The old shuttle bus' engine whined as it climbed in elevation, as if saying, "This is not a good idea." But how could it not be? The scenery was breath-taking. Snow capped mountains, trees so green it looked like a fantasy novel. Running streams meandered along the highway, with salmon jumping every few feet. "Hey, Jeremy, how hard is this hike tomorrow really going to be?" Jeremy put his hand behind Nicole's neck. "Oh, it's hard, but nothing you can't handle, sweetie. You run marathons and are pretty strong. You'll be fine. We just have to worry about the trail being ruddy with lose dirt and rocks."
Nicole's eyes could not stop looking out of the window at the grand beauty of Alaska. She saw some animal trails in the grass and on the adjacent hillside. She turned to look at Jeremy. "Hey, what kind of animals are out here?" Jeremy took a deep breath in then let it out before replying, "Well, of course there are foxes and moose and all sorts of bears, but we will be alert and not sneak up on any animals. We'll be okay, hon. Millions of people hike Alaska and never have a problem. Relax, this will be a hike to remember." Nicole leaned over, and kissed her fiancé on the side of the face.
The two were dropped off at their hotel. Nicole said, "Oh look how cute! All the rooms are their own little rustic log cabins! I want it to snow," said the Los Angeles resident. Dinner was served in the dining room, and soon after the two went to sleep. They woke up early, with plans to hit the trail just as the sun was coming up.
After eating a breakfast of oatmeal and two bananas each, they walked the half mile to the trailhead. Nicole took a couple of deep breaths while looking at the climb ahead. She pulled out her cell phone from the side pocket in her backpack, and took a few photos of the mountain ahead. "This is gorgeous," she said with a wide smile. Mount Logan itself towers over 19,000 feet, a rather daunting, yet beautiful site. The two were not going to climb to the peak, but climbing pretty high was in their plans. "Okay, Jeremy, you owe me lobster after we complete this hike!" Jeremy grinned, "Deal!"
"This is a good pace, Nicole. We're going at a decent clip, but not enough to overly sweat. If we sweat too much, the water on our skin can cool and cause hypothermia." After two hours into the hike, the two stopped for a snack break. The area was much more wooded than when they started, with tall pines towering above and deep to both sides of the trail. As they ate granola bars and took in several ounces of sports drink, Nicole looked just off the trail and saw something quite unusual. In the fresh snow there was a print, looking like the print of a human bare foot, only quite large. "Honey," she said sharply, continuing, "Look!" Jeremy stood up and said that's weird, why would someone go barefoot in the snow?" Nicole snapped her head from the track and glared at Jeremy. "No, what's weird is the size of it!" Jeremy replied, "It is kind of big, but those guys in the NBA have real big feet." Nicole smirked. "Are you saying a professional basketball player is walking here, in the snow barefoot?" Jeremy chuckled. "No, silly. But many people have big feet!" "Yeah, but who walks barefooted in the snow, a three hour walk back to the trailhead?" Jeremy pointed to the snow. "Look, the tracks are spaced far apart and go off deep into the woods." "Should we continue, or is this too
creepy?" asked a nervous Nicole. Jeremy took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. "Come on Nicole. We trained for this and have been looking forward to this for over a year. We can do this, and you'll have a great feeling of accomplishment when we're done."
"Yeah, I know. Let's own this trail!" said a now smiling Nicole. The two continued to climb over the next hour and a half, enjoying views of glistening snow capped peaks and green pines, with a light blue sky above. Jeremy pointed to the adjacent trees. "You see those white little balls high in the trees. Those are the heads of bald eagles as they rest." Nicole replied, "Or, looking for prey. I hope we're not anythings prey out here." Jeremy shook his head. "Hey, us humans are the scariest thing out here."
The two took a break to rest, eat and re-hydrate. As they were finishing their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches amongst some of the most beautiful scenery on earth, their attention quickly focussed on the forest, where they heard the distinct sound of a branch breaking with a single, cracking sound.
The two looked in the direction they heard the sound, but saw nothing. Jeremy went back to finishing his sandwich, however, Nicole kept scanning the pine trees and the wilderness of snow. About three minutes later Nicole let out a gasp of air. She put her hand over her mouth as a reaction of shock. She removed her hand and excitedly said, "Oh my. Jeremy...look!" She pointed to an area about seventy-five yards away. Jeremy shook his head in disbelief, as he saw what Nicole was pointing at. There in the distance, standing next to a cluster of pine trees, was a very large, very hairy, two legged animal standing upright like a human. It was amazingly tall, definitely over seven feet, maybe even eight feet tall. The unknown creature had all white, almost silver hair that blended in with the shining snow.
"Tell me you see it Jeremy! Tell me you see it!" "Yes, I do Nicole. Most definitely I do!" replied Jeremy. "Is that a polar bear?" Asked Nicole. "That's no bear, honey!" Jeremy removed his cell phone from the side zippered pocket of his backpack. By the time Jeremy put his phone in photo mode, the creature was gone.
Nicole said in a loud, but shaky voice, "Let's get the heck out of here! We have no idea what that thing wants or is capable of!" Jeremy kept staring at the woods, hoping the creature would surface as his phone is now ready to take photos. He waited a few seconds. The two heard other branches breaking, like twigs, however all the branches on the trees looked to thick for a human to snap. "Yeah, that's a great idea. Let's not get deeper into the woods, farther away from safety. Let's go!" The two started to head back down the trail towards the trail head where they started. They were at a fast jog for about ten minutes, then when tired, slowed to a fast walk. They could not slow any more as their fear level was heightened by the unknown, and knowing they still had a long way to go. The snow covered trail didn't allow for great speed, but they did what they could. If attacked, no one was around to help them, and they knew it.
As they continued, Nicole asked in a worried, yet excited out of breath voice, "Oh my God! Jeremy, did we just actually see a real Bigfoot?" Jeremy did not reply right away
as every few seconds he looked behind him, not wanting to get attacked from the rear. He wiped some sweat out of his eyes and finally answered, "No, but in these snowy mountains, this far north, I bet you we saw a Yeti! It's the same thing, just looks lighter as it lives in the snowy regions of the northern hemisphere, if you believe that sort of thing." Nicole looked at Jeremy and responded sharply, "What do you mean if I believe in that sort of thing? We both just saw it!" They were both now breathing hard as fear kept them at a quick pace. Nicole said in a labored voice, "I can't wait till we make it back to the safety of our cabin!" Jeremy took a sip of water from his sport's bottle. "We'll get there honey, just keep going," Jeremy said in the most comforting, calm voice he could muster up.
As the two dropped in elevation to about seven thousand feet, something caught their attention in the woods to the right of the trail. They stopped to better scan the area, and to take a quick, yet needed rest break. They saw nothing for about thirty-seconds... then it showed itself. Out from behind a grouping of three large pine trees was a bear. Not just any bear, but the highly aggressive, highly feared Grizzly bear. This particular bear was still on all fours, meandering calmly and slowly towards Nicole and Jeremy. Jeremy pulled out his phone, determined to get at least one cool picture on their shortened trip. He held the phone vertically and pressed the shutter. Although still daylight, Jeremy had the flash on. The bright light that flashed was very visible to the bear. As soon as the flash went off the bear stood up on two legs, looking at a minimum of eight feet tall.
"Come on!" Jeremy directed. The two ran down the trail and the bear went back down to all fours, which is way more efficient. The bear, upset from the sudden flash of light, let out a growl, then started to sprint towards Jeremy and Nicole. Seeing the bear close the gap, they turned sharply into the woods to the left of the trail. They zig-zagged their way through the trees, hoping to find a solution out of their predicament. Within one minute, Nicole felt the sharpness of the bears claws as they tore through her jacket and into her skin. She fell to the ground and played dead. The bear sniffed Nicole's head and walked past her. Jeremy was shaking nervously as he hid behind a tree He shed a tear not knowing if his beloved Nicole was really dead.
The bear sniffed the air and followed the scent of peanut butter on Jeremy's breath, and with a few quick moves, found him behind the tree. Jeremy almost passed out with fear as the beast stood up on two legs in front of him, looking like some sort of monster from a horror film. This was no Hollywood movie as eight feet of natural killer stood staring directly at him. Suddenly the bear came down to all four legs and turned around quickly, as he was struck in the back of the head by a baseball sized rock. There, facing the bear, was Nicole. The bear took two mighty steps and reached out with his right paw and knocked Nicole to her back, causing bleeding to her chest from the long, sharp claws. The bear walked over to Nicole as she laid in the snow. A completely scared Jeremy summoned what courage he had in him, and charged the bear. The bear spun around quickly and with one swipe of his paw, sliced Jeremy's right shoulder and right chest, knocking him to the now blood stained snow.
Nicole, although light headed from loss of blood, ran into the woods. The bear turned to look at her and Jeremy used this opportunity to run the other way. For some reason the bear let them be. The two were away from the bear, but unfortunately, separated from each other, each in their own woods, on two different sides of the trail.
They didn't want to call out, as they didn't want to attract the bear. They each hiked on their own in deeper snow than what was on the trail. It was getting colder, and Nicole shed tears that ran down her face. As Jeremy walked, his feet sank about six feet into a crevasse, with only the top of his head showing. Jeremy shook in fear, as he knew most crevasses are deadly. Jeremy tried to move his arms to claw his way out, but the crevasse was too narrow to move his arms more than an inch on either side. He was freezing, shivering uncontrollably. Jeremy closed his eyes and thought of Nicole, alone in the wilderness, frightened, cold, afraid.
Jeremy became angered at the situation. "No God, not today!" The snow on the inside of this crevasse was still fresh, and Jeremy was able to dig the toes of his hiking boots in enough to slowly walk his way up, inch by inch. After about an hour and a half, he was out. He laid back on the snow, crying tears of joy, but too exhausted to move. As he laid there with his eyes closed, a shadow blocked the sun, and he opened his eyes. What he saw caused his eyes to widen, his body to shake, and for him to wish he was back in the crevasse. The grizzly had his nose within one foot of Jeremy's, and Jeremy could feel the air of the bear's breath on his face.
A tear rolled down his face before he shut his eyes, and thought, "Maybe today is the day." The bear sniffed a few times as Jeremy laid motionless. After a minute, the bear quietly walked away, into the woods. "I can't believe that plying dead thing works," he said in a soft whisper. Jeremy made his way back to the trail, and started walking. He tried to call Nicole's cell phone, but had no service in the remote area. After twenty minutes of walking, wondering if he would find his Nicole, he saw a person up ahead, laying on the side of the trail on their back. He jogged, but slowly as his legs were still aching from his crevasse escape. "Nicole!" He didn't know if she was alive or dead, as she laid with a two foot circle of blood in the snow near her shoulder. There was no response to her name. "Nicole! Nicole!"
Jeremy shook her with both hands...no response. He gently slapped the side of her face. He grinned as her eyes slowly opened halfway. She formed a slight smile and said, that bear clawed me good, Jeremy. I was too afraid to keep walking, so I just laid down." Jeremy grabbed hers hands and walked backwards to stand her up. "Come on Nicole, we have got to get out of here!"
The two walked slowly, their legs and spirits weakened. Jeremy pulled out his cell phone once again, not to take any photos, but to call 9-1-1. The remote, mountainous location still did not grant cell phone service. Realizing that, an added element of despair hit him them hard. They looked down, depressed, injured, alone. The two
hobbled for about another half mile and sat on the edge of the trail. Jeremy pulled a T- shirt out of his backpack and wrapped it around Nicole's bleeding shoulder. Jeremy himself was much in need of first aid, actually, emergency medical care.
As Jeremy finished tying the T-shirt around Nicole, their faces turned white as their eyes widened. They heard growling, and the fast approaching steps of something heavy on the dirt and hard packed snow trail. Within seconds, Jeremy's head was within the jaws of the mighty grizzly, and was tossed to the ground. While on the ground, the bear bit Jeremy's upper left arm, shattering bone and tearing muscle until Jeremy feinted from shock. The bear turned his attention to Nicole. She laid down to play dead, however, the smart grizzly figured out he did not kill her earlier and was not fooled.
The monster bear was on all four legs, hovering over a trembling Nicole. The large beast put Nicole's head in his mouth and bit down, causing punctures to the top of her head, and the top of her right ear to become torn. The bear raised his right paw to finish off Nicole. While the bear's arm was cocked back, he flew off of Nicole, as if a ghost hit him like a defensive football player would hit his opponent. The bear landed on his back about fifteen feet away. Jeremy looked up through the blood dripping down his face. Jeremy could make out the shiny coat of the Yeti, who used his shoulder to knock the bear off Nicole. While the bear was dazed for a moment, the Yeti charged and bit the bear's neck from behind, placing several puncture wounds into the powerful beast. The Yeti snapped off a tree branch from an old pine tree like it was just a flower being plucked from its stem. The Yeti used the branch like a baseball bat, and struck the bear straight in the nose. The bear was shook up, and on shaky legs, ran off into the forest.
Nicole and Jeremy cleared the dripping blood from their eyes, and made eye contact with the Yeti. The Yeti placed the branch on the snowy ground just off the trail, then disappeared. Not disappeared like he ran off, he literally faded to the point he actually disappeared into thin air. It was kind of like seeing a bubble, then it pops and there is no more bubble to be seen. "Where did it go?" Nicole asked in a heightened tone. Jeremy paused, wiped more blood out of his eyes, and replied, "I don't know honey, I just don't know." The two got up to their feet and slowly walked down the trail, hoping to soon find where they started hours earlier. Back to where they were once safe.
About thirty minutes into their walk, panic instantly set in as they heard fast approaching, heavy footsteps and more shocking, the familiar growl of the
grizzly. They had no time to play dead, no time to run. "I love you Nicole!" Jeremy shouted in a cracking voice. "I love you too Jeremy," Nicole replied in a whisper, which was all she could bring out. They held hands as the determined bear was almost on them. They closed their eyes in anticipation of sudden death. They heard the thud of an impact. They didn't feel an impact, they heard the loud thud of a violent collision. When they looked up they saw the Yeti was on scene, having tackled the bear who was now flat on his back. The Yeti was on top of the bear's stomach and grabbed the bear by the lower jaw and upper jaw, pulling his mouth wide open, dislocating his jaw. The bear rolled over and got on all four legs and ran off into the woods, making a low moaning sound instead of his usual ferocious growl.
Facing Nicole and Jeremy in the middle of the trail was the Yeti. Being within only ten feet from the couple, Nicole and Jeremy could see the Yeti was over eight feet tall, much taller than anyone that has ever played professional basketball. The Yeti stood there for a few moments, long enough to make direct eye contact with both of them. Somehow, in the presence of a creature as mythical and feared as a Bigfoot or Yeti, a calm fell over the couple. It was like this ancient human like animal was trying to communicate he is in the same family in the animal kingdom as them, and he had their back. Jeremy nodded affirmatively at the Yeti, who then, after a few seconds, nodded as well before walking into the forest in the opposite direction of the bear. The couple stood frozen on the trail, just watching the Yeti as he headed towards the trees. As the Yeti got to the first cluster of trees, he turned, looked at the couple, and faded out until again, he disappeared into thin air.
The couple stood there in shock for about one minute, then Nicole commented, "Hey, that confirms what we saw earlier." Jeremy scratched the top of his head and replied, "Yeah, that Yeti is from the past." Nicole immediately replied, "He is so in the past that he is a ghost, right?" "Right honey. Unbelievable, but right." Nicole asked, "So, the sightings of Bigfoots and Yetis are actually ghost sightings of prehistoric creatures before they evolved into humans?" Jeremy let out a gasp of air and again scratched the top of his head and replied, "I guess so. The discovery of the first upright, human like creature was proved to be five million years old. If they were still living amongst us how come we can't find any remains after they pass on? They apparently lived generations before us, and these modern day sightings, these ghosts, are proof that the human spirit never dies." Nicole smiled and replied, "Let's get moving. We're almost there, and we're gonna be okay."
The two reached the trailhead where they first saw an indication of cell service. They both sat on a bench, as Jeremy called 9-1-1. Paramedics arrived and transported the two to the hospital. They were placed in adjoining rooms in the emergency depatment, separated by a thin curtin. Nicole smiled and said, "Hey, when we get out of here, you still owe me lobster!" Jeremy chuckled. "That's right...but."
"But what? I completed the hike!"
"Yeah, but with what you went through to complete it, you get lobster all the time!" Jeremy looked up, smiled, and whispered, "Thank you, brother Yeti."