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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 09 2007 : 2:20:35 PM
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My family is fortunate enough to own a few parcels of land in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. When I was about 4 years old we started building a log cabin by hand on this land.
Behind the cabin and up the mountian by about 2 vertical miles is an old indian rock shelter. It had been escavated for any archeological value and is not noted as being of any historical value. So when I was in Middle school (about 12 years old) a friend and I (with the blessing of our parents) decided to go camping in the cave.
We packed up our back packs, made sure we had food and a can opener, pans and water. We also took up plenty of pens and paper since we are both avid readers and writers.
My dad climbed and hiked with us up to the cave to make sure there weren't any rattlesnake dens or other such dangerous critters about. Then Dad headed back down to the cabin.
H and I walked around the area giddily gathering wood and setting up camp. We build the biggest "White Man's Fire" you could possibly imagine. We had flames leaping 3-4 feet into the air. Good think the rock shelter was just that- rock!
We kept the fire roaring through the night, having fun keeping the fire big and hot. Unfortunatly I had forgotten to get adequate insturction on how to operate the camp can opener and we could not get the tiny thing to function! However that was not going to stop two hungry pre-teens. With a large rock we were able to bash open our can of Del-Monte Beef Stew (Where was MaryJane's food when I needed it?!) and got it cooking. We only had a few rock chips to fish out during the course of the meal :)
As the night grew darker and later- we grew quieter and quieter as the day's activities caught up with us. Suddenly we smelled what smelled suspiciously like skunk...but not quite. We heard a faint rustling, but never saw anything past our well lit Rock Shelter.
After about half an hour the smell finally faded away and H and I went to sleep.
In the morning H and I packed up the camp and made our way back down to the cabin where my dad waited. He said he knew we were all right all night long because he could see our fire like a beacon even from the cabin!
We told him about the strange skunky smell and he paled a little bit. He told me he was really glad that we had made such a big fire since what we most likely had smelled was a male mountain lion that had been sighted in the area a few years earlier. We think the mountain lion smell our camp and had decided to come investigate.
I am really glad we never saw him though as I am not sure how I woul have felt facing a mountain lion with a friend 2 miles from the closest help!
Elizaray |
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What is that noise out there beyond the firelight?
