Warm sunshine returned Tuesday morning, so Austin and I soaked up some rays from Caleb’s rowboat on Yellowstone Lake. Before he allowed us to take his boat, Caleb had insisted on both Austin and me being present for a stern boating safety lecture. To anyone submerged, the frigid waters of the lake would cause hypothermia in minutes with death following soon after. Careless behavior on the lake was simply not an option. Storms could develop quickly resulting in waves too large for the boat to handle. We were to stay close to shore, be alert, and avoid areas with dangerous thermal features along the shoreline. Though much of what Caleb said was a repeat of what we had been told on the scenic cruise, I, unlike Austin, listened patiently and intently.
“Geez, he treats me like I’m a complete idiot. I’ve known these things since I was a little kid. I’m gettin’ really tired of his being so bossy and overbearing. He’s worse this year than he’s ever been,” Austin complained after Caleb finally let us launch.
“Maybe he was lecturing me more than you since I’m new and all,” I suggested.
“Maybe, I guess. He does act weird around you. What’s up with that anyway?”
“Beats me. I don’t think he likes you hanging out with me for some reason. Whatever,” I shrugged.
“I’ll hang out with anyone I want to hang out with. He’s not going to control everything I do, and he might as well figure that out now. There’s somewhere I want to show you this afternoon. I think I can get us a ride.”
“Does that mean it’s somewhere you aren’t supposed to go? I don’t want to get you in trouble. Caleb already seems to think I’m a bad influence on you.”
“I’m not worried about it.”
We passed the rest of the morning paddling around the marina area. Keeping the boat moving along a straight path proved more difficult than it appeared, and we spent as much time laughing at my lack of rowing finesse as we did actually paddling. When we got hungry we made our way back to the dock. Austin went inside the marina office and arranged for Drew to give us a ride during his lunch break and to pick us up after his shift was over. We hurried back to Austin’s camper, grabbed some food and hiking supplies, and made it back to meet Drew just in time for his break.
Drew dropped us off at an unmarked trailhead a few miles past Gran’s campground at Fishing Bridge. I didn’t have my bear bells, but I figured that was no big deal since Caleb had declared them useless anyway. We brought plenty of water and food, and Austin carried a can of bear spray from the camper. I felt guilty that I hadn’t told Gran where I was going, but she seemed to be ok with anything I did with Austin. I persuaded myself that it was probably alright.
“Are you sure we should be doing this?” I asked as we started up the trail.
“It’s fine. I’ve done this hike a million times. Let’s eat here before we hike. I’m starving.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“I like this trail. It’s one of my favorites,” Austin commented through a mouthful of food. “It has some pretty steep inclines, but we’ll take it slow. It’s totally worth it.”
Lounging on a fallen log in the warm sunshine, we savored our hastily made sandwiches and watched a raven eyeing us as it hopped from branch to branch of a nearby tree, its head tilted to the side in concentration. “I think he’s considering a dive bomb attack on your chips,” I observed.
“He’ll never try it. He knows I’d take him down.”
“Yeah, you’re pretty scary alright.” The bird let out a raucous squawk of agreement with perfect timing. “See, told ya’,” I laughed.
“You’ll get nothin’ but my crumbs, buddy,” Austin teased the bird. “You about ready to head out?”
“Yep,” I answered, stashed my garbage in the backpack, and stood to brush off my backside and stretch.
“You look like you’re getting ready for an Olympic marathon.”
“Hey, you Yellowstone guys take this hiking stuff pretty seriously. I gotta’ be prepared.”
“Caleb’s not with us. You can relax. I’ll take it easy on you,” he smiled.
The trail led us on a level path for quite a while before it dropped gradually into a rather deep ravine. At the precipice of the ravine, Austin stopped and pointed to the opposite side. “That’s where we’re going. We’ll go down then up the other side, and it’ll level off for a while before we go part way up that mountain over there. It has amazing views. Think you can make it?”
“No problem,” I agreed facetiously. “Can we do that and make it back in time to meet Drew?”
“It’s according to how slow you are,” he laughed. “I know what time we started, so I’ll make sure we turn back in time.” As we headed down the ravine, Austin prodded, “So, I hear you’re going to the dance with Justin.”
“No, who told you that?”
“Uhm, he did.”
“I never said I’d go with him. He asked. I said that I wasn’t sure I was going, and that I’d let him know later. I’m not going with him.”
“That’s good, but you should probably let him know.”
“Yeah. Why is it good?”
“I don’t know. I don’t especially like him. I don’t think it would be a good idea to make him mad, so you should tell him soon.”
“Me either. Seems like he can be kind of a jerk sometimes.”
“So, are you not gonna’ go? I bet you could ride with me and Brittany.”
“Oh, yeah, Brittany would love that. Austin, you can’t ask to take a girl on a date with another girl. What are you thinking?”
“You’re not a girl . . . I mean, you are a girl, but not a girl like that. I mean, you’re a friend. You just happen to be a girl.”
I laughed, “Well, thank you for declaring me female. I appreciate that. And I’m glad we’re friends, but you still can’t take me with you guys. It would be wrong . . . and awkward.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’d hate for you to miss it though.”
“Mmmm,” I agreed.
After we reached the bottom of the ravine and slowed for our ascent on the other side, a lady about my mom’s age, hiking alone, passed us. When she was out of earshot, I tugged on Austin’s sleeve and whispered, “Did you hear her coming? I didn’t hear a thing until she was right behind me. She shouldn’t be out here alone, should she?”
“No, I didn’t hear her either. It’s definitely not a good idea to hike alone, but some people do it. Caleb does. You can register before heading into the backcountry alone, so they know to look for you if you don’t return when expected. Maybe she did that.” While we hiked, I spotted her above us periodically as she followed the zigzagging trail up the incline. I lost sight of her when we crossed the level section between the top of the ravine and the mountain but saw her again as she started up the mountain ahead of us.
“Water break?” Austin offered after the first few switchbacks.
I nodded, bending to catch my breath. “Wow, this part is pretty steep. How do you do this without getting winded?”
“I get winded sometimes, just not yet,” he teased.
I looked up wondering how far ahead of us that lady was. Movement on the trail several switchbacks up caught my eye. I took the binoculars from the pack, held them to my eyes, and adjusted the focus until I could see clearly. “Austin, look!” I grabbed his arm and pointed to the spot where I saw the movement. “That’s what I saw before.” The creature stood in front of a vertical crevice in the rock wall that bordered the narrow trail, its massive head tilted to the sky as if allowing the sun to warm its shaggy face.
“What the hell is that?” Austin exclaimed, taking off his baseball cap, heedlessly tossing it to the ground as he shaded his eyes with both hands trying to get a better look. I nudged his raised arm with the binoculars which he took and lifted to his eyes. “There’s no freakin’ way that could be what it looks like. Is there?” he asked more to himself than to me.
“Austin, that lady is headed right for it. It could be dangerous. Come on. Let’s stop her,” I urged, yanking his sleeve as I shoved past him and ran up the steep incline, adrenaline giving me a renewed burst of energy. He hesitated for a few seconds still staring at the huge, hairy creature but soon overtook my short, struggling steps with his long, athletic strides.
“Yell to her if you see her again. Just get her attention. I’ll run ahead and try to catch her,” he ordered, easily increasing the distance between us.
My view momentarily blocked by trees, I hurried to reach an open segment of the trail. When the lone hiker came into view, I shouted to her, but she continued on as though she hadn’t heard me.
“Hey . . . lady . . . there’s an animal up there. Hey! Watch out!” I heard Austin’s shouts echo down the hill as I pressed upward, my heart pounding in my chest. At the next clearing, I paused to scour the hillside for the lady and the animal. A rock outcropping stood between me and the bigfoot creature, but I had a clear view of the hiker. I could have sworn she glanced back at me as she rounded the turn that positioned her on the section of trail where the creature had stood basking in the sunlight.
“Stop! Please, stop!” I shouted, waving my arms over my head, but she didn’t break her stride.
“Only moments later, Austin appeared at the same turn. “Where’d she go? Jessie, did you see where they went?” Austin shouted.
“No, she just passed where you are now seconds ago. Then, I lost her behind some rocks. I can’t see the whole trail.”
“Yeah, I was catching up. I could see her. I only lost sight of her for a second, and she was gone. It’s gone, too.”
“The bigfoot?”
“Yeah,” he yelled, still sounding hesitant to name it. “I’ll keep searching up here, but you come on up. I don’t like your being down there alone. We need to stay together. And talk while you walk.”
“Be careful, Austin. Don’t’ go any farther until I get there.” We continued a steady dialogue, shouting back and forth, until I finally reached him and practically lunged into his arms. “Do you think it took her?”
“I don’t know. There’s an opening in the rocks behind where it was standing. It’s narrow, but it may open into a cave. I’ve looked up and down the slope, and I don’t see any sign of them. Not even broken branches or footprints or anything. Jessie, she didn’t scream, not a sound. I would have heard. They were just . . . gone.”
“I know. Austin, this is too weird! Can you see into the cave at all?” I questioned and made my way to the crevice.
“No, nothing, it’s pitch black. You can’t even tell if there is a cave for sure.” He was right, of course. Together, we conducted a thorough search of the area hoping to find any clue to their location.
“Austin, promise me you aren’t playing some kind of sick joke on me,” I begged. “Remember that crack you made about this summer being fun cause of my being gullible. Did you set this up with some of your buddies? Please, tell me . . . this is scaring me.” I could hear my shaky voice start to crack.
“No, Jessie. I promise! I swear! I didn’t do this. I wouldn’t let you get this scared.” His voice sounded pretty shaky, too.
“Ok, then we have to get help. They can send out a search and rescue party. Come on, hurry,” I said and sprinted down the trail. Downhill was definitely easier than uphill, and I felt we could make pretty good time. When I glanced up at a clearing to see how far it was to the bottom, my left foot hit loose pebbles causing me to stumble and shift all my weight onto my right leg as my foot landed on the slanted side of a buried boulder. My right ankle twisted sideways with a pop, and I went down hard, face planting into the dirt. I lay sprawled face down on the trail for a few seconds and allowed my brain to catch up to what had happened to my body.
“Jessie, oh crap, are you ok?”
Gingerly, I pushed back onto my hands and knees, slowly progressing to a sitting position, indelicately spat out dirt, and wiped my mouth on my sleeve. “Help me up,” I requested, reaching for Austin’s hand. The instant weight hit my right foot pain shot up my leg. I yelped. “No, I’m not,” I admitted. “My ankle, I’m not sure I can walk on it. I need to sit for a minute.” Austin and I gently removed my shoe and sock to examine my ankle. Blue streaks radiated down the top and side of my foot and the initial signs of swelling were already evident.
“Wow, Jess, you turned it but good!”
Tears stung behind my eyes, but I forced them back. “What are we gonna’ do?” I paused. “You could leave me and go on to get help.”
“No way! I’m not leaving you here alone. Forget it! We’ll get you out of here, together.” He twisted to put my sock and shoe in the backpack. “You’ll have to lean on me and hop on your good foot. You may be able to hobble on the hurt one a little too if you put most of your weight on me. It’ll be slow going, but we can make it.”
“Austin, that’ll take forever.”
“That’s our only choice . . . unless you want me to carry you.”
“Absolutely not, I’ll hop. Let’s go.” Austin slung the backpack and Camelbaks over one shoulder and wrapped his other arm around my waist with my arm draped over his shoulders. We moved at a painfully creeping snail’s pace, my foot throbbing with each jarring hop. Whatever had taken that hiker was still out there, possibly lurking in the trees, watching us, planning its attack. How many unexplained disappearances might these animals be responsible for? So few sightings had been reported, yet I had seen the species twice in a two-week span. How odd, I thought. “Austin, do you think that was really a bigfoot or sasquatch or whatever they’re called?”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but yeah, I think it was. I’ve lived here almost my entire life, and I’ve never seen an animal like that one before, not even close to it,” he answered.
“I’m really sorry about falling. We’d probably be nearly out of here by now, if I’d been more careful.”
“It wasn’t your fault. Don’t apologize. Accidents happen.”
Through the building afternoon clouds, I noticed the sun sinking lower on the horizon and realized it would most certainly sink behind the mountains to the west before we reached the trailhead leaving us in complete darkness. Austin stopped briefly to shrug off the packs and stand straight to stretch his back.
“Have we missed our ride?”
He glanced at his watch. “Yeah.”
“What do you think Drew did when we weren’t there when he showed up?”
“I’m not sure,” he answered, glancing worriedly at the length of trail ahead of us. He picked up the packs and stooped to wrap his arm around me again. My entire body protested as I leapt forward on the next leg of our journey. I prayed for the strength to reach the trailhead. I could feel blisters forming at several pressure points on my left foot from the pounding it was taking, though they seemed quite insignificant compared to our overall predicament. Could it be that I had been present for a second murder in one spring? I tried to hurry.
“Austin . . .” the deep voice reverberated through the still mountain air. “Jessie . . .”
“We’re here,” Austin yelled back.
“Help,” I shouted at the same time. I heard the sound of his footsteps on the trail below before he stormed around the switchback into view.
His thunderous blue eyes blazed into Austin’s as he gripped Austin by the shoulders and gave him a good hard shake. “Where the hell have you been? What are you doing coming out here without telling me? I found your cap on the trail a little below here. I thought something had happened to you,” he spoke firmly but not yelling, ever in control. Only then did I notice the cap lying in the dirt at their feet. I tottered on my good foot and precariously maintained my balance with only fingers touching Austin’s back.
“Caleb, man, am I glad to see you.” Relief was evident in Austin’s voice. “Jessie’s hurt and,”
As if noticing my presence for the first time, Caleb turned. His concerned eyes caught on mine before he glimpsed my bare foot. “What happened?”
“I twisted my ankle, but, Caleb, there’s been an incident.” I rushed on. “We need search and rescue. A lady has disappeared. We think she was taken by an animal . . . a sasquatch.”
“Does she have a concussion? What is she talking about?” he asked, directing a puzzled look at Austin.
“No, it’s true. Caleb, we saw a bigfoot, for real. There was a woman hiking solo. We tried to warn her, but she vanished before I could get to her. And so did the animal. They were just . . . gone. There may be a cave . . .” Austin answered.
“You saw it, too?” Again with the shoulder shake. “Austin, tell me you didn’t see it. You’re just going by what she said, aren’t you. Don’t lie to me!” he warned.
“No, Caleb! I saw it. I’m not lying! I saw it with my own eyes.” Though his hands still gripped Austin’s upper arms, Caleb’s head dropped to stare at the ground, and his shoulders slumped forward as he sucked in a deep breath then slowly exhaled. When he finally looked up again, sadness and defeat marred his beautiful eyes, but he squared his shoulders and dropped his hands to his sides.
“We should get you home. Let me look at that ankle,” he said, stepping to my side. “Can you walk on it at all?”
“Not really, I’ve been mainly hopping with Austin’s help.” He knelt to gently examine my ankle then stood and swept me into his arms as if I weighed nothing at all.
“What are you doing? You can’t carry me the whole way! Put me down,” I demanded, shoving against his solid chest.
“Be still! You can’t walk, and I’m not waiting on you to hop. That’s ridiculous. Austin, grab the packs. Let’s go,” he ordered.
“What about that lady?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it,” he answered.
“How?”
“I said, don’t worry about it,” he snapped.
Rage boiled through me. How could a person be so incredibly arrogant? And why had the bigfoot sighting only gotten a reaction from him after he was convinced that Austin saw it, too? Did he think I was a total imbecile? Refusing to allow my body to rest easily against his, I crossed my arms and held myself stiffly away from him as he carried me down the trail.
“Relax,” he commanded, finally. “You’ll make this easier on both of us. Put your arms around my neck. It’ll help with balance.” He shifted my weight; I begrudgingly plopped my arms around his neck with a huff. After a while though, I began to feel guilty for my temper since he was working so hard to help me. It was a really long hike to carry another person.
“Do you need to take a break? I could hop while you rest,” I suggested.
“I’m fine. Relax.”
Austin remained silent. Exhaustion from the day washed over me, and I rested my head against Caleb’s chest. I could hear the comforting steady beat of his heart and feel the rippling muscles in his upper back under my hands. I relaxed and took in the feel of holding him close, my lips only inches from his neck and strong, angular jaw line. Just like a little piece of heaven on earth, I thought with a smile as my eyes drifted closed, and I lost all sense of time.
“You asleep?” he rumbled softly, peering down into my face. I opened my eyes and gazed into his, so close yet barely visible in the fading daylight. “We’re almost to the truck, baby,” he said so quietly that I wasn’t sure if I imagined it. I smiled, closed my eyes, and snuggled back against his chest. “Hey, sleepyhead, I have to put you down,” he spoke slightly louder now, making sure I was awake enough to stand, before he lowered my good foot to the ground and searched his pocket for his keys. He kept his left arm wrapped tightly around me for support as he opened the passenger door then lifted me onto the seat. “Scoot over,” he requested while Austin threw the packs into the truck bed.
The truck’s engine roared to life breaking the silent stillness of the forest. Caleb drove the short distance to the Fishing Bridge general store, pulled into the lot, and parked in a deserted corner. He retrieved his phone and held it in front of me. “Here, call your grandmother. Apologize for being late. Tell her you’re with us and will be home in a few minutes. Say nothing else . . . nothing. Got it?”
“Yeah, but why?” I asked.
“Just do it,” he replied.
When my call was completed, Caleb took the phone and stepped out of the truck. “Wait here. I’m calling Dad.” He slammed the door before Austin or I could utter a word. Austin ignored his warning and jumped out of the truck to follow Caleb, leaving his door open behind him. I could hear Caleb repeating our story to their dad. “They both did . . . yeah, he insists he did.” He paused to listen. “I think that would be a good idea. I’ll handle things on this end . . . I’ll tell him . . . Yeah, you too. Night.” He turned to Austin. “What part of wait here did you not understand? Get in the truck.” They returned to the truck, neither looking very happy. “Ok, here’s the deal,” Caleb started. “Dad will pick you up tomorrow morning to take you back home with him.”
Austin interrupted. “Back home? You mean I can’t stay the summer down here. That’s not fair! This wasn’t my fault.”
“It was your fault,” Caleb contradicted. “Number one you didn’t tell me where you were going, and number two you went somewhere you weren’t supposed to go. So, yes, it would be fair. You broke the rules, and Jessie got hurt because of it. But, that being said, you will be coming back. Dad just needs your help at home for a week or so.”
“Will I be back by next weekend?” Austin asked.
Caleb glanced at me. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Dad. Also, neither of you are to say anything to anyone about what you saw. I mean absolutely no one. Do you understand?”
“Why? That’s wrong!” I insisted. “People could be in danger. They should be warned.”
“No, Jessie. You, both, have to trust me on this. It’s ok. But, if you start spreading stories like this, you’ll have every crazy around, up here with guns, and who knows what else. You can’t say anything about this. It’s important. Just drop it. Forget it.”
“A woman is missing. We can’t forget it,” I argued.
“It’s being handled. I promise. Just don’t talk about it. Ok?”
Austin and I looked at each other unsure what to say. Eventually, Austin spoke, “I trust Caleb. I’m sure he knows what he’s talking about. I don’t like it, either, but he wouldn’t do anything to let people get hurt. I won’t say anything.”
“Thanks,” Caleb sighed. “Jessie?”
“Fine,” I agreed reluctantly.