The journey to the campsite

Rowan's camping trips always took the group to roughly the same place, the Bull of the Woods Wilderness in Mount Hood national park. This was because Rowan knew one of the rookie Park Rangers, who was frequently getting assigned to work weekends and allowed his friends to skirt the rules.

One rule he couldn't allow them to skirt, however, was the rule against driving cars within national forests, so when they arrived late Friday afternoon, Rowan parked his Land Rover outside the ranger station and went in to talk to his friend.

The others were relieved for the brief respite from Rowan, who had been lecutring them on the finer points of ?real? camping the whole time they drove through the ?touristy? areas of the park. This was after Angie had innocently commented that the Timberline Lodge would be a fun place to stay.

They also took advantage of this time to divide the beers up between their backpacks. They put a case in each of the boys' packs, and the girls split the third between them, except for Hazel, who refused to carry any **** and was beginning to have doubts about agreeing to come along.

The walk to the spot Rowan had selected, using google maps and his GPS device, was over three miles and partially off traill, so it took them well over an hour to do it. They were slowed even more by Rowan who, now fully immersed in his frontiersman delusion, was diligently covering their tracks. About a quarter mile from their destination, they passed within site of another campsite, a single tent that seemed to house an older Hippy couple.

Lily wanted to go say hi, but Rowan was so annoyed by their presence she decided against it. Rowan wanted to change their destination so they could be more isolated, but when everyone else complained loudly about that idea, he conceded and agreed to stick to the original plan.

When they finally did arrive, Rowan's value as a guide finally showed itself. ?Oh my god, that view is AMAZING!? Lily cried out, as soon as they stepped out of the brush and into the exact spot Rowan had chosen. Their campsite was on on a hillside that overlooked a vast expanse of unmolested wilderness. Multiple waterways were nearby and visible. Most unusual, however, was the massive sinkhole near the bottom of the hill, which had since filled with trees, forming a kind of forest within the forest.

Rowan point at the hole. ?I've been waiting to go down there ever since I spotted it last time we were up here. We stayed on that hill, remember?? He pointed to a distant hilltop Lily could barely see. She nodded absentmindedly, even though she couldn't tell two hills in the woods apart if her life depended on it. Rowan sighed, ?But it can wait until tomorrow, it's getting late.?