The Hike (Book 1): Survivors

by Quentin Rogers

Mackenzie let the question hang in the air a little too long before saying “Mom said you’d be like this.”

  Patrick felt himself physically biting down on his lip enough to hurt. “I said ‘Do you got me?’” He repeated.

  Mackenzie let the question hang just long enough again to show her discontent and then answered with as much smugness as she dared, “Yes. I got you.”

  Patrick started the car, put his seatbelt on, and turned to ask his daughter what she wanted to do for dinner. Instead, she had her ear phones back in and he said to himself “Tacos it is then.”

  Chapter 2

  “You ready?” Patrick asked as he slung his pack over one shoulder. The backpack was a twenty-year-old external frame pack that was still in good condition. It was packed with gear that was a lot heavier than it probably should be for a three-day excursion, but Patrick didn’t ask Makenzie to bring her share of the heavy stuff because he was anticipating the whining and complaining to be at an all-time high without adding any weight to her pack. A deep breath of crisp fresh mountain air made him forget about the extra weight on his back and got his heart pumping in anticipation of the hike. Patrick was not even close to as good as shape as he had been the years before when he last made this hike, but he had been putting in countless hours on the treadmill for the last few months trying to prepare for this trip. It was downright chilly for mid-June, with their breath just barely visible in the early sunlight.

  “Hey –“ Patrick said as he bumped Mackenzie’s shoulder because she of course couldn’t hear him with her ear buds in and her iPod cranked up to whatever it was she was listening to. “You ready?” he asked as she pulled one ear bud out long enough to hear him and nod in response. He didn’t see that hate in her eyes that morning that was usually there staring back at him; just solemnness. The blank stare and few words was most likely due to lack of sleep and her teenage body not used to waking up before the sunrise.

  “I’m going to put the keys…” Patrick started to say but realized that those buds were back in her ears and she wasn’t paying attention again. He thought about telling her that there was a rule on this trip of no electronic devices until they make it back to the vehicle, but he decided against it. If he did that, it would just add to her disdain for being up here with him. The batteries in all her electronic devices surely couldn’t last the entire trip anyways. It would be nice to have a peaceful and quiet hike without the complaining. Up to Lake Helen at least. Patrick went ahead and put the keys to the vehicle up under the back bumper and made a mental note of telling Makenzie where he put them once the ear buds were surgically removed from her skull.

  He threw the other shoulder strap over his shoulder, situated the load a little, and tightened the chest and waist straps to get ready for a long walk up the mountain. Patrick motioned with his hand for Makenzie to follow him and walk the couple of hundred yards along the edge of West Tensleep Lake to the trailhead where their journey was to begin. The sign at the trailhead was just as he had remembered it from his youth. It was a dark brown painted sign supported by two wooden posts. It had a map of the trails in the area, some Forest Service information, registration cards, and a pencil tied to it. Patrick filled out the personal information on the registration card and stuffed it in the box so they would know who was on the trail and where they would be in case there was an emergency. He looked around to make sure Makenzie was situated and ready to start the hike, but she wasn’t there. Patrick couldn’t believe that she’d taken off again. He felt the anger rising in him. He called out a few times for her at a level not to disturb any fishermen or campers near the lake, but she didn’t answer.

  With his heart racing from fear and anger, Patrick began to trot back down the trail to where he had last seen her. He was moving a little too fast and not paying enough attention to what he was doing. Patrick didn’t pick his right foot up high enough and stumbled on an exposed root on the well-worn trail. With his internal balance being off center from being strapped to the heavy backpack, he couldn’t catch himself in time and he fell like a rock. He landed hard on his right knee and hands. The pain was sharp, but not unbearable; and it only took him a second to stand up and get trotting again.

  Within a couple of hundred feet he could see the vehicle where he had left it, and standing in the same place as when he had left was Makenzie. Patrick was no longer nervous and worried for her well-being, but rather he was just filled with anger and he could feel his jaw tighten as he walked the last hundred feet back to the car.

  “What are you doing?” Patrick scathed as he yanked on the cord of her ear phones to pull them from her ears.

  “Hey!” she said.

  “Where have you been?” he said as he glared at her. He then lifted his right foot to the back bumper of the car and hiked his pant leg up over his knee.

  “What happened to you?” she said as they both inspected the damage. There was some slight scrapes and contusions on his knee cap, but the thing that bothered Patrick the most was that it was already beginning to bruise dark on the inside edge of his knee cap. And of course, once he saw the injury, it seemed to ache twice as much as it had before.

  “I fell on the trail running back here to find you.” he said crossly as he reached out and pushed a little on the bruise to see how tender it was. A sharp pain shot up his leg and he let out an involuntary snort with it. “I told you to follow me up to the trailhead. What are you doing back here still?” Patrick said with his jaw still tight from anger and the pain in his knee.

  “I thought you were still getting ready” she answered somewhat defensively. “I told you that I was ready, but you didn’t say anymore.”

  With his blood boiling, and with what he was sure was a cold stare from his eyes he told her “No more electronics or ear-phones while we’re hiking.” Patrick pulled his pant leg back down over his knee and told her in the same cool voice “Now, let’s go.” Patrick turned and started back to trailhead anticipating a whine or some other flak, but he didn’t hear any. His knee now was throbbing and ached enough that with each step that he put weight on it, he noticed himself limping on it a little.

  After a few steps Patrick didn’t turn around to see if she was following, but he could hear her trudging along behind him. She muttered something that Patrick couldn’t understand, but he thought that he would just let it go. As they walked past the trailhead sign and got onto the main hiking trail, Patrick remembered thinking that this trip was starting out just like his wife had told him it would go. If the rest of the weekend was this fun, Patrick didn’t know if Makenzie would ever even speak to him again. His anger was beginning to subside and give way to his concern over the pain in his knee.

  This wasn’t the hike that Patrick had pictured in his head when battling Makenzie and his wife about taking the trip. He somehow thought that once they just got up there on the trail with the sun shining and the fresh mountain air in his lungs, he’d visit that place in his mind where he went when he was a kid. That place where there wasn’t a single care in the world. Pure bliss. This hike was anything but that place. The sun was beginning to shine, the air was as fresh as ever, and the chipmunks would bark in the background; but pain filled Patrick’s every step and bitterness oozed from every breath and snort from Makenzie as she trudged along the trail behind him.

  As they reached a small crest of a hill on the trail, another hiker and his son passed the two while they were heading the opposite way down the mountain. Patrick stepped off the trail to let them pass, and he motioned for Mackenzie to do the same. Patrick saw that they had fishing poles strapped to their packs, so between his gritted teeth he asked them if they had any luck. The man responded without slowing and while looking over his shoulder at them as they passed by “They’re biting like piranhas up there. We were using ‘hoppers, but they’re so hungry I bet they’d hit a bare hook if they see one.”

  Just at the crest of the hill where they passed the other hikers was the perfect sitting rock. “Let’s take a qui
ck break.” Patrick told Makenzie. They were only a mile or so from the trailhead, but his knee felt like it had just walked to Kansas and back. Patrick took the lead and carefully sat down on the rock with the weight of the pack on his back. He dug the water bottle out of its pouch on his side, took a swig, and offered it to Makenzie. Without looking up, she just made a “fffftt” sound from between her lips as she also carefully sat down on the rock next to him.

  “At least it sounds like we’ll be able to catch something and won’t have to eat oatmeal every night” Patrick said.

  Still nothing from her. She just kept her eyes down and her hands on her knees.

  He gave up on trying to change the mood and decided to inspect his injury. He pulled up his pant leg over his knee and was in awe with how much worse it looked than it had just a short time ago. The scrapes and contusions looked the same, but the swelling on the inside of the knee cap was now huge and it had begun to seriously bruise. It looked like he had eaten a purple apricot, and instead of going through the normal digestive tract; it somehow got wedged next to his knee cap. Now that he saw the damage, Patrick had serious thoughts about whether they should continue or not. If it got any worse, he’d hate to be stuck on top of the mountain with his daughter and not be able to get back down.

  Patrick gritted his teeth and braced himself for the pain as he gently touched the apricot with his finger. It was extremely tender, but not as bad as he thought it would be.

  “You alright?” Makenzie quietly asked with steel in her voice yet.

  “I’ve had worse blisters on my lips and never quit whistling” Patrick said as he slowly and carefully pulled his pant leg back down over his knee. “You want to take the lead for a while?”

  “I don’t know where I’m going” she responded.

  “There’s nothing to it. There’s only one fork in the path between here and Lake Helen; and we’re taking a left” he said as he was trying to get up.

  “OK” she said. It wasn’t much, but at least she was talking instead of snorting.

  The rest of the hike was uneventful. Except for when she stopped at the fork in the path to make sure they both were going left, Makenzie was barely visible to Patrick on the trail ahead as she was walking faster than his bum knee would allow. Mackenzie wasn’t in great physical condition, but she played enough soccer and softball during those seasons to make up for her slothfulness the rest of the year. Patrick thought that from the bounce in her step and the way she would whip her head around every once in a while to make sure that he was still behind her, that she was at least slightly enjoying herself.

  Patrick didn’t catch up to her until they reached the lake and Mackenzie was standing at the edge of it just off the trail. Despite the pain in his knee telling him to sit down and rest, Patrick had to take a deep breath and let his eyes soak in the beauty of Lake Helen. The lake was right at timber line, so there were pine trees randomly scattered about the edges of the lake; but all around and above the lake were boulders and the majestic peaks of the Big Horn Mountains. It was late afternoon by the time they arrived at the lake, and the sun was just above the ridge line to the West which created a shimmer so bright that it was difficult to look at on the water’s surface. While this was a popular destination as far as back country hiking goes, there wasn’t another soul to be seen or heard around the lake.

  Makenzie was still gazing at the lake when the pain in Patrick’s knee over took his bewilderment of the lake’s beauty and he sat down on a large boulder behind her. He massaged the area around the hurt knee while he waited for her to take in the sight.

  After several minutes, he noticed that she had those ear buds back in her ear. That’s probably why he hadn’t heard as much as a whine or complaint from her on the hike up here. He decided to let her disobedience go this time. Instead of chastising her, he picked up a small, smooth, flat rock instead and attempted to skip it across the lake in front of her. As soon as the rock hit the water the first time, Makenzie jumped straight up in the air; back pack and all. Before she landed, her head had swiveled back towards her dad to see where the projectile had come from. Once she had realized that Patrick had thrown the rock, the expression on her face went from wide eyed startled wonder to disdain just as her feet landed back down on the rock she had been standing on.

  “What are you doing?” she asked somewhat scolding, startled, and out of breath. She pulled the ear buds from her ears and took the few steps back to the rock Patrick was sitting on. “You scared me half to death” she said as she sat down next to him with her pack still on her back.

  “Just seeing how many skips I could get. I’ve never really been good at skipping rocks. That was probably one of my all-time records with four or five skips,” he said as he was staring down between his feet looking for another flat stone. “My dad always told me that the trick was finding the right rock, but nothing ever seemed to matter when I did it. I guess a good rock doesn’t make up for poor throwing skills.”

  Patrick found a stone he liked and continued to impart wisdom of skipping rocks to her “You’re supposed to get a flat, light rock; and then throw or flick it with the flat face as parallel to the water’s surface as you can get it.” He gave that one a flick, but it didn’t come off as graceful as he had envisioned.

  “You’re such an engineer Dad” Mackenzie said half-joking.

  The two of them continued to attempt to skip rocks from that boulder for too long. It was almost dusk when they decided to setup the tent and make camp.

  Chapter 3

  Both hikers had good intentions of rising early the next day and breaking camp so they could make it up to Misty Moon Lake early enough in the afternoon to be able to fish some. As a result, they both opted for lukewarm oatmeal from the camp stove the night before, and turned in early. The thought of eating fresh trout out in the mountain air sounded great to them both. However, Patrick could tell that they probably missed their opportunity for much fishing when he opened his eyes for the first time that morning. He could tell that the sun was mostly overhead from the way that it shown through the tent.

  While he could tell that he was much older now than the last time he slept on the ground, Patrick didn’t think that it was that bad. He was dreading moving his knee this morning because he was sure that it had gotten stiff from laying in a sleeping bag all night, but it wasn’t that bad either. It still was painful as he crawled out of the sleeping bag, but it felt a little better than it had when he had turned in last night.

  To Patrick’s surprise and chagrin, Makenzie wasn’t in her sleeping bag or even in the tent. He unzipped the door to the small backpacking tent and got dressed. He hurried more than he normally would have as he realized that Makenzie wasn’t in camp or by the lake that he could see.

  While Patrick’s knee felt better than it had the day before, it let him know that it still didn’t want to carry all his weight after he finished dressing and stood up for the first time. Just when his adrenaline started to pump again as Patrick realized Makenzie was not within sight, he saw her walking back to camp from the other end of the lake. She had her pole slung over her shoulder and it looked like she had a couple small trout on her rope stringer that she was awkwardly holding a little too far out in front of her. Seeing that adrenaline was no longer needed, he felt his heart begin to slow down and he sat down on the rock where he had sat the night before for dinner. He massaged the area around his knee until Makenzie sauntered back into camp. While she was trying to look grown up and professional, she was grinning ear to ear.

  “Nice catch” Patrick said as she got closer. “Are those rainbows…. or sardines?”

  “Ha…” she said flatly while the grin remained plastered to her face. “If you help me clean them, I’ll let you have one for breakfast.”

  “You catch ‘em; you clean ‘em” he told her as she reached camp and held the stringer out to him at arm’s length. Even though he just looked at her and didn’t make a move to take the fish from her, she rem
ained still. As soon as the grin that he’d been holding back reached the edge of his mouth, he took the stringer from her and they both chuckled a little.

  Patrick’s knee was still tender, but it did feel better than it had the day before. He could almost keep up with Makenzie on the hike up the steeper climb to Misty Moon Lake. This part of the hike was high in elevation and was totally above the tree line, so he could keep his eye on his daughter even if she got quite some ways ahead of him. His pack was heavier than it should have been, but he felt like he was getting his stride because almost nothing was bothering him as much as it had the day before. By the time that they hiked past the tiny Lake Marion, Patrick could feel a glisten of sweat on his brow and still felt like he had plenty of gas in the tank yet.

  Patrick could tell that the trip was working. Even though Makenzie and Patrick weren’t hugging and giggling like little school girls, he could tell that the tension between them was not as heavy as it had been in the last few months. Over breakfast that morning, he even saw a reluctant grin or two break through her scowl. They weren’t there yet, but the pure beauty of the wilderness and close quarters of backpacking were having an effect. Patrick would bide his time until just the right moment to have a heart-to-heart discussion with her about her friends and where she may want to go with her life.

  Makenzie decided to take a break before the last long hill up to Misty Moon Lake. She was leaning back on a large boulder to take the weight of her pack off as Patrick caught up to her. She pulled one headphone from her ear as he approached and pointed to a boulder field a hundred feet away. “What are those Dad?” she asked.

  It took a second for his eyes to adjust and focus on what she was pointing at, but then he saw the furry tan creatures ducking in and out from around the rock piles. “Whistle-pigs,” Patrick responded as one of the small dog-sized creatures stood up on its hind legs on top of a boulder to get a better look at them.