***
The sun was going down by the time they arrived at the water’s edge. Trees were bathed in lace cloaks of muted reds and oranges, and the murky shadows dancing around them made it seem even later. They’d taken too long over supper and the trip down from the rim to where the tracks were had turned out to be more difficult than Henry had anticipated. Justin had been correct when he’d said it was off the beaten path.
Trudging through the mud, the scientist led Henry down along the bank, past the boat dock at the mouth of Cleetwood Trail and around the bottom of the caldera. They walked and climbed for what Henry felt was at least an hour. The kid had a great sense of direction. When they came to a spot where the caldera’s cliffs were rugged and steep, Justin crouched over and searched the ground in the dimming light, using a flashlight Henry had given him.
“I thought they were here,” he muttered, as he moved on.
Henry followed behind in silence. Better find them soon, he thought, light’s almost gone.
“Here they are,” Justin mouthed just as Henry was getting ready to suggest they give it up and head back. The scientist hunkered down.
Henry came up behind him, bending over to study what Justin was pointing at. They were animal imprints of some kind, true enough. They were approximately eight feet long; narrow at one end and much wider at the other. George had been right about something else–the toes appeared to be webbed claws.
The prints led to the lake and only the impressions made in the soft mud nearest the water were clearly visible.
“See,” Justin exclaimed, “I wasn’t hallucinating. Here are the tracks to prove it.” He seemed to be talking more to himself than Henry.
Henry didn’t know what to say. He was staring at the tracks, but he wasn’t believing them. He craned his neck and glanced around. “They seem to have come from below the cliffs somewhere. There are caves along the caldera’s base beneath the water line. Some of them are quite large and they vein down into the caverns and tunnel under the lake. I’d speculate that whatever made these prints probably came from those same caves.”
The tracks appeared real. They looked like something out of a horror film. So damn big. Henry swallowed hard, his sense of reality blurring. He loved watching old Twilight Zone episodes, but he didn’t like living through one.
“They’re absolutely not bear or cougar tracks.” Henry did some quick calculations in his head: If the size of the body lived up to the feet…then whatever created those tracks was a hell of a lot bigger than any bear.
“Damn,” grumbled Henry, “I should have brought a camera along. They’re expecting more storms tonight. These might not be here tomorrow.” He knew he was behind the times; his cheap cell phone was just a cell phone. It didn’t take pictures. Didn’t work half the time in the park anyway. He took off his hat and raked his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit. “And there’s no way I can run, get the camera and get back here before the light’s gone. No way.”
Justin was still studying the prints. “Well, at least, you’ve see them, too. That’s a relief to know. I thought I was losing it.”
“You’re the expert. Do you think they’re authentic?”
“I don’t know. They look real. It’s just that I’ve never seen any impressions like these in any of the books or excavation sites. If they are dinosaur tracks, they’re tracks of a beast as yet undiscovered in history.”
“Or they could be a clever joke,” Henry offered, hopefully. “You wouldn’t believe how ingenious some hoaxers can be.”
“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t rain tonight. Like you, I wish I could have gotten pictures. I guess I wasn’t thinking, either. When I found these prints I thought I had my camera in my duffel bag, but somehow I must have forgotten to put it in this morning before I left. I was in such a hurry. Perhaps it won’t rain tonight and these will be here tomorrow.” He traced the fading outline of one of the prints. His hair fell forward, covering his face; he slipped the straggly strands behind his ears and rose to his feet.
They stood examining the prints in the flashlight’s circle until it was almost totally dark.
“We’d better get back to the lodge,” Henry finally said. “The path can be treacherous in the dark.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Justin dropped his muddy hands to his side.
Water lapped softly behind them as they painstakingly made their way to the boat dock using Henry’s flashlight.
The cold had crept in with the night and the men shivered in their coats as they picked their way through the rocks lining the path. Henry chose to take the easiest trail up to the rim and straight down to the lodge.
Henry began to doubt what he’d seen. The impressions could have been a trick of the escaping light; or something the lapping water had created. That was possible, wasn’t it?
A full moon, pale and transparent, was riding the horizon above ebony trees. The illumination it gave off was faint. The water of Crater Lake glimmered far below them and they could barely make out the shadows of the trees and the blurry outlines of Wizard Island and Phantom Ship.
Henry glanced behind him when they’d reached the top and before he turned away thought he saw something. “What’s that rippling on the surface of the lake there past Wizard Island?” He paused, squinting and staring hard at the water, as Justin waited behind him. Yes, something was swimming down there…a series of bumps in the water.
Then it was gone. The water was placid.
“Did you see that?”
“See what?” Justin asked.
“Never mind.” The skin on Henry’s arms and neck was tingling. He experienced that strange feeling of unreality again, as if he were dreaming. A cold breeze fluttered across his face.
He was wide awake.
Had that woman the summer before really seen something in the lake? Something that shouldn’t have been there? Was that the something he’d just seen?
Nah, he chided himself, chuckling uneasily as he and Justin walked down the trail. The ripple in the water was most likely a big fish. Must have been.
That woman in the group yesterday with her ridiculous accusation had spooked him, that was all. Along with George and Justin and the weird tracks. He was tired; and had obviously seen too many Spook Spectaculars as a kid. Under the cloak of night, anything was imaginable.
But he couldn’t explain the great relief he felt when Justin and him strolled through the door of the brightly lit lodge a short while later. The sight and sound of normal, noisy people, the aroma of fresh coffee, and the crackling fire, were comfortingly welcome.
Suddenly he hoped it’d rain again tonight. Hoped it would storm to beat the band so all those tracks would wash away. Then he wouldn’t have to deal with any of it.
***
Outside in the night a mournful call echoed across the water of Crater Lake…and slowly pulsed away into the dark. The water rippled and moved and was eventually calmed as the moon rose high and full over the park among the gathering clouds. The waters stilled. The night silent.
Dinosaur Lake Page 6
