The autumn breeze rose over the crest of the mountain top,
rustling the dry leaves and sending two starlings on the southward
journey for the winter. Only one soul witnessed this momentous event
in their avian lives and that soul belonged to Keith McCulley. Keith
had been hiking the Appalachian Trail for two weeks now and he just
awakened from his first good nights sleep in those two weeks. When he
crawled out of his tent and stood, taking in the heavenly beauty of a
mountain top sunrise, he knew that this trip would be well worth the
money he’d lose for not working. But this type of pay is better than
money, he thought to himself. Keith took a look around. The sun had
not yet dawned on the valleys surrounding him and he wondered how many
others were still sleeping below him, unaware that the sun had dawned
already.
Keith packed up his things quickly so that he could get a good
days hike in, he’d planned for a twenty-one mile day, though in his
good condition he might be able to make twenty five. He looked at his
route, read what the landmarks would be, and set off.
Megan woke up as the sunlight hit her tent. She tried to turn
over and sleep some more, but the tent was glowing in the sunlight,
beckoning her to get up. She slid out of her sleeping bag and slipped
her windpants and jacket on to go down to the spring about three
hundred yards down from her campsite. She shivered at first, but
eventually the sun heated the black material and she was warm once
again, though not warm like in the sleeping bag. She grabbed her water
bladder and headed towards the spring. She got no further than twenty
five yards down the trail when she remembered that she needed to rinse
her shirt and hiking shorts out as they were incredibly grungy. She
picked up her clothes like she was picking up a dead rat, very
reluctantly. She had been on the trail for nineteen days now and she
last washed her clothes on day fifteen. She hoped she didn’t look as
bad as her clothes did, but then she’d only seen five other people in
all her time out, and two of them were fair-weather hikers, the
wannabes of the hiking world.
She headed down the the spring, again, and upon her arrival
she pulled out her water filter and got some water first. She couldn’t
bear the thought of getting water after her clothes had been in it.
She knew her worries were nonsense, but she did it like that all the
same. After pumping her filter so many times, she thought her arm was
going to fall off, she’d worked up quite a sweat, with the sun beating
down on her and her black clothes. She could feel the bead of sweat on
her back being soaked into the lining of her jacket. She hated that
feeling. She took her shorts and shirt, and the pair of underwear
which she later realized were in the shorts and threw them all into
the water. Megan doused her clothes time and again and in doing so she
had managed to splash water all over her pants. She had a thought and
then dismissed it. She packed up her filter and clothes and turned to
leave when she had the thought again. She hadn’t passed anyone on the
trail yesterday and to get to where she was was a two mile hike up a
steep hill and no one would be able to make near her at this time of
the morning.
She cautiously stepped back towards the spring. Screw it she
thought. She stripped off her jacket and pant and through them in the
spring. As she squatted there, wholly naked except for a well worn
pair of hiking boots, she washed her windsuit. As she worked she
noticed smudges of dirt here and there on her arms and legs. She
scooped up some water and washed off her arms. The water felt cold
against her skin, giving her goose-bumps as the beads of water
trickled down her arms. She cupped some water to her face and felt its
coolness seep into her pores, letting the dirt fall free and the
refreshing feeling in. She took off her boots and stepped into the
spring and gave herself a good rubdown with the water. As the water
cascaded over her breasts her nipples stiffened and when her hands
glided over her breasts she felt electrified. It’d had been a long
time since she had been with a man or even had the time or the thought
to please herself. Now was certainly not the time she warned herself.
She glanced aroundbut saw nothing. She savored the cool, fresh feeling
for a few more moments then dressed in the damp pants and jacket for
the quick hike back up to the campsite where she could change into
some dry clothes. * * * Keith was a fast hiker, almost as fast as the quasi-famed
thru-hikers of the AT. The day before he had gone an extra three miles
which ultimately allowed him to see that beautiful sunrise this
morning. While he was walking he noticed a grey and yellow North Face
tent in a campsite just off of the trail. This campsite wasn’t on any
of his guides so he decided to stop and ask whereabouts he was in
relation to the landmarks he knew. He called out “Hello?” a few times
but no one responded. He walked down the trail leading away from the
main trail a bit to see if he could find the tent’s owner. As he
crested a small ridge he stride slowed and then stopped completely, as
if he was on movie film and the projector was about to eat the tape.
What he saw was more beautiful than any sunrise he had ever seen. What
he saw was beauty in its purest form, a perfect art. Keith’s first
view of Megan was acutely ecstatic, for Keith saw long, wavy locks of
red hair dangling from Megan’s head, upon which there was delicate
face. She had water trickling down her naked body, her breasts taut
and full, her legs standing one locked, one bent. Keith was mesmerized
for a moment or two and then he backed up the trail ever so carefully
so as not to disturb her bathing and out of a chivalrous desire to not
let her know that her privacy had been invaded, albeit innocently.
Keith pushed himself hard to get down the trail way ahead of
the gorgeous woman, if in fact she was hiking in this direction. He
wanted to meet her, but he had always felt insecure when talking to
attractive women. He knew he needed an in but “Hey, I’ve seen you
naked” is not the type of “in” he wanted.
Keith put his mind to rest
by saying that if he was going to meet her, fate would have to do it
for him. Fortunately for Keith, fate had already arranged their
introduction. * * * Keith made it to the shelter he planned to stay with about an
hour of daylight to spare. He pulled out his mess kit and started
cooking his dinner. While he was waiting for his water to boil, he
unpacked his sleeping bag and pad and laid it out to claim his spot in
the shelter. His water was boiling by the time he was done so he
opened his freeze-dried Thai Satay, mixed all the necessary
ingredients and added the boiling water. During the ten minutes he had
to wait for his satay to be thoroughly rehydrated and cooked, he
decided to head off and use the latrine. Upon his return, he checked
on his dinner and found it good to go. He ate his dinner thinking
about the two beautiful sights he’d seen and decided to think of the
latter more than the former. With dinner out of the way, Keith rigged
up a bear bag and then got into his sleeping bag for a good nights
rest and, hopefully, a few engaging dreams about natural beauty. * * * Keith awoke slowly and lazily, the sunrise was on the back
side of the shelter. He slowly began to stir in his sleeping bag and
rolled over eventually to see another sleeping bag across from him in
the shelter. A straggler must have come in after dark, but how soon
after dark he couldn’t tell. With all of the hiking he’d done the
previous day, he fell asleep quickly and slept like a log. He could
hear a stove burning near the entrance to the shelter. He looked up
and saw the stove, but no owner. Probably using the latrine, he
thought, which is what I have to do. He turned over to get his
flashlight and other small gear together when a voice behind him said,
“Good morning,” in a very comforting voice. Keith turned to look at
who was speaking to him. As his eyes were focusing, he heard the voice
say, “Would you like some coffee?” When his eyes focused he almost
jumped. Standing before him was Megan, though he only knew her by
sight.
“Yes,” he said, “yes, please!”
“Got your cup?” Megan asked.
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” he stammered.
“Thanks,” she said and smiled at him in such a way that it
melted his heart. Keith was at a loss for what to say next, he was
still kind of groggy and he didn’t expect to actually meet her, it was
just a distant hope. But she was here in reality and reality only
gives you one shot.
“Here you go,” she handed him his cup. Keith took a sip and it
tasted wonderful. He felt the liquid slide down his throat and warm
his body up from the inside. “Thanks,” he said again.
Keith felt as if he needed to say something so he wouldn’t
appear the fool. “So, when did you come in last night?” he asked.
“About a half hour after dark. I was a little slow in my start
this morning.” Keith consciously made his face stay neutral while
inside he wanted to smile. “How about you?”
“Oh, I made it in an hour before sundown” he said and then
instantly regretted it, though he didn’t know why precisely. He
figured it sounded like he was trying to prove something. “Have you
ever been in this area before?”
“No,” she said, “I have been on the AT a lot, but I a going to
be thru-hiking until I run out of trail. I’ve only been out for 20
days now, but I think I can do it. How long have you been out? I can
tell that your not a day-tripper.”
“I’ve been out for fifteen days now and I’ve got another
twenty five days before I have to start back to work. I am hoping to
find some way of staying out longer.” Keith said.
“What kinda mileage you doing per day?” Megan asked.
“I did twenty one yesterday and I am planning twenty for
today.” Keith said, “You?”
“‘Bout the same,” she replied. Keith’s mind raced. Maybe if
she and I are doing similar mileage, we can hike together , he
thought. “Oh, by the way, my name is Megan Calloway. I haven’t chosen
nor acquired a trail name as of yet. You?”
“I’m Keith McCulley and I am also lacking a trail name. I was
thinking about Jackrabbit, but I don’t think I am worthy of that title
until I am at least putting in thirty mile days,” he said, “I would
venture to guess that if you were to be given a trail name, it’d have
“red” in it somehow.”
“Yeah, probably,” Megan laughed. She started packing up her
stuff but continued to make small talk with Keith. Keith was hurriedly
trying to get ready as fast as possible without appearing to do so.
Keith managed to finish just ahead of Megan and they only had to put
on their packs and be off.
“You said you were going twenty miles today?” Megan asked.
“Yeah,” Keith said, “south to the Riga shelter.”
“Well,” Megan paused and Keith held his breath,”I was planning
to go as far as Riga as well. I hear there is an awesome sunrise
there.” Keith nodded in affirmation. “Do you want to hike together?”
Images of the previous day flashed through Keith’s head. He
smiled at Megan and said, “Sure, that’d be fun.”