In which our heroes gain some distance from the stranger; a geocache is found; a ranger is called.
The boys trudged in silence for a few minutes. They couldn’t really put their thumb on it, but their conversation with Angus had made both of them rather uneasy. He never threatened them directly, but this valley now seemed darker, and more menacing. They walked with a heavy heart as a result. Ted, in particular, kept looking behind him for any signs that Angus was following them.
Both of them wanted nothing more than to put the next ridge between themselves, and the intimidating memory of Angus Dawson.
The boys could see that roughly a mile down the trail, at the top of the next rise, stood an odd rock formation. According to the map it was called Cockney’s Knob. When the boys reached the top of the knob, they stopped and looked back over the valley. Neither had said a word, but they were studying the valley below them. They stood there for several minutes until they were sure that the valley, and the trail running through it, was empty.
Cockney’s Knob is a mostly exposed rock formation. Various grasses grew among the rocks, and the occasional small pine tree clung to the rocks with their roots, finding nutrition in the soil that settled in the stone crevices. It was a mostly barren place compared to the rest of the mountains around it, which was covered in thick forest, but it did have one advantage: The lack of trees made it an ideal spot to observe the area around it.
“Well, that was an experience I won’t soon forget.“ Ted spoke quietly, finally breaking the silence.
“No kidding. I’m not sure that old man is all there”, Billy agreed. “I wonder if that’s the old man the ranger had warned us about. Perhaps we should call this in.”
Ted was already pulling out his smartphone. “I was thinking the same thing, bro.”
Ted called the number the ranger had given him back at the trailhead.
“Hello! Is this Ranger... This is Ted Bishop speaking… Ted Bishop. You met my brother and I at the Mountains-To-Sea trailhead this morning… yes, driving a yellow jeep, thats us… Oh, our hike is going fine, sir… I said our hike is going fine… Sorry, I have bad reception here… Bad reception, sir! Listen, I want to report an unusual encounter we had just now… Yes sir, rather strange indeed. Remember that old man you warned us about?...”
Ted went on to explain the encounter the brothers had with Angus Dawson. The ranger took a detailed account, which took a while due to the bad cell phone reception. Ted also repeated their expected route, and their ETA back at the jeep.
“Hello! Is this Ranger... This is Ted Bishop speaking… Ted Bishop. You met my brother and I at the Mountains-To-Sea trailhead this morning… yes, driving a yellow jeep, thats us… Oh, our hike is going fine, sir… I said our hike is going fine… Sorry, I have bad reception here… Bad reception, sir! Listen, I want to report an unusual encounter we had just now… Yes sir, rather strange indeed. Remember that old man you warned us about?...”
Ted went on to explain the encounter the brothers had with Angus Dawson. The ranger took a detailed account, which took a while due to the bad cell phone reception. Ted also repeated their expected route, and their ETA back at the jeep.
When the conversation with the ranger was over, Ted hung up his phone.
“Man, reception sucks in the mountains.” he griped, staring at his phone. “Yep, I only have one bar. I did manage to talk with the ranger tho.”
“What did he have to say?” BIlly asked, curious to know if their suspicions were correct.
“What did he have to say?” BIlly asked, curious to know if their suspicions were correct.
“Angus fits the description that the other hikers have given about the mysterious old man.” Ted confirmed. “The ranger seems to think we should be fine, but he suggested we keep an eye out for any other suspicious activity, and to give him a call right away. Otherwise I think we’re good to go, bro.”
“Sounds good to me,” Billy agreed, “but all this business about Angus has put us behind schedule. I say we rest here awhile and eat some lunch before we continue on. What do you say?”
Before getting a response from his brother, Billy slumped down onto the rocks, and started opening his pack to retrieve his lunch.
Despite the recent experience, it was still a beautiful day to be up in the mountains. The sun was shining, and a light breeze was blowing. The boys ate, and took in the stunning views of the valleys that surrounded them. At one point they even thought they saw a herd of elk off in the distance.
Billy took the opportunity to take some more photos, including a 3D Panorama shot called a Photosphere. He hoped to submit it to StreetView when they got back to civilization.
Ted started playing with his GPS. “Looks like we have about 3 miles to ground zero”, Ted informed his brother. They had been geocaching for so long that he was in the habit of giving out vital geocache information at opportune moments without being prompted. Billy was going to ask anyway, so might as well skip a step and go straight to the answers.
“Oh wait!” Ted exclaimed suddenly, “I forgot about this.”
Ted stood up and walked behind the rock Billy was currently sitting on, a huge grin on his face, whistling innocently. Right behind where Billy sat the rocks drop 7 feet straight down. Billy hopped down, and looked around a bit. He bent over and pulled aside a large flat stone that was covering a small grotto in the rock face. He then pulled out an ammo can, and held it up triumphantly.
“No way!” Billy exclaimed. “Dang, I was practically sitting on it this whole time. Hilarious!”
“Yeah, I knew this was here, but in all the excitement at the bridge I forgot about it until now.”
Ted signed the log for the pair, and replaced the ammo can back in its hiding spot.
“Time to get moving” Billy said, standing up and stretching.
The brothers policed the wrappings from their lunch, re-packed their gear and supplies, and with a final check of the GPS, started down the path towards their ultimate goal - the final geocache in the Legend Of Dawson’s Mine.
Ted signed the log for the pair, and replaced the ammo can back in its hiding spot.
“Time to get moving” Billy said, standing up and stretching.
The brothers policed the wrappings from their lunch, re-packed their gear and supplies, and with a final check of the GPS, started down the path towards their ultimate goal - the final geocache in the Legend Of Dawson’s Mine.
By the time the brothers got to the bottom of the next hill the brothers forgot all about their troubles at the bridge.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Copyright 2015 by Dave DeBaeremaeker. All Rights Reserved.
