I grew up in a small town
in the Appalachian Mountains
on the side of one of the mountains that
borders the valley of the town it was a
wonderful place for an outdoorsy kid we
had no immediate neighbors and acres of
woods to play in it above her house was
a Ridge that ran along the border of a
state park but all the trails and public
areas were far the valley below
separated by a thick forest said well
any have no trespassing sighs so we very
rarely had hikers crossing over onto our
land from her house there was a dirt
road that wound up that mountainside to
the top of the ridge and there stood the
remains of a bird down cabin from there
you could follow the ridge to a flat
area that was popular with my dad's
friends from there you could continue up
the ridge to a clearing that hosted lots
of flat boulders a giant electrical
tower that was fun to climb on I
Inventor up there often with the
family's Labrador and spent hours
reading climbing and generally enjoying
nature one early fall day I headed up
there with a backpack full of snacks in
a book I had taken care to avoid the
trail cam you see I accidentally in
averted ly filled up an entire roll of
film just goofing off in the area
well I reached my favorite rock at the
edge of the clearing where the power
lines were and just settled down to read
and that's what falesha started a
barking growl rather aggressively at
first I paid no mind to it as she loved
to chase deer the only thing this time
though she didn't bound off into the
woods like normal instead she's stuck
next to me
growling it's something unseen in the
thick tangle of brush and trees on the
steep mountainside
now I had considered hiking down that
way the park on occasion but it wasn't
an easy passage the area had been
cleared years before to install the
electrical tower but now it was full of
fallish the rocks that made for great
climbing at the top of the ridge became
difficult obstacles on the steep slopes
below not to mention there is much
easier access closer to the park
entrance this way brought you down to an
undeveloped area at the very back of the
campgrounds
that wasn't exactly easy for cars or
hikers to go down so I was taken
off-guard to see a mid finding his way
through the brush from that direction
nervously I called out hello and Grip
Felicia's caller she had a tendency to
jump on people when she got excited and
I didn't want her to tumble him down the
mountain the man smiled extracted
himself from the thorns and made his way
up the hill to the base of my rock I
don't know if it was Felicia's reaction
to him or rather the remoted impassive
away it come from but the thing is his
presence made me feel it easy he seemed
normal and friendly enough though it was
probably in his mid to late twenties
average height an average build he
didn't have backpacker supplies but he
was dressed like a hiker would be hey
there where'd you come from
he had no trace of an accent which
struck me as odd our area is a pretty
strong regional accident we don't get a
lot of outsiders oh I just lived down
the hill I was hiking with my dog she
seems like a nice dog he told me with no
trace of irony Felicia was snarling and
vibrating with malice they seemed
unconcerned you know you should have her
on a leash you wouldn't want to get in
trouble with the park now would you we
put her in a leash when we were down the
park but this is part of her property no
reaction to learning he was essentially
trespassing it no one from the park
comes up here I told them I was being a
bit rude but I was annoyed that some
stranger was telling me what to do with
my dog and on my property
I'm from the bark he said still quitting
I'm with the Rangers and I wanted to see
the property what would you have done if
she'd attacked me you would have got
into a lot of trouble at this I
immediately chilled you see we only had
one ranger and he was a close friend of
the family this guy was definitely not
him the thing is I was too afraid to let
him know that was lying so I dug out
Felicia's leash and clipped her that
instead of slinging my backpack on it
I'm sorry well let you go on your hike I
have to get home your parents know
you're up here oh yeah they expect me
home soon
do they come up you're often dad does he
comes up to check the trail cams I had
provides that a whim this was a first
time I saw the friendly strangers smile
falter trail cams oh yeah there's lots
of him up here and his friends like to
go up here the smile returned it was
cold this time well these would make
excellent camping grounds wouldn't they
he took a step toward me and Felicia
lunched nearly yanking the leash out of
my hands I managed to haul her back in
time to keep her from Terry the man
smiled right off his face the thing is
he didn't so much as flinch you should
head back then
keep it tight old on the leash now maybe
I'll see you up here again sometime yeah
maybe I told him secretly telling myself
that I never wanted to step foot of
those points again well bye
I quickly dragged Felicia away looking
back over my shoulder every now and then
you remained motionless in the spot
where I'd left him staring at me with
that same smile once he was out of sight
I had picked up the pace Alysha growled
over his shoulder a few times
occasionally I heard branches step
behind me by glancing back I saw no
signs of him following me I cut straight
across the clearing with a trail-cam not
bothering to avoid my rush to get away
from the stranger once we hit the road
that led home at a clip Felicia from her
leash and broke into a jog well she
remained by my side until I got home I
didn't mention the strange bed to my
parents at first they were worried about
me hiking alone and I didn't want them
to forbid it furthermore by the time I
got it home I had convinced myself that
I overreacted to the whole thing he was
probably just a hiker and made up a bit
about being a ranger since I was giving
him attitude still I did a night back up
the ridge that weekend instead stuck to
the woods below my house at the end of
the week I came home from school to my
dad a little bit angry and Manning to
know if I'd best with the trail cam his
buddy to come up to collect the film and
discovered that the camera even switched
off with only a few frames taken at
first
I was only concerned with getting in
trouble and desperately professed
innocence and then I remembered this
stranger after telling my dad about him
he called the park ranger to inquire if
there was a new Ranger we didn't know
about the Ranger said no but after
hearing my story he told dad the
campground intended they caught it
out-of-stater overnighting in the
unauthorized area this was a same
campground area from the previous
weekend it is soup the guy was just
trying to get out of pay the camping fee
young guy they'd said average-looking it
very friendly apologizing and saying he
was mistaken the area and then he took
off shortly afterward we heard from
dad's buddy with the trail cam he got in
the role developed and even though there
were only a few frames filled up the
last one was of mid felicia cutting
across the clearing they could as I told
this stranger there are multiple cameras
I imagined he gave up once he couldn't
locate the other ones
my parents have since moved out and they
live in a little town in the valley
below I've moved out of town the house I
grew up fell into despair it was
eventually sold to no one lives on the
property down but the clearing the top
is still a popular place for campers but
I'm home visiting the family I still
like the hike up on the ridge the other
thing is I'll wave at all the trail cams
I always bring a dog to