympathy and some quiet personal conversation. As the fire died down, Bull and I made our way over to the tarps to turn in.

  I first apologized to my sister, who was not in the mood to hear it or to even to look at me. I had made my bed, and it was now time to lie in it. I was tired from the day's hike, and sleep came fast that evening.

  Around 2AM I was awakened by what I thought sounded like a bear's roar. I woke Bull and mentioned it, and we both sat up silently listening for any more commotion. It was pitch black, and the night air had grown cold. The silence was deafening except for the sounds of the millions of crickets that inhabited the meadow. We sat up for five minutes and listening before Bull gave me a dirty look and laid back down.

  What we didn't know was that Kyle had gotten a nighttime visit from the bear. As he lay mostly awake, no doubt running the day’s arguments with Susi over and over in his head, the bear had managed to come up and corner him on the ledge. It was dark and difficult to see as he tried to hold his ground with only my bat available to defend himself.

  Several feeble swings told him it was not going to get the job done, so he slid down over the face of the ledge to a smaller ledge below. Swinging the bat helplessly up at the bear was all that he could do in defense as the bear inched ever closer. The bear leaned over the ledge and swiped at him with a big, nastily clawed forepaw. As Kyle squatted uncomfortably down on the small ledge, just out of reach of the bear, he thought he might just have a chance. The bear then backed up, disappearing over the top of the ledge. Seconds later it let out a bloodcurdling roar. I didn't know at the time, but that was the roar that had awakened me.

  The bear had managed the single roar before going silent as something cut deeply into its torso. Kyle was splattered with the bear’s blood, but he couldn't see what was happening just above him. Whatever it was had killed the animal and was now hacking away at it.

  Bits and pieces of the now-dead bear were falling over the ledge onto Kyle, who was stooped silently below. The rocks were now becoming slick with the bear's blood. Several minutes later, the carcass was pushed over the cliff edge. The bear, in its prime earlier that evening, had weighed in at six hundred pounds. For Kyle, the slippery, bloody rock and the heavy carcass were too much. He was knocked from his perch. For Kyle, it was a ninety-foot drop down into the rocky Rancheria Creek below.