Lions & Tigers & Bears oh my!

I thought this would be a great story to share with all of you...I will add many more stories as the days roll by

When I had turned 18 and finished school...many of my friends decided to go into the military..I decided not to take that route and go to Alaska to fish the Bering Sea.. both of us were scheduled to leave in early fall.

So we decided to have a hiking excursion up in the mountains North of Deer Park WA. He was to be a marine and wanted to rough it..perhaps show me he had what it takes.

So we planned a big hike up into the mountains...all night stay up high upon the mountain...It was getting pretty chilly at night but I was prepared and so was he...or so we thought.

We shot off into the wilderness, eager to walk about the vast wilderness...camping up high upon a ridge. We thought we had everything but we didn't.

It was so nice to spend this last weekend in such a way...the woods were alive with animals of all types...lions & tigers and bears Oh My!...well..no lions or tigers.

It took us about 6 hours of a tough climb up to get to our destination...in a draw with a hill to shield us from the elements. Upon arrival I proceeded to build a shelter for the night..the clouds were black and it didn't look good. "did you watch the weather?" I asked Alan "nope", "well neither did I" A big mistake on both our parts.

We settled down to a good meal by campfire...steak wrapped in multi layers of foil..vege all, butter and jalepenos...I used to make those when out hunting deer and elk..

It seems like food tastes better out in the great outdoors...even if it is perhaps a state of mind...We opened a few beers and talked of days gone by and those to come while staring into the campfire. A few hours flew quickly by, when all of a sudden the rain hit..I was thinking about Seattle during the *fall monsoons*
The fire quickly extinguished and we were left to scurry into the shelter and crawl down deep in our sleeping bags...the lightening and thunder was deafening and we both found it hard to fall asleep. It was a very exciting night for me, way up in the mountains with all hell breaking loose *FLASH* *BOOOM* I love that stuff.

About 12 A.M. one side of the shelter had crumbled and soaked my friend Alan..he didn't bring a change of clothes nor did I...yet another mistake...so we were left with a decision..to stay and freeze to death (25F. that night) or make a run for it. We must have been at least 6 miles from home..straight up a mountain and Mother Nature was throwing everything she could at us. We came to the conclusion that as soon as the rain had settled down to bolt down the mountain.
"Did you bring that flashlight?" I said to Alan. "nope...I forgot it, but I did bring a few flares to start the fire etc." "Oh mannnn, We only have about 20 minutes of light to get down this mountain..that sucks!"

But we have to do it!

while we were packing up our gear (we left some to travel light and fast)
I started talking about how bears and wolves etc...are attracted to prey running through the woods (just to pick on him some) Perhaps they are but they must be frightened by loud humans as well.

He bought it hook-line & sinker. So he decided to strap on his buck knife on the end of a stick..He reminded me of Rambo..lol We had no way to carry a molten flare other then stick it on the end of the spear he had made..it was so wet out we didn't fear a fire anyway.

OK..time to head down the hill and get as far as we can on two flares...we had better be scootin...he was a faster runner than I so he led with me right behind...I also had him convinced that it was best to yell out as to scare the huge beasts away that possibly could make us cuisine. Down we went...him yelling at the top of his lungs anything he could think of, I joined in as well... we were shittin and gettin let me tell ya!...he tripped and we both went flying through with the end result of me smashing him into the wet earth..."let's goooo!" Off we went down the hill like two marathon runners in Boston. We got pretty far down the hill before the last flare went out. "now what?" I said....With the clouds above, it was dark...very dark...that was eerie indeed.

We could barely see in front of our faces. So we held on to each other...and with spear in hand, felt our way down the hill. We finally made it to a farmers field and after about ten minutes of trying to get our location, we realized that we were still a long way from home...we had strayed off almost parallel with his home..still another 4 miles away...we had to get home..we were both wet and very cold..we decided to find a farm and call home...We found one and it was well into morning..We woke up the people who lived there..and finally got a ride home..what a night! A night of survival and wild memories! To this day I wonder if anyone heard us off in the distance yelling at the top of our lungs while running down that mountain in the middle of the night....

"See Mildred..I told you there's banshees up in those woods.. They come out after midnight!"

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