Backcountry Read online

  “No camouflage?” Jenn asked. “But what’s to stop anyone stealing it? I mean, shouldn’t we cover it in sticks and branches and stuff?”

  Alex laughed. “No one’s going to steal it, Jenn, they’re all numbered. This one’s assigned to us.”

  “Seems a bit risky,” she said.

  “Trust me, it’s not like leaving your car open and unlocked or anything like that.”

  “Okay, I’ll take your word for it,” she said. “I guess I’m just not sure about this whole canoeing thing. The lake looks lovely, but I’m not super keen on the idea of falling in.”

  “We’ll paddle nice and easy, and there are no motorboats to make any waves. We’ve got a beautiful clear afternoon, so as long as you don’t get up and dance or anything, I don’t think we’ll tip.”

  “I’ll do my best to resist the temptation,” she said. “So, have we got everything?”

  “All packed and ready to go,” he said.

  They pushed the canoe the last few yards to the water, and Alex held it steady as Jenn stepped in tentatively. She placed her foot on the bottom, windmilling her arms as the canoe rocked under the sudden weight. She might have fallen had Alex not grabbed her arm.

  “Relax,” he said. “I’m holding it. Just walk up the middle and keep your centre of gravity low.”

  Jenn tried again, crouching slightly and keeping her feet spread a bit wider, and this time she reached her seat without any major issues. She sat down heavily, ripples spreading from both sides of the canoe. Still holding on to the boat, Alex placed one foot in, leaving the other on the bank. Bracing, she felt him push off with his grounded foot and watched as he used the momentum to send his leg into the boat. Crouching, he grabbed both sides of the canoe to get his balance, then lowered himself into his seat. Freed from the grip of land, the canoe slid out into the water from the momentum of Alex’s shove and continued to drift out to deeper water. Jenn reached for one of the paddles, but stopped at the sound of Alex’s voice.

  “Don’t, Jenn, not just yet,” he said. “Just enjoy drifting for a moment.”

  Caught by the slight current and still moving from Alex’s push, the canoe continued to slowly make its way through the water. Jenn had to admit that it was very relaxing; the sun and the light slap of gentle swell against the side of the boat combined to lull her into what was almost a trance. The faint echo of a bird’s cry echoed across the water, adding to the feeling of peace.

  “What sort of bird was that?” Jenn asked. “I’ve never heard anything like it.”

  Alex stared at her in astonishment. “You’ve never heard a loon before?”

  “No,” Jenn said defensively. “Should I have?”

  “It’s about the most Canadian sound ever,” Alex said. “I would have been less surprised if you’d told me you’ve never had maple syrup.”

  “Shut up,” Jenn said.

  “I’m just teasing. I’m glad I was with you when you heard your first one.” He grabbed one of the paddles. “Let me just get us moving and then I’ll give you a lesson in handling a canoe.”

  As Alex paddled, Jenn tilted her head back and watched the few clouds that floated in the otherwise wonderfully clear blue sky. Ever since she was a little girl, she had loved finding patterns in clouds, whether they were animals, buildings, or just shapes. The one to the east looked like a castle if you squinted just right, while the one directly over her looked sort of like a tortoise, if tortoises had only three legs and big, cauliflower ears. And the one to the west . . . Jenn shuddered. Darker than the other clouds and much more ominous, it was still far in the distance, but Jenn didn’t like the look of it.

  “Alex?”

  “Yes, honey,” he replied, as if he had been close to drifting off himself.

  “You checked the forecast, right?

  “I did,” he replied. “There are storms forecast for later in the week, but we’ll be well gone by then. Other than that, it’s going to be beautiful weather. Twenty degrees and sunny all week. Nothing to worry about.”

  She looked back into the sky, trying to find the cloud that had disturbed her. In the time that it had taken to talk to Alex, the wind had caught it, and it was now unrecognizable as anything other than a cluster of random shapes.

  “Have you ever canoed before?” Alex asked. “In high school?”

  “Nope,” she replied. “I avoided anything involving the water.”

  “So what did you do in school?” Alex asked, suddenly curious. “Track, wasn’t it?”

  “Close.” Jenn smiled. “Long-distance running. I was pretty good, too. Ended up setting a school record.”

  She wracked her memory trying to remember if Alex had ever said what sport he had done in school. She was sure they’d talked about it, but the fact was sports weren’t a big deal to either of them now; they’d both very much moved on from their high school days.

  “How about you?” she asked.

  “Well, don’t laugh,” he said, “but wrestling.”

  Jenn did laugh. “I wouldn’t have picked that. What got you into that?”

  “Well, I played football for a while, quarterback, but I never started. It was nice to do something where I was actually competitive,” he said. “There were different weight classes, so I wasn’t mixing it up with guys way bigger than me like when I was on the AstroTurf.”

  “That makes sense,” Jenn said. “Though now I’m imagining you all sweaty and gross and cuddling other men.”

  “Very funny. Jealous?”

  She made a gagging noise. “Not at all.”

  “Sure, sure. So, you ran cross country. Maybe you don’t hate this nature thing quite so much as you pretend.”

  “Ah, but the difference was that I could always go straight home and have a hot shower and a proper meal,” she said. “Something tells me that’s not how it works up here.”

  Alex smiled and patted the backpacks. “I can promise you at least half of that,” he said. “I’m a bit of a whiz when it comes to the fine art of campfire cooking.”

  “Really?” Jenn was skeptical. “You can cook in the wilderness but not at home?”

  “It’s a very different thing,” Alex said. “You can keep your fancy kitchens—give me a campfire, a few pans and some tinned food, and I will astound you.”

  “I’m looking forward to seeing that,” Jenn said. “What’s on the menu?”

  “That would be telling, wouldn’t it?” he said, grinning. “We can’t have that. Let’s just say that there are some things in there I know you will like. Just because we’re in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean that we have to live like animals. Trust me, Jenn, I think you’ll be happy with what’s on offer.”

  “Well, in that case, I’ll look forward to finding out,” she said. “So where were we before you started talking about food?”

  “Um, cross country and wrestling,” he said. “That’s right, I was going to say: you didn’t even have any field trips where you used a canoe, right?”

  “Nope, I spent my time more productively,” she said. “Put me in a cross-country race and I would still do okay.”

  “You’ll be fine,” Alex said. “It’s not necessarily about going as hard as you can. We aren’t in a race. Just let yourself get into a rhythm and you’ll be surprised how fast we move.”

  “A rhythm?”

  “Yeah, so what you do is paddle, but don’t go all the way through the stroke with the oar in the same position—otherwise you’re pushing against the water resistance when you try to lift it out on the return stroke,” Alex said. “You want to twist it so that the thin edge cuts through the water on the way out. That way it has th
e least drag.”

  “That makes sense,” Jenn said.

  “So, it’s kind of stroke, twist, lift,” he said. “You’ll get into a pattern after a little while.”

  She giggled. “Sounds like good exercise.”

  “Well, it certainly burns a few calories,” he said. “You’ll feel it tomorrow—trust me on that.”

  “I’m already getting tired.”

  “Don’t worry, it’s not that far. I don’t think you have too much to worry about,” he said. “The other trick to keep in mind is that to turn in a particular direction, you need to be paddling faster on the opposite side, or both of us should paddle on that opposite side. That will make the canoe turn the way you want to go. But don’t stress too much about it, I’ll do most of the paddling for now—until you get the hang of it, anyway.”

  Alex’s paddle slid silently into the water, barely a ripple disturbing the surface. Each stroke was efficient and perfect, driving the canoe forward. He knew exactly when go faster or slower, steering the heavily laden canoe as they paddled across the lake. It was a different story at the bow of the boat, where Jenn struggled to find a rhythm. Water foamed as she stroked with a jerky motion, unable to find the right rhythm to get the most out of each effort. As inexperienced as she was, she could tell Alex was compensating for her paddling.

  “I’m sorry, honey,” she said, the canoe rocking ominously as she turned to speak to him. “I’m trying.”

  “It’s okay, babe. You’re doing fine,” he said, smiling at her. “In fact, for a beginner you’re doing amazingly well. It’s fun though, right?”

  She murmured her agreement.

  “Close your eyes.”

  She did, enjoying the feeling of the sunshine on her face as he kept talking.

  “Just think of your office right now. The grey walls. The beige carpet. The recycled air.” e let her visualize for a moment. “Okay, open them.”

  Jenn opened her eyes, blinking them against the sun and grinning. Alex still wasn’t finished.

  “Primal! I love it. This is where we’re from—the wild! Not some shoebox on the side of a freeway.”

  She leaned down and flicked water back at him, laughing as he spluttered in mock indignation.

  “If you keep yapping, how I am I meant to enjoy it?” she teased.

  “Sorry,” he whispered, deliberately over-exaggerating.

  They paddled on for a few minutes.

  “Ommmmmmmmmm.”

  Alex was cut short by a face full of water as Jenn managed to use her paddle to good effect, drenching him.

  “Okay, you asked for it!”

  But before he could get his revenge, a shape in the distance caught his attention. Another canoe was making its way towards them, coming back from the park interior. A middle-aged couple waved at Alex and Jenn as they approached. They were slightly sunburned, but looked relaxed and happy.

  “Enjoy your trip!” the man yelled as they passed. “It’s beautiful up there.”

  “Thanks,” Alex said, returning the wave. “Have a safe trip home.”

  With that, the other couple was gone, and Jenn and Alex continued paddling.

  “They looked like they had a good time,” Jenn said.

  “Who couldn’t have a good time up here?” Alex replied. “Look at it.”

  He gestured at the red-tinted forest running up to the shores of the lake and the bright sun shining down. To their right was a slab of limestone poking out of the water like a tiny island and glimmering in the sun.

  Alex had been right about the way the lake narrowed, and Jenn took in the sight of the limestone cliffs that rose to either side of the water as they canoed down the rocky passage. It was only narrow in comparison to the lake, though, still at least twenty or thirty meters across, and every splash of their progress echoed back at them as they passed between the silent stone sentinels. It was delightfully cool in the shade of the cliffs, but as the lake broadened back out and the cliffs receded into the treed slopes around them, Jenn revelled in the warm touch of the afternoon sun. It was a beautiful time to be on the water, and Jenn would have been happy just paddling back and forth on the lake for a whole day rather than hiking. She made a note to suggest that to Alex for next time—maybe that would be a good compromise that would satisfy them both.

  At the edge of the water, their paddles dug into sand and grit and the keel of the canoe scraped against the bottom of the shallow ramp.

  “Hold on,” Alex said, leaping from the canoe and racing around the front, water splashing up from his boots. It was shallow enough that he was barely wet by the time he hit dry land. He held the canoe steady as Jenn clambered out and stopped it from tipping on her. “Okay, there we go.”

  He grunted as he dragged the canoe out of the water, looking around for a place to leave it.

  “Do you think you can lift an end, honey?” Alex asked. “We just need to stow the canoe on the grass here, away from the side of the lake. We don’t want it to float away.”

  “Sure.”

  Jenn grabbed the front end and together they wrestled it up on the grass. As Alex was getting ready to put his end down, his fingers slipped on the slick fiberglass and the end of the canoe fell, landing right on his foot. Jenn could see from the way he winced that it hurt—a lot.

  “Fuck!” He sucked air through his teeth.

  She rushed to him. “Are you okay?”

  “That hurt like a son of a bitch.” He limped toward her.

  “You sure you’re okay?” she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He put weight on his foot experimentally. “I’ll just walk it off.”

  He fished around in his bag and pulled out the clear container that the ranger had given them. He unscrewed the cap and dug out the whistle, handing it to Jenn.

  “Here, put this on,” he said. “You’ll feel safer. Blow it and it’ll scare just about anything away.”

  She placed it around her neck and took off her backpack.

  “You know what will make me feel safer?” she asked as she reached inside it. “This.”

  She pulled out a large spray can and handed it to Alex. The bright-red words “Bear Spray” stood out violently from the yellow metal of the rest of the can. A clip was attached to a cord wrapped around the neck of the nozzle. She could see his surprise and momentary confusion as it hadn’t been in the packs when he had checked them. She had kept it in her pocket until she could sneak it in at some point after he’d checked.

  “Oh, God. Where did you get that?” he asked.

  “I bought it a couple of days before we left,” she said.

  “You’re not going to need it.”

  Spots of colour appeared on Jenn’s cheeks. “You want me to freak out? This makes me feel safe.”

  Alex sighed. “Okay, fair enough.” He reached out and pulled her closer. “Well, if you’re really going to have it with you, it’s absolutely useless in your bag. You need to clip it to your belt.”

  He clipped to one of the loops on her cargo pants and tugged on it to make sure that it was firmly attached.

  “Thank you,” Jenn said.

  “What else have you got in there?” He reached in her bag and pulled out a road flare. “Seriously? This kind of flare is for when your car breaks down on the highway. You know that, right? Why didn’t you get a pen flare at the camping store you went to?”

  She snatched it back. “You’re making me feel stupid.”

  Alex stopped, looking ashamed of himself. He obviously knew he was being unfair; Jenn really was moving outside her comfort zone by coming on this trip. And she was doing it for him.
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  “I’m sorry, okay? Whatever makes you feel safe is good with me.”

  She nodded curtly and shoved the flare into one of the pockets of her cargo pants. She grabbed her pack and zipped it up, then pulled it onto her shoulders.

  “Ready?” he asked, hoisting his own pack and checking the balance.

  They started up the broad trail, leaving the canoe and the lake behind them.

  “Man, it’s good to be back here,” he said. “So many memories.”

  They kept walking in silence for a few minutes, then he spoke again. “When I was a kid, my dad would bring me up here at least twice a year. Some of my friends went with their dads on their hunting trips during deer season, but we did this instead.” He paused for a moment. “He was more into just spending time in the wilderness, you know? So, we’d come up here and hike and make our camps. Sometimes we’d do some fishing and cook what we caught. He taught me how to make snares and we’d catch the odd rabbit. He showed me how to skin and gut them and make a stew with some of the herbs that grow wild.”

  Jenn made a grossed-out face. “Yuck, skinning and gutting them? No thanks. Give me the deli where it’s all done for me,” she teased.

  Alex laughed. “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, babe. Nothing tastes as good as something you’ve caught yourself and cooked over the campfire. But don’t worry about that, hunting’s banned here. Dad could have gotten in a lot of trouble if we’d been caught, but he’d done it with his dad and didn’t really care too much for what he saw as stupid laws. Still . . . we had some good meals.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” she said, still unconvinced.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve brought enough food to last us for the trip, I promise.”

  “Well, I guess it’s good to know we wouldn’t starve to death.”

  “Not up here. There’s plenty of food around if you know where to look, and what you’re looking for.” Alex had assumed the serious tone he used when trying to explain something. It was cute and infuriating at the same time. “And the most important thing of all is plenty of water. You can go a long time without food if you have water.”