Chapter 6

(Day 3 — Later that afternoon, River Trail)

Sheila concluded whitefish wasn't quite as good as freshly caught trout, but it fed them. The whitefish were a seemingly abundant food supply if they did not come across the cache tower before Ricky did. After washing their plates and forks, they put everything back in the packs and helped each other into them. When they packed the fishing poles, Tommy tied them so they would be upright alongside the pack and tied a bright yellow streamer to each one. He carried one and Donna carried the other,

"We need to move away from here kids," Sheila said, staring at a bear track that dwarfed her small size 8 boot. "We may be encroaching on someone else's fishing spot and I would just as soon not be here when he comes back and wants to argue over it!" Before they left, she made another arrow with the toilet paper pointing to the southwest.

They hurriedly began walking across the tundra and came across a trail about two hundred yards from where they had camped. It seemed to be going southwesterly, so they would follow it for a while. She again marked an arrow along the trail. "I may run out of paper soon," she thought. They continued down the trail towards the cache tower. They would walk for an hour and then rest ten minutes before walking some more.

(Over the River Trail)

It was now nearly four in the afternoon. Grif passed Tara on her way back to Bettles for fuel, and she reported that she had not even seen the single tent. He wondered what had happened to the backpackers? Tara would also pick up some gear for them to set up their base camp, and spend the night at Walker Lake, until all members of the party had been accounted for.

Among the things Grif picked up in Bettles were some Granola bars, trail mix and a dozen Hershey bars. He intended to bring them to the Fish Camp if and when he ever got back there. In the mid-afternoon sun, Grif noticed a lot of small potholes containing water as he neared where the blue tent was pitched earlier. Then he thought, "Maybe I'll head south first and double back this way."

That was one of those unexplained phenomena that Grif did on the spur of the moment. After about five minutes he noticed a ribbon of water not ten feet wide, winding through the tundra meadow. "It must be a tributary of the Kobuk River." Grif thought. He figured it must be one that drained some of the tundra ponds on the high trail. Some of those ponds were created courtesy of a colony of beavers. Grif set the flaps and cut the throttle to reduce his airspeed, and dropped down to follow the stream to the river and then back up the trail.

Grif always like seeing fish from the air, so when he noticed a dark ribbon in the stream, he circled around to get a better look. It was packed with what looked to be spawning fish. They were too small and plentiful to be salmon, like Grif would be fishing for if not for those bears. He circled again and saw a bend pool that was literally black with them. It even had a white arrow pointing to them. Whoa!

Grif circled again and saw where there had been a camp there, where two circles from dome tents and a fire had been made near the arrow. Grif leveled out and followed the arrow, until he came to the trail with a second arrow, and followed it. Grif stayed about 500 feet above the trail and as he topped a hill Grif saw two dancing flashes of yellow. He added power to climb up and see, and there were four hikers. One had a green windbreaker on, another a light blue, a pink one and a red one. They were four of the lost campers! They were jumping up and down and waving their arms.

Grif let out a deep sigh, and said, "Thank you God." He waved his wings at them, and circled with them a few minutes, and descended to a pool in the river a mile ahead. As Grif coasted to the shore where he would tie up, he lay back and closed his eyes in relief. Grif could have fallen asleep if not for the need to check on them in person.

They had just begun to walk again when Donna said, "LISTEN!" They stopped to listen. Tommy said, "It sounds like a Cessna but I don't see it."

"I think it's behind us," Bonnie said.

Sheila then told them, "Go to the top of the hill so he can see us if it is."

They all but ran, the poles waving the yellow banners back and forth. Sheila thought, "He ought to see those flags. He does see us! Thank you God." Then she noticed Grif landing off in the distance after circling three times, and thought, "We have to be close to a lake."

Sheila caught up with the kids, and then actually began to pass them. Ahead was safety. They would abort this trip and go home. They had a husband, and father to bury back in New York. There were also fresh food and emergency supplies at the tower.

As they topped the next hill, Bonnie said, "Look there it is. There's our pilot too. He's coming to us." Then she stopped when she saw Barney. "What is that?" she asked.

Tommy said, "It looks like a black Labrador Retriever. Mike Peterson has one like it. Mike's is smaller I think."

Grif saw them moving rapidly over the hill towards him. He moved to them as well, and told Barney, "We found them boy." There was no sign of any bears for a long ways so Grif left the guns stashed away. Grif reached them, and said, "I am so happy to see you folks. I am sorry about Barry. I truly am."

"Thank you," Sheila said then came to hug his neck. Then she began to cry. Bonnie hugged them both, and said, "We prayed that you would come." Then Donna gave Grif a hug, and held on.

He said, "Thank you for the wonderful welcome I just saw you day before yesterday. I am just thankful you are OK."

Grif looked and Tommy stood not knowing what to do. He reached over and shook his hand, then put his hand on the boy's shoulder to comfort him.

Grif then announced, "We need to go back to the base camp, and stay there until the State Troopers come in the morning. Who is going to help me load the plane?" Tommy and Donna offered, and Barney jumped around knowing they were going somewhere again. Gathering up everything, they loaded the luggage compartment for the short flight back to Walker Lake. Ten minutes later, Grif was tying the Cessna 185 to the dock and unloading. Grif unpacked his gear and set it aside to make a separate camp.

Sheila came over to him, and apologized for the girls fussing over him. She could sense that he was uncomfortable about it. Grif explained that it was mostly Donna that shook him up. He just wasn't comfortable showing affection to young kids since he had none of his own.

"She was teasing I am sure," explained Sheila. "I will explain that it makes you uncomfortable."

"Thanks," Grif replied, "Let's see what is up in the cache tower first. I have an idea."

Grif recalled some galvanized pails and a black cast iron kettle when he stashed their food. He raised the ladder and told Tommy where they were. "I'll be right back" he said, and walked to the plane to get the blanket that Barney sat on.

"What are you going to do with that?" Donna asked him.

Grif told her, "I know you ladies probably don't need it, but I haven't cleaned up since yesterday morning, and by golly if I am going to be in the presence of three lovely young women, I am going to at least be clean. I'm going to warm some water in that kettle, and pour it in that bucket with the holes in it and take a shower."

Bonnie gasped and Donna said, "Awesome!"

"In front of us?" asked the little girl.

Grif told her, "Not exactly," and proceeded to drape a blue plastic tarpaulin around the tower legs forming a barrier.

However, Grif said, "I will be a gentleman and defer to the ladies, if any of them might want to use the facilities first?"

They looked at Grif like he was Santa Claus. "How about we get some wood for a fire? Barney will help."

They didn't have to go far to the woods, and in short order they had an armload each and went back for more except Sheila. She began to set up the tents. When the group was coming back with the second, and last armloads, Sheila had the fire started in the fireplace made of cement blocks.

"Cool, Mom has the fire started," Tommy said.

"That's a new one," Grif thought to himself, "a woman who had the skill to start a fire quickly."

Then Tommy said, "You should have seen her catch fish for lunch today! It was so cool. Then she built the fire and cooked it."

When they arrived back at the tower, both of their tents were set up, sleeping bags rolled out, and the water almost boiling not only in the kettle, but also over the propane stove that they had sent ahead she had two saucepans boiling.

"If we need five showers I want plenty of hot water." She said. "Besides, I am making spaghetti for supper. I apologize for the canned sauce, but we have to make do out here."

"That's fine with me," Grif said.

About that time Tommy saw some dimples on the lake surface. Grif suspected they might be grayling, feeding on emerging insects. "Mom," he asked excitedly, "can you fix me a pole so I can try to fish?"

Grif said, "I think I might have one or two in the plane."

Grif then walked down and removed a fly outfit, and his ultra-light spinning outfit. He brought them along with his vest back, and they walked to where they were feeding towards the outlet. On the ultra-light rod he tied a size 0 Mepps spinner in fluorescent orange, and showed Tommy the mechanics of it. Then Grif made a demonstration cast. He retrieved it without a hit, but Tommy got the idea. Grif told him not to wander off in case a bear came by.

Grif brought the other rod case back up to camp, and started to rig up his 8-weight Orvis graphite fly rod. Bonnie looked at the rod and suddenly said, "Look Mommy, Orvis like Grandpa!"

Today was a bundle of surprises. First Grif found out Sheila was an accomplished camper, able to start her own campfires. Then she apologized for canned spaghetti sauce. Next he found out that she learned to fly fish as a young girl. To top it all off, she didn't seem to mind it even though she was the wife (now widow) of one of the most outspoken radical Animal Rights activists in the country.

"Can Donna and I shower now?" Bonnie asked. Grif said, "Sure, I'll fill it the first time and your mom can do it the second so you can rinse. Then Donna can do it for her. Tommy and I will trade off too, after he gets done playing with the fish."

Grif mixed a good warm bucket of water and showed the girls and their mom how the improvised shower worked and left them to it. Donna "accidentally" dropped her towel as he was leaving. It wouldn't be Grif, but that girl was going to make some lucky man very happy in a couple years! Grif tried hard not to notice, but she was beautiful, under age, but beautiful never the less.