The Cabin

“Sandra, how’d you like to go extreme hiking with me tomorrow?” asked Richard.

“I don’t know Richard, how extreme is it?” I responded cautiously.

“A small plane will drop us off Friday morning outside of Snowbird Mountain in Utah and we’re on our own for the weekend to rough it in the mountain terrain. Come on, it will be romantic,” he urged.

“I’m not sure I’m ready for that extreme, you know I’ve only been a few times before. I will just slow you down. Besides, I work tomorrow. Not all of us can just pick up and take off when we want to, you know.” Richard had definitely been spoiled during his lifetime. His family owned several of the Hotels here in the Colorado area.

“Don’t be crazy, this is a chance for us to explore together Sandra. It’s cold, snowy, we can make a fire and snuggle in the tent, it will be fun. I will set it all up, all you have to do is pack a few warm clothes. I’ll handle everything else.”

“Ok Richard, you convinced me,” I said excitedly.

“That’s my girl, I will pick you up tomorrow morning at seven o’clock.”

I hung up the phone still a bit leary of my decision, but the break from work would be a nice change. Being cooped up in that office was beginning to get to me. Perhaps it’s just what I needed to clear my head and then I can come home refreshed and ready to start looking for a new more exciting position. I called the office next and lied about being sick and not able to come in tomorrow. I phoned my Mother to let her know of our plans, not that she was too concerned, we have a complicated relationship.

I searched through my closets, pulling out the warmest gloves, snow pants, hat, etc. I knew I’d need to dress in layers for sure. I’d been on a couple of these excursions with Richard before, he was used to dashing off anywhere he pleased at any time. He had taught me the basics of outdoor survival and hiking. It was exciting, it made me feel free to be so adventurous. I stuffed everything into my duffel bag and went to lay down. It would be an exhausting weekend for sure.

My mind raced with thoughts about our upcoming adventure. I’ve known Richard for about a year, ever since his father bought out the local hotel I’ve worked for. He was a good influence on me, he has always brought out my daring side, the adventurous side I didn’t know I had until meeting him last year. My heart knows not to fall in love with him. He has a reputation for spending time with a lot of females, so our relationship is not exclusive, we have an understanding, “fun for now” agreement. It works for me, I have no desire to have a permanent relationship with anyone anytime soon. I watched my mother go through bad relationships my whole life and vowed to myself, to never make the same mistakes.

I heard the alarm go off early the next morning and jumped into the shower. Before I knew it, Richard was knocking at my door.

“You ready baby?” He leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Yes, I hardly slept at all last night,” I said, yawning.

I turned off the lights, locked the door and headed out to the car with Richard. He explained that we’d be driving to a friend of his who owned his own private plane. He would then drop us off at the agreed location and pick us back up on Sunday late afternoon. I was comfortable leaving the details to Richard, he knew much more about hiking then me.

*****

As we boarded the small plane, my heart raced. I had never been on a private plane before. I’m not sure if I was feeling excitement or panic? I closed my eyes as we pulled off his property and rose up to the clouds.

Richard grabbed my hand, “Don’t be nervous, baby.”

“I’m trying,” I smiled.

After a couple of hours we landed on top of the highest mountain peak, it was much more desolate than I imagined. Richard threw out our gear, jumped out and then reached to help me climb out.

“Thanks for the lift buddy, we will see you back here Sunday at three.” Richard shouted loudly to the driver.

There were several inches of snow on the ground already, it was chilly, but not freezing. The sight of the mountain top being completely untouched was just breathtaking. There were no footprints in the snow, no skiers, no tourists, just us and nature. The glare from the white snow was almost blinding.

“Allright baby, grab what you can, we’ll find a good place to set up camp,” Richard shouted to me as the plane flew off.

We had been walking for nearly an hour now when I asked, “Richard I feel like we are pretty far out from our rendezvous point. Shouldn’t we stop?”

“This mountain is a lot steeper than the others we’ve been on. We need a flatter area to set up at. We’ll just go a little more, you ok walking a little further?”

“Yes, I’m good,” I lied. The rugged terrain was difficult to maneuver through. The snow made the pieces of rock in the ground slippery and hard to see.

After another thirty minutes or so, Richard said, “There you see the slight opening that way?” he pointed, “ It looks perfect.”

We busied ourselves setting up the tent and the firepit. “I packed your favorite beans,” Richard said as he came over and put his arms around me.

“Did you remember the can opener this time?” I laughed. remembering the last trip we took together.

“Of course, I will never forget that again. I thought we were gonna damn near starve on that trip. Hopefully, we can find a deer or fox this afternoon.”

“Hopefully.” I lied, agreeing with him. I wasn’t crazy about deer, fox or any other animal we might shoot to eat, beans and granola bars were fine with me for the weekend. I didn’t dare tell Richard. I think he felt powerful killing his dinner and liked showing his hunting skills off to me. I’d much prefer to buy mine at the grocery store.

Richard took off his glove and slid his hand into my snowsuit, “Richard you’re freezing!” I pulled away.

He grinned and put his glove back on. Richard was charming, he knew how to flirt and make a girl notice him. He liked having the girls at work noticing him and fighting for his attention. “C’mon let’s see if we can find us dinner,” he said as he grabbed the shotgun. He handed the pocket knife to me, my job was always to mark the trees while he scouted the area for signs of an animal. We made a pretty good team, in the outdoor world.

“Did you see that?” he questioned softly.

“What is it?” I whispered back, looked around, but saw nothing.

“I think it’s a vulture, I just saw it flying down, about fifty feet away.”

“Can we eat vultures?”

“No, but it’s here for a reason, it must be eating something, it’s worth looking into,” he said as he lowered his gun.

“I don’t understand?”

“Well, maybe it’s eating a baby deer and the Mom’s not far...or vice versa, you never know.”

I followed Richard down the mountain as he tracked the bird with excitement, sure enough, he was right. There laid a full grown deer, surrounded by a few vultures. In the distance he said he saw a couple of fawns. “I don’t like to shoot the fawn, but in this situation, they may not survive anyway.”

I heard the shotgun as it went off, I closed my eyes, hoping he had missed. The vultures flapped their wings violently as they flew off into the distance.

“Yes! I got one Sandra,” he shouted as he ran towards it.

I waited behind and cringed as I watched him wrap the baby deer in a tarp as he threw it over his shoulder. We followed my markings back to the campsite, and gathered wood to light a fire. Richard always cleaned and cooked the animals, I wouldn’t dare.

“Ok we can have a feast tonight. We have some time to kill, come here,” he said as he went into the tent. I followed and saw him taking off his layers of clothes as he grinned at me. He was very good looking and he knew it. “Are you going to get undressed?” he questioned me with his boyish grin.

“I suppose,” I teased.

As I took my layers off I began to feel the chill of the mountain. “It’s getting really cold,” I shivered.

“Hurry up, I will keep you warm,” he said as he laid down in the sleeping bag.

I quickly finished undressing and climbed on top of his naked body. “Ok warm me up,” I begged.

He quickly flipped me over onto my back and laid on top of me. As he kissed me he caressed my boobs, rubbed my back and bottom and then quickly entered inside me. He started pounding in and out of me until he shook with pleasure. I was glad he was quick tonight, I was cold and hungry and not really in the mood for a long night of romance in this weather.

We sat around the firepit eating and planning our adventure for the next day when we would be hiking down the mountain. Shortly afterwards, we turned in for the night, snuggling together to keep warm. It wasn’t too bad, until he had to go back out every few hours to keep the fire going for some warmth.

The morning air was incredibly chilly. We grabbed the shotgun and a backpack filled with a couple of water bottles, granola bars, a flashlight, compass and few other necessities. Richard hoped to find another kill for dinner tonight. I was excited to explore the mountain. I hoped to find waterfalls and breathtaking scenery. This area was definitely uncharted territory, we were very far away from civilization.

“I think next time we should explore the northern mountain ranges,” Richard said as we walked down.

“I don’t know, I might be ready to explore the northern beaches after this trip, it’s so cold.” The air felt different up here.

“Keep moving, you’ll warm up. We only really have today to explore, tomorrow, we won’t have much time for anything but packing up camp and hiking up to the rendezvous point. Remember, going up is much harder.”

“I remember,” that’s where I slow him down for sure. “Richard, is it going to snow again?”

“We are supposed to get another couple of inches before tomorrow, nothing bad,” he reassured me. “Hey, I see a rabbit over there, you want to try out your shooting skills?” he asked me, handing over the gun.

“No, you go ahead Richard.”

Again, he made the shot, wrapped the rabbit up for dinner later and we continued on. I also continued making marks on the trees as Richard taught me. Eventually, we reached an open area and I got what I came for, the beautiful scenery of the mountains. I sat and took it all in, for as far as I could see, endless snow-covered mountain tops, beautiful peaks and valleys and in the far distance a waterfall.

“Oh Richard, look at it. It is just amazing.”

“Think you can make it down there?” he questioned with a look of intriguement.

“I’d make it down, but I don’t know if I’d make it all the way back up to the campsite afterwards.” I said honestly.

“You can do it baby, c’mon we can rush down quickly and pick up some speed, go break at the waterfall and take our time coming back up, before dark.,” he jumped up and motioned for my hand, “Hurry.”

We trampled down fairly quickly, I was out of breath and ready for a break when we arrived. “Oh Richard you were right, this is amazing up close.” My eyes grew wide and my heart raced with excitement. We were at the halfway point of the fall, when I looked above I could see the water as it came from the top of the mountain and plowed down to the rocks below. It seemed like it must have been half a mile long.

We sat for a while admiring nature at its best and snacked on a few of the granola bars we had brought. Richard said, “Give me your water bottle, I will fill them up for the hike back.” He walked over to a tiny ledge naturally built from the rock and leaned over to catch the falling water into our bottles.

“Don’t get wet Richard, you’ll freeze to death. I said as I flung the backpack around my shoulders. “I have another one in our bag,” I shouted to him. I turned my head to look and saw Richard stumble. He dropped the water bottles and lost his balance on the slippery rock ledge, “Richard!” I shouted as I ran towards him. I watched in horror as he fell, “Richard!” I screamed. I reached the edge where he once stood. I looked down carefully, I could see him about a quarter of a mile down on the rocks, laying in the shallow water.

I ran as fast as I could down the slope of the mountain all the while screaming for him. It felt like it was taking forever for me to reach him. I fell a few times, but continued on as fast as I could. I took the backpack off and dropped the shotgun to the ground so that I could maneuver through the rough terrain easier. “Richard!”