It was just about noon when I crested the rise. Since mid-morning the climb had been steady but now it was over and I stood and gazed at the scene before me.
Two valleys met here forming a giant T and I stood at the corner of the crosspiece and upright, gazing down upon a lush forest that spread like a quilt across the slopes of the hills. On the far northern side of the crosspiece and running east to west, the mountains themselves rose from the floor of the valley, looming immensely all around. Scant vegetation could be seen here and there clinging impossibly to the almost vertical surface.
From my left a waterfall issued out from the mountains and cascaded downward to form a sizeable lake which in turn spilled out to the east in a raging, swollen torrent of water that raced below me along the valley floor.
I started down the slope into the valley that formed the upright of the T, which turned out to be a bit steeper than I thought so by the time I hit the bottom I was running in free-fall.
I slowed eventually and became aware of my surroundings. I had entered a forest of considerable age. The trees that stood around me had trunks of immense girth and the broken branches that littered the floor of the woodland bore layers of moss coated in moisture. I felt older simply by being there. I also felt that I was trespassing.
I became aware of the sound of water and in a short while I came upon the reason when I stepped into a boggy, grassy patch beside a fast running stream. Just across the stream a clearing rose up and looked a reasonable place to make camp for a while.
I took off my boots and stepped across. The water was cold but tasted delicious when I scooped a handful to drink. I began to forage around for firewood and see what food was available. The late autumn yielded a plentiful supply of berries and a few nuts and the lake when I reached it showed ample sign of fish.
I cast out a few lines and tied the ends to a tree in hope of the fish being hungry for the worms I unearthed and then continued my foraging, heading westward along the shoreline of the lake. At the far end of the lake the shore did a right-angled turn toward the mountains and there a few metres out from the shingle stood an island. Square(ish) in shape it looked like a box had been stepped upon at one end so it tilted upward, the high end facing into the sun that drifted ever lower as the afternoon progressed.
It came as a bit of a shock to discover that this ‘island’ bore signs of habitation. I rounded a boulder half the size of a house and discovered a cave entrance but no ordinary cave. This had been created by man. The walls were straight and the floor level and rooms led off to each side and at the far end it opened out into a wider area with a small window looking directly out to the east across the lake and on up the valley. A niche on one side held evidence of a fire having been lit. It had been a long time since anyone had actually been in the place but the very fact that it was here gave cause to wonder. Whatever the reason for it being here, it was a darn fine place to stay for a while.
Returning to the fishing lines I had cast earlier yielded a meal-sized fish and I set out a further trap for any passing rabbit. I then armed myself with as much firewood as I could carry and returned to the new-found home.
It wasn’t long before a plume of smoke rose up through the vent that had been made for the purpose and heat wafted out into the cavern.
Over the next few months I made the place very comfortable. A bedroom in itself was a luxury, a kitchen was undreamed of! A warm place to sleep, a place to store food, a place to fish for food and a place to hunt those that did not swim; what more could one ask ?
I began to get to know the area, the best runs for rabbit and deer. I learned the way of the lake, where to look when the weather cooled or where the fish sheltered when the sun warmed the surface. I began constructing a small canoe from the woods around me, trying to remember all I had learned way back then. Carefully selecting tree bark from the Birch that grew thick around the base of the mountains, trimming and shaving the framework. Sometimes I got it wrong and had to start over and sometimes it all fitted together and I learned as much as I already knew.
The seasons turned and the autumn display the trees gave made my heart sing with joy at the beauty of it. Winter arrived and the snow lay deep, lean times for those that had not prepared; My store grew less as the days passed and the traps remained empty and the fish vanished. Sometimes days passed before I was able to get out, blizzards raged and the snow got deeper.
When I was released by a milder spell the walking and hunting proved hard but I found enough to keep hunger at bay, always supplemented by the nuts and berries I had gathered and dried beforehand. Smoked fish and venison still could be found in the larder as the temperature began to rise and herald the Spring.
Two valleys met here forming a giant T and I stood at the corner of the crosspiece and upright, gazing down upon a lush forest that spread like a quilt across the slopes of the hills. On the far northern side of the crosspiece and running east to west, the mountains themselves rose from the floor of the valley, looming immensely all around. Scant vegetation could be seen here and there clinging impossibly to the almost vertical surface.
From my left a waterfall issued out from the mountains and cascaded downward to form a sizeable lake which in turn spilled out to the east in a raging, swollen torrent of water that raced below me along the valley floor.
I started down the slope into the valley that formed the upright of the T, which turned out to be a bit steeper than I thought so by the time I hit the bottom I was running in free-fall.
I slowed eventually and became aware of my surroundings. I had entered a forest of considerable age. The trees that stood around me had trunks of immense girth and the broken branches that littered the floor of the woodland bore layers of moss coated in moisture. I felt older simply by being there. I also felt that I was trespassing.
I became aware of the sound of water and in a short while I came upon the reason when I stepped into a boggy, grassy patch beside a fast running stream. Just across the stream a clearing rose up and looked a reasonable place to make camp for a while.
I took off my boots and stepped across. The water was cold but tasted delicious when I scooped a handful to drink. I began to forage around for firewood and see what food was available. The late autumn yielded a plentiful supply of berries and a few nuts and the lake when I reached it showed ample sign of fish.
I cast out a few lines and tied the ends to a tree in hope of the fish being hungry for the worms I unearthed and then continued my foraging, heading westward along the shoreline of the lake. At the far end of the lake the shore did a right-angled turn toward the mountains and there a few metres out from the shingle stood an island. Square(ish) in shape it looked like a box had been stepped upon at one end so it tilted upward, the high end facing into the sun that drifted ever lower as the afternoon progressed.
It came as a bit of a shock to discover that this ‘island’ bore signs of habitation. I rounded a boulder half the size of a house and discovered a cave entrance but no ordinary cave. This had been created by man. The walls were straight and the floor level and rooms led off to each side and at the far end it opened out into a wider area with a small window looking directly out to the east across the lake and on up the valley. A niche on one side held evidence of a fire having been lit. It had been a long time since anyone had actually been in the place but the very fact that it was here gave cause to wonder. Whatever the reason for it being here, it was a darn fine place to stay for a while.
Returning to the fishing lines I had cast earlier yielded a meal-sized fish and I set out a further trap for any passing rabbit. I then armed myself with as much firewood as I could carry and returned to the new-found home.
It wasn’t long before a plume of smoke rose up through the vent that had been made for the purpose and heat wafted out into the cavern.
Over the next few months I made the place very comfortable. A bedroom in itself was a luxury, a kitchen was undreamed of! A warm place to sleep, a place to store food, a place to fish for food and a place to hunt those that did not swim; what more could one ask ?
I began to get to know the area, the best runs for rabbit and deer. I learned the way of the lake, where to look when the weather cooled or where the fish sheltered when the sun warmed the surface. I began constructing a small canoe from the woods around me, trying to remember all I had learned way back then. Carefully selecting tree bark from the Birch that grew thick around the base of the mountains, trimming and shaving the framework. Sometimes I got it wrong and had to start over and sometimes it all fitted together and I learned as much as I already knew.
The seasons turned and the autumn display the trees gave made my heart sing with joy at the beauty of it. Winter arrived and the snow lay deep, lean times for those that had not prepared; My store grew less as the days passed and the traps remained empty and the fish vanished. Sometimes days passed before I was able to get out, blizzards raged and the snow got deeper.
When I was released by a milder spell the walking and hunting proved hard but I found enough to keep hunger at bay, always supplemented by the nuts and berries I had gathered and dried beforehand. Smoked fish and venison still could be found in the larder as the temperature began to rise and herald the Spring.
1 comment:
Good installment, keep them coming Cat
Post a Comment