9-26-22 In the woods or in a campground

 

Back from the Woods

25 September 2022

FlynnFamily Story Slingers

by Cary Holmquist

One of my earliest memories of being out in the woods is more about what happened afterwards.

It started with Grandma Holmquist, who liked to go on picnics for Mother’s Day.  When I was six years old, the weather was good enough to venture out to the public grounds below Gibson Dam, along the Sun River, right on the Rocky Mountain Front. 

We spent a day there, starting with eating  home-fried chicken and potato salad and probably some odious jello salad concoction—that was in the days when Grandma’s go-to was lime jello with suspended canned peas and cottage cheese and a dollop of mayonnaise on top. 

Anyway, there was some fishing going on as well with the menfolk and I am sure we grandchildren were chasing around in the middle of all of it.  I recall there were lots of big fallen logs to climb all over and we collected pine cones like crazy squirrels.  No one managed to fall into the river or get lost in the bushes or stung by bees—though there were plenty of mosquitoes!  One of the best things about winter in Montana—NO mosquitoes.  But when spring arrives, so do the biters—though we kids must have been a challenge for them to chase down that day.  And I am sure there were some sunburns earned that day as well. 

We lived next door to my grandparents and my Dad worked side-by-side with his father as a partner on the dairy farm.  So, we were all home that Mother’s Day, like any other, by milking time.  We did not have dependable running water at our house most of those years—not for lack of drilling wells—so we usually had our baths at Grandma’s house.  That’s what we were doing while the milking got started out in the barn.  

My Mom was cycling us four kids through the bathtub and at some point—I don’t recall who was the first—when she shrieked and went into a frenzy.  She had discovered wood ticks dug into somebody’s hairline and further discoveries were made on all of us and mostly in regions much lower and hidden than head hair….

A number of attacks were issued with Grandma’s advice:  hot match heads gingerly applied to the dug in tick butts, some Vaseline jelly rubbed on to smother them and tweezers to try pull them off.   We kids were not much excited about all of this—at least not as horrified as my mother and grandmother.  The men were milking and did not know about the trauma until hours later—and they just laughed.

So our trips into the woods thereafter in the springtime and well into summer were always immediately followed by tick inspections and removal exercises.  For many, many years.  So I always equated going into the woods with tick talk as much as anything else.

The Cabin

By: Carrie Keiser

The air is crisp as I wake up and prepare to unzip the tent to a world of trees and nature.  I have lost count of the days I’ve awakened to this view of forest.  It seemed like paradise at first but now it is leaning towards fall, cooler weather and cold nights.  I thought that we would be in our house by this time. We picked the perfect spot to build in this woods, there’s a lake not far and even a clearing perfect for our house on a gentle rise so we won’t have to worry about spring run off.  I’m very tired of living in a tent though.  We are working diligently to get it finished but we have no roof yet and I think we need help. 

We had this crazy plan and idea that just the two of us could build a cabin in the woods.  We drew up the plans and got the land.  It is covered in trees, so we didn’t feel we’d need to buy wood. Turns out the it’s a lot harder to find, haul and plank the trees into usable pieces. I spend all my time locating the downed trees and dragging them to the site. Every evening I fall into bed and am immediately to sleep.  I now understand why people just pay a contractor to do this.  

Every morning I wake up to the beauty of the trees and the mountains and tell myself that it will be worth it…. Someday.  

I wipe the sleep from my eyes and crawl out of the tent, zipping it back up behind me. It’s time to throw some breakfast together and get back at it. I traipse off into the trees to outhouse we set up.  I try not to think of the stories my mom told of how her brothers were always willing to take her to the facilities because she’d run slower and scream louder…. I don’t want to have to run from a bear, at times like this or when I’m alone hauling logs back, I pray and hope no wildlife is lurking behind the next tree. As I let the door slam and I return to camp, there just might be a little more pep in my step than necessary. 

Relief floods though me as I safely reach the fire and my husband hands me a cup of cocoa. The warm liquid spreads through me and I feel I can face the days challenges after all. 

All stories start somewhere, this is where ours begins…..

A Camping Adventure

By: Ryanne Leavitt

“What that” two minutes later, “hear that?”  Three or four minutes after that, “I hear!  What that?  What there” and so on until the sun came up and warmed the tent and forced two very tired adults out into the nature soaked world beyond the tent flap and the two littles happily slept for a few hours.  That was our camping experiences with Orissa and Javin when they were little.  NO rest all night and too warm in the tent to sleep in the mornings.  We made a go at it several times, and that was the result every single time!  Didn’t matter where we camped, every little sound had Orissa and Javin questioning what it was and making sure we heard it  too.

September 2009 we went to Glacier National park, it was Aaron first time and we were pretty excited.  THe kids were 3 and almost 2, and at the out set seemed excited for an adventure.  We are unconventional in all we do and decided to go off the beaten trail, we don’t like crowds and wanted a less populated view of Glacier, so we picked a road that was suppose to take us to a camp ground.  It was not a road made for a minivan.  I swear the potholes were actively trying to swallow us car and all.  It also was way farther to the camp site that we thought!  When we reached it there wasn’t much there, a couple of bear safe trash cans, fire pits and a pit potty! To be fair, the location was gorgeous and when we arrived there wasn’t another soul in sight.  

We got our camp set up and decided to go stretch our legs on a hike, there were a few trails that branched out front the camp ground.  We put Riss in the carrier and javin was left to hoof it.  Two minutes in and Orissa was letting us and all nature know she wasn’t happy about the situation.  We endured and pressed forward with her unhappiness ringing out for all to hear…oddly enough we saw no wildlife at all, not even a chipmunk wanted to he near that wretched sound.  Less that a mile in and Javin joined the unhappy throng.  We had a duet of angry screaming.  Oh, but not a bear in sight.  If you are wary of bears on your nature adventures, just bring a kid that thinks nature is horrible along, nothing will get within a mile of your location.

As we slogged our way back to our camp site we were lamenting the idea of even leaving the city.  Upon arriving back to our humble site we saw that couple of other brave souls had managed to make it down that road to this isolate place.  Mind you, they were smart and had trucks and vehicles made for leaving the smooth surfaces of city life.  We cooked up our dinner and when it got a bit later made the obligatory s’mores and then tried to settle in for our first night in Glacier.  

As soon as the lanterns were turned off the loud questioning of every sound began.  At first it wasn’t a huge deal, the other campers were being a bit loud and rowdy, but when they finally settled in, Orissa’s incessant worries and questions didn’t get quieter, and they went on until the sun started to rise. 

We cooked up a yummy breakfast of eggs and what not, to get ready for another day of angry hiking.  Happy that she now actually likes to hike with me.

I will say this for camping with her, those other campers weren’t sticking around for another night of Orissa the talker…oh how I miss the talking now, but then I would have loved some sleep those three nights!

That day we found we were nearly right on a beach of a beautiful pristine lake…seriously minutes away, and that was on foot.  We spent several happy hours there taking pictures, skipping rocks, picnicking our lunch and even talking to a fisherman who had made a few big catches….Javin was inthralled by his stories, and the size of the fish. 

 

We managed to survive the trip and and we explored the area pretty thoroughly, so  much so that we realized on that second day there, we could have had a much smoother ride into the campground and used that road the rest of our stay.  

Being our stubborn selves, we tried to out stubborn the kids, made it another sleepless night, saw lots of lakes and waterfalls and finally ended our stay with the touristy Road to the Sun and down and out the far side of the park.  The wind was blowing and the Lake on the way out of the park had ocean sized waves that reminded both of us of our stay in Scotland and the windy day on Loch Lomond, with waves washing over the road!  

We made it home tired, but glad we had gone, vowing to never go camping with those littles again…a vow we were doomed to break.

Story Slingers 

September 23, 2022

Myrna Flynn

Wilderness Life for Roland

All of his life, from age 5 to his current age of 65, Roland Robert Reynolds had dreamed of living in the wilderness. HIs wife, Monique, does not share his dream to become a Mountain Man. She has agreed to go spend a week every month in the spring, summer and fall, but to winter freezing temperatures, Monique says, "No thank you, no way!"

Roland drove trucks since he was 18 and started his own trucking company TRIPLE RRR Trucking 10 years later. It was successful and earned him enough income to set aside each year for his wilderness retirement plans of heading for the hills at age 65. When he turned 65 he sold his company for $1 to his son, Jefferson. He had 2 other sons, Alex and Clifton and 1 daughter, Gwen. They were not interested in the trucking lifestyle. They had all driven trucks to earn money for college or to learn a trade but as soon as they could, they said, "Goodbye trucking and good luck Jefferson!"

Roland had searched online for the ideal spot to build his cabin. He found it on public land and fought for the right to settle there. He had good lawyers who reminded the government that the forest service did not own the land, it was theirs to manage only. It was an especially hard battle because he had chosen a remote land in the Cascade Mountains in Washington State and the politics of the state were not tuned into the Constitutional rights on landownership and homesteading.

He was not totally ready to live without electricity and running water, so he hired a water witch to show him where he could dig a well. He put in a water pump to bring water to the cabin. There was a stream flowing near his cabin that was strong enough for him to put in a small water wheel to generate the small amount of energy needed for electricity for lights. Also he remembered to get a strong satellite radio for communicating with his family and for emergencies.

Now that he had these things taken care of, he began to gather wood to heat his house and for cooking. (He had studied many articles on being prepared, not only to survive in the wilderness, but to live comfortably.) There was a lot of dead wood lying around and fallen trees that he could saw up for cord wood. The dead wood would be for the fire starting and the logs for the fireplace.

He has workers help with the building of the cabin and creating the fireplace. He also became friends with an old timer who had lived almost his entire life in the mountains. Tony Thomas Tedrow was the old timer's name, but he just wanted to be called 3T. 3T showed him how and helped him make furniture using logs and poles. Together they constructed a table and four chairs, a bed frame and a couple of easy chairs.

He was pretty sure he had covered all his bases and was ready to start enjoying himself hiking, exploring the beauty around him. He had good maps and a good compass to find his way and not get lost. As an extra precaution, he planned to stick markers along his pathway.

Even though Monique didn't want to live in the wilderness, she didn't like to go hiking and climbing. Roland radioed her to let her know that everything was ready for her to come join him for the weekend. He had a place for a hike and a picnic selected.

He asked her to pick a day and time she would arrive in Ellensburg. He told her he would be there to pick her up and they could shop for bedding, a good mattress and groceries. She radioed back and replied, "I will be there Saturday by noon. I have a long weekend and I will ask for Tuesday and Wednesday also."

He had been so busy getting all set up that he had not even looked at the calendar. He looked at it now and did not believe that Memorial Day was coming. That was great, she would be there for 5 days!

The 5 days flew by and after he took her back to Ellensburg and left he heading for home the let down was almost too much. He had not felt lonely at all before. He was too occupied with settling into his wilderness home to realize how alone he was. Maybe she would change her mind and retire at the end of the yearend be willing to spend more than a week during the good seasons.

time flew by: Summer and fall were great. Then winter, and although Roland was sure that he had stocked plenty of food and wood, but when spring came, the wood was used up and the food supplies were low. 

3T stopped buy to see if Roland needed anything. He was impressed that Roland had some supplies left. He asked, "Would you like to go with me? I'm heading into "so-called civilization" to refill my larder and I can see that you need to get necessities also."

Roland replied, "That sounds great! I was sitting here feeling all alone, knowing that I needed to make that trip and not wanting to go by myself."

When they returned and had their re-stocking put away, Roland said, "I have been contemplating putting in a small cemetery plot for Monique and myself. I want us to be buried here in the beauty and solitude."

Roland lived his dream life for many years. When he was in his late seventies, he decided to limit his solitary life to spring, summer and fall. Winter in the wilds was getting too hard for him. 

Monique did join him for the summers because being in the Cascades was a lot cooler than down in the flat land. Also, she was lonely and wanting to be with him. The children had all moved away. Alex became an attorney and then was elected Governor of Washington; Clifton was a renowned Neurosurgeon. Constantly called as a consultant, he traveled all over the world; Gwen was an artist. Her paintings were on display in many art museums.

Their last summer together came when she died at age 90. Roland willed his cabin to his family so they could have a place and they would understand why their grandfather lived there for so long. He hoped that they would develop a love for serenity and would use their cabin as a reprieve from the rat race of big city life. 

Roland died in his cabin at the age of 100, 10 10 years after Monique and 3T. A forest ranger, William Crawford, had become friends with him and stopped by to check on him regularly.

It was early morning, August 23, 2022. William found Roland dead. He called his ranger station to report the death. While he was waiting for the coroner to arrive, he saw a note stating his final requests were in his lock box in the cupboard over the sink.

The note asked for whoever found his body, to get the will and other papers to his lawyer, Martin Johnson, who's office was in Ellensburg.

As soon as the coroner confirmed that Roland had died of old age and nothing else, William left to take the information to the lawyer. William wanted to make sure that the lawyer knew that Roland wanted to be buried beside his wife, in the cemetery in the wilderness.

Martin assured William that he knew what Roland wanted and who he wanted to handle the burial and what friends he had left would be the ones who buried him. Martin had his secretary call Roland's family members to let them know that their father had passed away. He also knew that there was a wooden casket at the cabin waiting.

Roland was a fortunate man, a successful businessman, a good father, even though an eccentric one, and he lived his later years in his dream place in the wilderness.