Backcountry Read online

  “I don’t really want to find out how long I can go without food,” she said. “So try not to get us lost, huh, Ranger Alex?”

  Alex clutched his heart and mimed taking fatal injury. “It hurts that you would doubt me,” he said, grinning. “I know this place like the back of my hand, and there are so many familiar landmarks that there’s no way I could get lost.”

  He pointed at a blackened and split stump that was as wide around as Jenn was tall.

  “See that one? That’s an oak, and you can tell how big it was when it was still standing. It was absolutely massive. One year Dad and I were up here and got caught in the most incredible thunderstorm. I was absolutely terrified, but Dad had been through them before. We got our tent set up, though it was a near thing with the wind and the rain. So we were all huddled up, listening to the rain falling on the tent, and I thought we were going to drown or get washed away. Dad was telling me not to worry, that we would be fine, when suddenly there was this huge flash of lighting—and I mean huge. The whole tent was lit up like it was the middle of the day, and there was no gap between the thunder at all. It was right on top of us and loud enough that I thought I’d wet myself for a minute. My ears were still ringing when there was another crash and the ground literally shook. I asked Dad what it was and he said not to worry about it, we would check it out in the morning.”

  Alex paused and took another drink from his canteen before offering it to Jenn, who shook her head.

  “So the next morning we came out and there was this oak tree lying over the path not fifty yards from us. Imagine if it had landed on us! I’d hate to have been the guys who had to clear it out of the way—would have taken weeks. Luckily, Dad didn’t need a path. We just went around it and got out of there fine.”

  Jenn stared at the oak and imagined it falling over. “Lighting did that?” she asked weakly.

  Alex must have noticed the look on her face. “Oh, no, honey, you don’t need to worry,” he said quickly. “That was a once-in-a-century-type occurrence.”

  She nodded, slightly mollified. “So, what’s so special about this place we’re going to, anyway?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

  His face lit up. “Wait until you see it! It’s absolutely gorgeous, one of those places that has to be seen to be believed. It the sort of place that’s perfect for . . .”

  He trailed off.

  “Perfect for what?” she asked. “Oh, is it some place you want me to go swimming?”

  “No, you don’t go swimming there,” he said lamely. “It’s just special.”

  She wanted to pursue it further, but he resisted all her efforts to pry it out of him.

  “Look, you’ll just have to wait and see,” he said finally. “Please don’t ruin the surprise, Jenn.”

  “That’s not fair,” she protested, poking him in the ribs. “Now if I keep asking I’m the bad guy!”

  “Yup, that’s right,” he laughed. “Gotcha, Counsellor.”

  “It’d better be worth the wait,” she said, grumbling slightly. “I’m expecting a decent surprise now, not something lame.”

  Alex gave her unreadable look.

  “Well, I hope it’s a decent surprise, too,” he said. “If you don’t think it’s worth the walk, then it defeats the whole purpose of it.”

  “Relax,” Jenn said. “I’m sure I will love it.” She looked around. “Anyway, I guess I have to admit, this is pretty relaxing. Sure beats sitting around listening to a complaining client.”

  He grinned. “I knew you’d come around. C’mon, let’s keep going.

  The trail was broad and well worn, giving them sure footing, and they made steady progress. All around them, tall trees showed off their fall costumes, red and orange leaves occasionally fluttering to the ground to join the soft covering of the undergrowth. Branches stretched out over their heads, filtering out the bright sun and leaving the trail pleasantly cool. Birds sang, the calls providing a pleasant backdrop to their hike, and Jenn found that the stress of her week really was slipping away. But she couldn’t help feeling a touch of concern whenever she noticed Alex favouring his left foot or limping slightly. He shrugged off her questions about it, promising her that he was fine.

  As they walked, Jenn looked from side to side. She couldn’t call the forest particularly dense; the trees were reasonably spaced out and there was surprisingly little undergrowth—the result of bigger trees blocking out the sun, though Jenn didn’t know this until Alex explained it. But even so, she couldn’t see more than twenty metres into the forest before trees blocked out the view, and the shadows grew darker the further back her sightline went. Again, she had that sensation of fear, wondering what might be back there, hidden, and watching them.

  “You know we’ll be lucky to see anything bigger than chipmunk this whole weekend,” Alex said, as if reading her mind.

  Jenn was about to reply when they heard something moving down the trail toward them, fast.

  “Oh, I spoke too soon,” he said, sounding unconcerned.

  Jenn froze in her tracks. “What? What is it?” she asked.

  Whatever it was, it was bigger than a chipmunk and it was getting closer. They could hear it barrelling down the path ahead, and Jenn flicked her eyes around, trying to see though the trees and around the corner. She wrapped one hand around her bear spray and lifted her whistle to her mouth with the other.

  Alex moved in front of her.

  “It’s okay honey, I’m sure it’s just a—”

  Jenn screamed as a large brown dog burst around the corner, her whistle falling from her hand, forgotten. She stumbled and landed on her backside hard enough to knock the wind out of her.

  “—dog,” Alex finished. “Well, I was going to say deer, but no harm, no foul.”

  He reached down and pulled Jenn to her feet and gently brushed dirt off the seat of her pants. He froze in mid-brush as three hikers came around the corner. The middle-aged couple was trotting behind a young girl of about eight, Jenn would have guessed, who held a leash in her hand. They all looked at Jenn and Alex, and something in Jenn’s face must have given away how shaken she had been.

  “Oh, did the dog startle you?” the father asked. “She’s harmless.”

  “So’s she,” Alex said, completely deadpan, keeping a straight face as the hikers continued on the trail. He held in his laughter until they were out of sight. “Are you okay?”

  Jenn glared up at him and playfully blew her whistle.

  “Yes, Captain. I’m fine, I guess.”

  She let Alex brush the rest of the leaves off of her pants. “Steady,” she said. “I think I just had a mild heart attack.”

  “Lucky you didn’t bear-spray the dog. The Humane Society would have been all over you!” he said.

  Jenn could tell he was trying to lighten the mood and make her feel less foolish. Grateful, she laughed along with him, but stopped when she noticed him wincing as he took a step back. He stood there for a moment, obviously keeping the weight off his injured toe.

  “You sure you’re okay?” she asked.

  “I’m fine. Honestly.” He smiled at her. “Now come here for a moment and turn around.”

  She raised an eyebrow questioningly, but did what he asked. Gently, almost tenderly, he adjusted her backpack, making sure it was sitting correctly after her fall. He tightened a strap or two and jiggled it, ensuring she was comfortable.

  “Good?” he asked.

  Jenn felt a warm sense of affection wash over her. “Alex?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I love you.”

  She leaned her head slightly as Alex caressed her cheek.

  “I
love you, too,” he said.

  He leaned forward and kissed her. She tucked the whistle underneath her vest for the first time and shrugged her shoulders to test the backpack. It sat perfectly.

  “C’mon, let’s go,” she said, and they started back up the trail.

  The picnic area was set in a large, level clearing near a swimming hole and had four wooden picnic tables scattered across its open space. On the far side of the clearing was a row of sealable, animal-safe bins. And right in the middle there was a grill sitting on a stand made of rough stone. Next to the grill was a sign bearing strictly articulated instructions to all users of the area to ensure that all their garbage and leftovers ended up in the appropriate bins, but the promised fines were not half as threatening as the black silhouette of a bear on the white sign that stood nearby.

  Jenn watched as Alex unloaded his pack onto one of the benches. She was excited to see him pull out a bottle of sparkling grape juice and some plastic cups.

  “A picnic?” she asked, delight in her voice.

  He grinned at the sound. “I thought you might like a break and need some sustenance before we set up camp for the night. The garbage bins are here, which is safer.”

  “What do you mean, safer? Safe from what?” she asked.

  “Raccoons, mainly,” he answered, pointedly ignoring the sign. “They’re cunning little things, and they’ll get into anything, just like they do in the city.”

  Jenn laughed at that.

  “So, Chez Alex has simple menu, but I like to think that we have quality ingredients and a lovely ambience.”

  “What’s on the menu, garçon?” she asked. “All this fresh air has given me quite the appetite.”

  “I have a fine, sharp cheese here, some olives, crackers, of course, and some lovely smoked ham. Because you are disgusting, and I don’t even want to know you, I have some anchovies.” Jenn laughed at the fake look of disgust on his face. “As I didn’t think walking up the trail drunk was the smartest idea, I am afraid that all I have is grape juice, no wine.”

  “Wow, we really are roughing it,” Jenn teased. “But the rest sounds delicious to me, so I guess I can live without any booze. If I get the shakes later it’s on you, though.”

  “I’ll take that risk,” Alex said. “Hopefully I won’t regret it.”

  It was the perfect day for a picnic, and Jenn felt herself thinking that maybe this outdoor thing wasn’t too bad after all.

  “Are we going to eat this well the whole trip?” she asked. “Seems very luxurious.”

  “Sadly, no,” Alex replied.

  He opened the bottle of grape juice and poured it into two plastic wine glasses with all the care of a sommelier pouring an expensive vintage into delicate crystal. He held up one of the glasses to the sunlight, giving it a serious look.

  “Hmm, an excellent vintage,” he said in a pompous voice. “A touch young, with a hint of impudence, but plenty of colour.”

  “You idiot,” Jenn said affectionately. “How about you hand one of those over here.”

  She took the glass from him, but didn’t drink. Instead, she lifted it up toward him.

  “How about a toast?” she asked.

  “Sure, honey,” Alex replied. “What would you like to toast to?”

  “To us, and the great year we have ahead of us!”

  “I’ll drink to that.”

  Alex clinked his cup against hers, the plastic only clicking rather that giving the sweet ring a wine glass would have.

  “To us. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

  They both took a sip of their drinks, then Alex leaned over and kissed her, his lips tasting of grape juice. The kiss lingered and built in intensity, and it might have turned into something else if the sound of a dog barking hadn’t drifted up the trail, faint but clear.

  Jenn was slightly flushed as she pulled away, adjusting her top and taking another sip.

  “Do you think that family are on their way back?” she asked. “I’d hate for them to stumble across us in the middle of something . . . again.”

  “It’s hard to tell,” Alex said. “Sound can carry funny here, they might be almost to the canoes by now or they could be five hundred yards away. You’d never know.”

  There was a hint of frustration in his voice, and Jenn poked him with her finger.

  “Don’t stress, the trip is young.”

  He grinned and took another drink before building an elaborate sandwich of crackers, cheese, and ham, topping it with an olive, and shoving it straight into his mouth.

  “I wouldn’t have thought they would be allowed to have a dog with them,” Jenn said. “Seems a bit weird for a provincial park.”

  “Well, they’re not, really,” Alex replied, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth. “At least not off leash. It wasn’t up to me to say anything before, but that dog that scared you shouldn’t have been running around loose. But it’s the biggest animal you’re likely to see, other than deer.”

  “Where are all the big animals, then?” Jenn asked. “I mean, obviously they have to be somewhere.”

  “Remember when we were talking about the backcountry in the car?” he asked her.

  Jenn nodded, and reached for another anchovy.

  “There are lots of trails and there are a reasonable number of people coming through this part of the park. It’s sort of a wilderness-lite, I guess,” Alex said. “We’ll be staying in the well-travelled area. Even if Blackfoot Trail is closed, we’ll still be pretty close to some well-travelled areas. And, more importantly, animals have come to associate this part of the park with people, so many of them keep clear.”

  “And the backcountry?” Jenn asked.

  “The backcountry is the real wilderness,” he said. “It’s when you go off the beaten path to places where you might be the first human in months, even years. There aren’t any picnic benches or designated camping spots. It’s as close as you can get in today’s world to seeing what it was like before European settlement.”

  There was something in his voice that made Jenn sit up and take notice. “And you love it, don’t you? You’d happily be hiking through there right now.”

  “Yeah, I do love it,” he admitted. “There is something about it, getting to see things that only one in ten thousand, or a hundred thousand, or a million people might ever get to see. It’s so cut off from the world that it really gives you a sense of perspective about your place in the universe. Dad and I camped there a few times and it was an incredible experience to see truly unspoiled wilderness. You could pretend that you were the only people in the world. And you could go days without seeing anyone else and just sit around the campfire talking, looking at the stars.

  He reached out and took her hand in his. “But you’re wrong. I don’t want to be hiking there right now. I am incredibly happy to be right here with you,” he said. “You have no idea how much it means to me to be able to share this place with you.”

  “Oh, I think I do,” Jenn said softly.

  Alex coughed and looked embarrassed, as if realizing for the first time how emotional he had gotten. He extracted his hand from hers and grabbed some more cheese and ham and refilled their glasses. After he had finished chewing his mouthful, he washed it down with a healthy swig of grape juice and went on.

  “The backcountry is where you’d be likely to see bears. That’s their territory and you really are going into their home turf, so you have to be very careful,” he said. “But that’s where they usually stay, unless people do the wrong thing and give them a reason to come closer to civilization. Did you know that a black bear has a sense of smell seven times as sensi
tive as a bloodhound? That’s why leaving food around isn’t a good idea.”

  “Seriously? That sensitive?” Jenn asked. “That’s pretty incredible.”

  “Yeah, but somehow I can’t imagine customs agents replacing their dogs with bears anytime soon,” Alex said, laughing.

  “Might be a good deterrent against smuggling, though!”

  “There is that. Maybe you should write a letter to your MP,” he said, dodging the olive that she threw at him. “Look, honey, what they would call backcountry is much farther in than where we’re going. The lake is as far as we’re going to go, and that’s still inside the park proper. We’d have to go well out of our way to get into the wilderness itself.”

  “Okay,” she said, reassured. “You do know that it’s a going to be a long time before you can convince me to go hiking in the backcountry, right? If ever.”

  “Oh, I know that,” he said. “Don’t worry, I don’t have any expectations about that. I’m just thrilled you agreed to come this far. But who knows? Maybe you’ll get addicted to hiking and go all out on the wilderness thing.”

  She laughed at that. “That’s unlikely.”

  “As you said, just because something is unlikely doesn’t mean it can’t happen,” he teased.

  “Hey!” she said. “I’m the lawyer. Let me do use people’s words against them around here, okay?”

  The tray that Alex had laid out was starting to look rather bare, so he tipped out the rest of the food.

  “Oh no, I’m stuffed,” she said. “I don’t think that I could eat another bite.”

  “C’mon, I know you can eat more. It’s just going to get thrown out if we don’t finish it. I can eat more, but I’m not touching those disgusting fish, so that’s up to you,” he said. “I won’t even feel guilty about stuffing myself because we are definitely going to have a chance to walk it off over the next few days, and then some.”

  “Okay, you’ve convinced me,” she said, reaching out and grabbing some more of the salty anchovies. “We can’t waste food. It would be wrong.”