Chapter Three

Becky was growing increasingly anxious as time went by. She lived on her own and knew that no one would miss her as she had not informed anyone when she left, or told anyone where she was going. Nor did she call anyone to say that she was heading back home. 

The flight of wild animals across the road seemed to have halted, at least for the moment, but she was concerned because of the lingering smell of smoke. The clouds were rising straight up.

"The smoke may keep me safe from wild animals for the time being. With a forest fire in the vicinity, I am probably a lot  safer here than I would be if I started walking," she said aloud.

She looked at the small fire she had just started on the gravel road. At first, it had seemed crazy to build a fire particularly when there was already a forest fire in the area. 

"My fire is highly unlikely to spread, as everything is still too wet. The smoke from it may raise an alarm if someone spots it, but I am going to need more dead wood and evergreen branches to keep it going. I had better do that now while the wild animals are gone."

The mountain seemed very quiet without a breeze, animals or even the of chirping birds. They too had fled.  

"So tragic, it looks like they were frightened by the smoke too, too."

While she was gathering evergreen branches and dead wood, Becky heard the sound of water trickling down the huge rocks beside the gravel road. She knew that some of it was probably from melting snow but as she explored the area further, she realized there could be more to it than that.

"I found a mountain stream!" She said excitedly. "If I am correct, I won't have to worry about running out of water." 

She reached out, cupped her hands together and sipped it. 

"Perfect!" she exclaimed excitedly. "That mountain water tastes really good!"

She went back to her car, gathered the empty water bottles together and filled them up.  She placed several in her backpack, in case she had to leave the area on foot, in a hurry. The others, she put in the car for later.

"I should try my car again," she thought. She touched the hood of the car and it felt warm. "That sun may actually be charging the battery! Maybe there is hope for old Bessie, yet."

Becky was right because when she turned the key, it groaned as if to say, “I am not ready yet.” 

"There is no rush, Bessie!" she said calmly, hoping that the sun would keep shining throughout the day. "It may take a while."

Around noon, the same plane flew past in the opposite direction, but again, there was no response to her frantic efforts to gain their attention.

"God, it is just you and I up here." 

Becky was determined to survive this ordeal. With a fire and water, she could probably outlast almost anything. She decided not to even think about the possibility of a major forest fire heading her way, as there was almost no wind now.

"It is lunch time. I have a can of beans that I can warm up on the flat rock that I set in the middle of the fire. I was actually thinking that I could use it to warm up my sleeping bag tonight if it is cold. I may not be here then. Maybe someone will come along before then."

Becky knew that even if she spotted wild animals returning, they would probably not venture near her fire on the gravel road. She considered sleeping near it, but knew that she would be more comfortable in her car.

"Maybe I should find a higher spot and try my camera phone from there. If someone has a satellite dish set up somewhere in this area, I might be able to get on the Internet and send an e-mail to get help that way. My GPS would work then, too."

“Let’s see, where exactly am I?”

Taking her mountain road map out of the glove compartment, Becky off marked the individual mountain peaks that were visible. She had driven anywhere from an hour to two hours, non-stop. At one point, she recalled crossing a huge bridge that spanned a river. She spotted it on the map. She remembered staying within the speed limit most of the way, and was able to pinpoint the most likely place where she was and marked it on the map. 

"I don't have any way to tell anyone where I am unless my phone works, so I don't know why I did that. Maybe it will work, when I climb up that rock cliff. I won’t know unless I try.”

Becky tried to recall other places she might be able to pinpoint, but drew a blank. She knew that it was at least another 20 miles to the gas station. Suddenly, she started to panic.

"That is too far to walk if I have to go through a forest fire."

She looked to the west and the smoke from that direction was still rising straight up. Thankfully, it did not seem to be getting any closer.

"If I climb up the rock cliff, I will be able to get a better look at the forest fire. Actually, I will be able see farther in all directions."

Becky picked up her camera phone knowing its batteries would get low before long. 

"I will try my camera phone when I am up there and then save the batteries for emergencies only!" She laughed at herself. "If this is not an emergency, what is?"

She could not see any more animals and decided to climb up the rock cliff. It was steep and going to present a challenge, but there were intermittent rock ledges all the way up.  

"I can do this! I can!" she thought to herself. "God, I need your help. I have never been or  wanted to be a rock climber."

It was rough going for her as she was unaccustomed to rock climbing. She scraped one knee on the sharp edge of a rock, as she climbed higher and higher.

"Ouch! Majestic Mountain, you are never going to get the best of me! I will conquer you, or die trying."

As she got closer to the top she was tempted to look down, but decided not to. 

"Don't do that!" her inner spirit cautioned. "Just proceed upwards!"

Short of breath because of the altitude of the mountains, Becky gradually climbed all the way to the top of the rock cliff. The view in all directions was remarkably beautiful. To the east, what she could see was pristine, deep green, woolly  trees. In the opposite direction, there was a town partially surrounded by a forest fire, but it was still a long way from where she was.

"I was right! That is a forest fire to the west. If I do decide to walk, I will have to be careful about which direction I head. It could be risky depending upon the direction of wind is blowing.”  

Going straight ahead on the gravel road would take her to a small lake with a few tiny cabins near the water's edge.

"That must be where the gas station is located." She knew that it was near a country store and tourist center. "That's got to be it." In the direction from which she had come, there was only the long winding, gravel road and more deep green, woolly trees. 

"I could stay up here and keep an eye on the forest fire, but I may not need to do that. Thank God that it was so wet  overnight. The forest fire might not head this direction at all. In fact, it may just burn itself out."

From where she was standing on the edge of the cliff, Becky could see her red sleeping blanket on the roof of the car. The fire she had built was smoldering with its heavy smoke rising straight up. 

"I can probably tell what is happening with the forest fire just by watching the direction of the smoke from my own fire. I have another idea, too. Up here on top of this rock cliff, I could construct an arrow pointing towards my car."

There were many rocks on top of the cliff and so she started picking up ones that were large enough to be visible from the air. It took a while to gather them and they were heavy.

"Someone might see the smoke, if I keep my fire going, A plane could swoop low enough for someone to see the arrow."

When Becky tried her camera phone, it was immediately apparent that there was no Internet access which really did not surprise her. She was able to capture some beautiful photographs of the Majestic Mountain range and the forest fire.

Becky also found what appeared to be mountain goat tracks and realized that this flat-topped, rock cliff was one of their spots, but like the other animals, they too must have fled when they smelled smoke coming from the west. The mountain goats had left a distinct trail and so following it down to the gravel road was a lot easier than climbing down the face of the cliff.

Becky gathered more wood for her fire. She was no longer concerned that it would spread, but she was beginning to worry that the gravel road might not be open because of the forest fire. There was no sign of any travelers, or trucks along the way. Because of the rain and snow, altitude and smoke, there were no mosquitoes or black flies either, which was a blessing in disguise.

"I should make couple of hot dogs," Becky decided and pulled a package of wieners and hot dog buns out of her cooler in the trunk. "I have enough food for the time being and I have always loved camping. I will just make the best of a bad situation, for now.”