The long hike (Jayne's Nature)

  from Jayne’s Nature:

  The long hike.

  by Jayne Louise.

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  A Kindle™ e-text.

  Surf City Source

  New Jersey

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  The long hike

  Text © 2004 by Girls Of the Dove LLC.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of the manuscript or artwork included in this e-text

  may be reproduced, stored or transmitted by any means

  without express written permission from the Publisher.

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  Text edited by Melissa Stockhart.

  HTML edited by The Girls of The Dove.

  From the original America Online journal of September 2004

  Surf City Source media group

  New Jersey

  www.surfcitysource.com

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  Foreword

  The following adventure is actually true. My journal from which these stories come does name real places and real people, but for this edition I have left out many details that might embarrass someone, or give too much of my private life away, or reveal the exact location of places that are better kept secret. The stories aren’t for people to come looking for me and stalk me. They’re for letting people know that things like this really can and do occur and that nothing here is really anything terrible at all. My sisters and I are proper young ladies who wouldn’t hurt a soul nor do anything unsafe or sinful, and as long as we are healthy and respected you’ll never see us become petulant or insist on our own way. So I need to say that if you’re looking for some really hot sexy stories about nice girls going bad, this is not the story you’ll want to read. For everyone else, if you stick with it I think you’ll enjoy it.

  A word of caution: there are many dangers for any person, clothed or unclothed, prowling about the Pine Barrens, some of which can be much worse than a mild scratch or a case of poison ivy. Also, technically, some of the activities we have pursued in these adventures are against the rules. To allay any formal concerns, we rely on our intentions to not disturb anyone else and on our conscious efforts to defend the pristine natural environment as citizen caretakers. Therefore we, as The Girls of the Dove, do not endorse anything we have done here, do not advise others to follow our examples or surpass such activities on their own, and do not accept responsibility for anyone who does anything following our examples. This advisory is made for legal as well as for ethical reasons. And anyway we’sre sure you can find your own unique way of having fun without copying what other people have done.

  Jayne Louise

  New Jersey, September 2006

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  The Girls of The Dove,

  in

  The long hike.

  by Jayne Louise.

  I

  Saturday, September 4th, 2004

  It was very warm. There was almost no wind. We had all sail up but ran the engine the whole way down the Bay and up the river to the little marina, where we’d been before. The manager remembered me from last time and we talked a little about the band’s schedule and Daddy’s plans for us and I paid him for a night at the dock. Then Jem and Jules and I went swimming to cool off, but even after we got out we weren’t much cooler. At least our evening plans would be some relief.

  We had discussed it all the way down the Bay and up the River and decided we’d hike into the woods tonight and camp out somewhere. It could be anywhere… it didn’t matter. We’d thought maybe the secret spot, but we expected it’d be pretty buggy after dark. But there would be other places, and it would be an expedition of discovery.

  Each of us has a small backpack that holds just enough for a day away from the boat. For tonight we packed towels and blankets in one, our cooler bag with sandwiches and snacks in another, and juice boxes and bottled water in the third one. The juice and water one is heaviest, so we take turns so that none of us has to carry the same bag the whole time. We also have some really nice little summer-weight sleeping bags with mosquito hoods that we keep on the boat, though we usually don’t use them on board. The forest is very safe– there are no predators– and we’d take the cell phone, three cans of Mace and an air horn for protection from other trouble. All we would need was a nice clear place to look up at the stars and we’d be fine for the night.

  But it was terrifically hot. I don’t think any of us predicted when we set off how muggy it would get. Even at 6:00 the humidity was unbearable. But at least there was no rain in the forecast.

  We were all in sneakers and socks and swimsuits– that was all. Jules wore her black-and-red bikini, which is a year old and still, somehow, fits her fine. Jem had on her plain olive one, a very traditional suit with a sweetheart top. Mine was the aqua one which is kind of a ‘70s cut with tie-up hips and a two-strap top. It’s comfortable and has a really soft lining. I had on my bright blue bandanna around my head and Jem had this cute long pink sash round hers, with the tail dropping down almost to one shoulder. She looked like a pirate. We all had on sneakers for hiking and high athletic socks for wading through undergrowth. And we each took a t-shirt in the pack. That was all we had with us. It wasn’t supposed to be the kind of hike where we’d be worried about clothes anyway.

  We crossed the road and struck off into the state forest, up the wide path that leads towards the campsite about three miles away. After ten minutes we were all dripping with sweat. ‘What are we doing this for?’ Jem wondered.

  ‘For fun,’ I said. ‘Come on, isn’t this fun?’

  She made a face. ‘We’re overdressed.’

  Jules laughed. But it wasn’t time yet to start.

  The evening was upon us by the time we got to where we leave the main path. Looking both ways we darted into the woods, climbing up the little embankment that was made when the path was cleared. Immediately we got out of the swimsuits. This might not seem like the wisest idea at sundown on a summer evening in the woods, but we sprayed Off all over– and I mean ALL over– at once, even before packing our things away. We each put our own things into the pack we carried, just in case we could become separated and need them, you know.

  The walk in to the secret spot went quietly. I was in the lead, almost creeping along the way that was almost not a path at all. Gnats were everywhere, only a few of them actually landing on us. Jem smacked my bottom once to get rid of one. ‘Don’t do that,’ I told her. ‘If it were a mosquito it would’ve stung me.’

  ‘It would’ve stung you if I didn’t,’ she said.

  She had a point there.

  We descended to the secret spot and looked around for a good place to spend the night, but we all realized that closer to the water would be much buggier. Besides, it’d be more exciting to find somewhere new.

  So we set off, just to see how far beyond the sunbathing spot we could get before dark. I led us around the far side, to be farther from the campsite. We stayed close to the water till there wasn’t much of a beach or path left, and then we forged our way through the grayness of the trees till we came upon a little clearing, not much bigger than a small house. It was mostly sand with some grass and sticks and seemed perfectly private. In fact we all froze for a few moments, listening. We heard nothing but the woods.

  ‘This is nice,’ I said.

  ‘Good,’ Jules said, getting out of the backpack straps then.

  ‘Are we stopping here?’ Jem asked me.

  I shrugged. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Do we like it enough?’

  Jem shrugged back at me, swatting at a gnat near her eye. Something l
anded on top of my bottom and I spun around to wave it away. When I got myself back together Jem was starting off to the west again. ‘Let’s see what else there is,’ she said. ‘We can trace our way back to here if we have to.’

  Jules groaned and got the backpack on again. The three of us found our way out of the clearing by way of another path. None of these ‘paths’ was very distinct– they showed little trace of having been used some time before. I was just careful to choose a way where we wouldn’t have nasty branches batting us in uncomfortable places. Anywhere with undergrowth below the tops of our socks was good enough for us.

  At last we came upon a wide path that had seen vehicle traffic. I stepped down the little embankment and squinted off both ways into the deep shadows of the forest. ‘Is this the same path?’ Jem wondered.

  I shook my head. ‘No. We haven’t made a circle. We would have had to go all the way around the lake for that.’

  ‘What if we came around the other way?’

  ‘I think we would have seen something we’d recognize. The secret spot isn’t this far from the road.’

  Jem nodded. She tends to agree with my logic. Maybe it just saves her from having to reason it out herself.

  We stood there in the middle of this road for a minute, sharing a water bottle, and then turned right, in what we believed was a westerly direction. Fifteen minutes passed– it must have been a full mile– and we’d seen or heard nothing and it’d gone pretty dark. I was ready to get out a flashlight when Jules said, ‘Listen.’

  We stopped and listened. Far off to our left came the sound of voices, plenty of them, like some kind of party. ‘That’s not good,’ Jem said.

  I squinted and suddenly saw shadows in what looked like firelight. ‘Look.’

  We all looked. Suddenly, from the dull orange glow, we heard a man calling out cheerfully, ‘The steaks are almost done.’

  ‘Steak!’ Jules said.

  ‘It’s a camp-out,’ Jem said, ‘but a really big one.’

  I was already excited. ‘Let’s go see!’

  So we crept onwards, seeing that the path bent round to the left, towards the campers. Just before we came even with the source of the orange glow, we caught a glimpse of red plastic reflecting ahead. It was the taillights of a parked car.

  ‘There’s a lot of people there,’ Jem said. ‘Children, sounds like.’

  I took a big step up the embankment and started into the woods, keeping low. The other two followed– I could barely hear them. The glow grew closer, and then we could see the outlines of tents and people– plenty of both. This was some kind of camping group, like scouts. Then the sudden crackle of something ahead of me made us all freeze.

  Clearly and crisply in the darkness, we heard a boy say, ‘It was over here somewhere.’

  How had he heard us? We all held our breath. ‘How do you know?’ another boy said. ‘You were throwing it over there.’

  ‘I’m not that good of a shot,’ the first one said, and then I saw his head moving, ducking down a few times as he searched for something at the very edge of their camp, not more than twenty yards straight in front of us.

  A man passed by, waving a flashlight. Thank God he did not point it at us! ‘Don’t do that here,’ he said once. ‘Use the potty, please.’

  Jem made a noise behind me. The second boy took a step or two backwards and then– I swear– we all heard plainly the sound of him zipping up. The first boy gave up his search and returned to the camp. We all saw them go around the corner of a tent and vanish into the darkness.

  I waved my hand behind me, and Jem and Jules backed up and turned around. Odd as it may seem we were not anxious about being seen– we could scarcely see ourselves in the blackness. Our stomachs were growling and our feet stung from the long walk. Another twenty yards back I crouched down in the grass and took off my pack.

  ‘Here?’ Jem wondered.

  ‘They’re Scouts,’ I whispered.

  ‘

  BOY Scouts?’ worried Jules.

  I shook my head. ‘They’re just boys, with their dads. I’m not afraid of them.’ I unzipped the bag.

  Jem had caught my idea. ‘If we had more to put on….’

  ‘I know. But we’re kind of lost, there isn’t any place better… and,’ I said, looking them both in the eye, ‘at least we’ll be safe here.’

  Jem nodded immediately. ‘That’s true.’

  ‘And they have food,’ Jules said.

  ‘We have food,’ I reminded her.

  ‘Do you want to eat pears out of the can in the dark?’

  I almost laughed at that. ‘Well, even if we go in, we eat what we brought and leave their food to them. Unless they offer it to us.’

  We all agreed on that. I opened my pack and got into my bikini again. Jem and I pulled t-shirts on over ours. Jules just put the t-shirt on without the swimsuit top– I wouldn’t do that. We all sprayed on more Off.

  ‘Here goes,’ I said, and we took up our packs again.

  As luck would have it a man was patrolling the boundaries of their camp– checking their perimeter just like I always do– and he heard us. By now we weren’t really trying to hide. The flashlight played across a few trees ahead of me. ‘Anyone there?’ he called a little cautiously.

  ‘Yes,’ I said bravely. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Hello?’ he called, and there was another flashlight then. For a moment we couldn’t see into their light. Then the man lowered his beam. ‘Are you lost?’

  I stepped forwards, finally able to see him. Sure enough, we’d been right– he had on the tan shorts and shirt of a Boy Scouts leader. ‘Kind of,’ I said, slowing down now as we were only twenty feet away. Two more boys had come over to the boy with the other flashlight to see us. They were all in tan shirts. ‘Can you kind of tell us where we are?’

  ‘You’re hiking alone in this?’ the man wondered, and stepped in a little to get a better look at us. Right then something snapped at my knee and I bent to slap it. That’s when the man saw Jem and Jules too. ‘Are you with anyone?’

  ‘It’s just the three of us,’ I said. ‘We were looking for a place to camp and… kind of went too far, I think.’

  ‘Come on out,’ he said. ‘This is a campground… we’re just having a campout tonight. Boy Scouts of Atlantic County.’

  I nodded, stepping over a log and into the clearing where they were camped. Beyond the back of the first tent we’d seen, there were at least a dozen more, of varying sizes, and probably 50 or 60 boys or men around a campfire. Into this scout jamboree had walked three girls with bare legs and mussed-up hair with heavy packs on their backs. None of the Scouts seemed to think this was anything terribly bad, for us or for them. The boys were all curious– I knew there would be some Eagle Scouts about our age but I wasn’t really worried about them being inappropriate. The men were all concerned for finding three teenagers lost in the woods at night. Immediately they insisted that we stay in their camp. In fact one of them even offered us a tent. We said no, telling them we were prepared to sleep in our sleeping bags, and we had enough mosquito netting that we weren’t worried about creeping or flying things. They also offered us food, and the smell of the steaks and burgers on the grille was so good that Jem and Jules looked about ready to faint. I said no, telling them that we’d brought our own food, but then someone came and set a burger and roll down on a plate in front of Jules and that pretty much made up everyone’s mind about that.

  After half an hour none of them seemed to think we were even very special. We sat around the fire with everyone else and people asked us our names and where we were from and how we had got here. I wasn’t that worried and answered them truthfully about all of it. They seemed impressed that we had sailed up the River and were hiking on our own. They told us that they were a troop mostly from a church in Absecon, with a few other troops along for the hike, and we told them about our church on the Island and our youth group. The older boys seemed especially int
erested in us, but I think that’s only because they hadn’t expected to meet anyone their age who wasn’t with the Scouts troop– least of all girls! They were all very nice to us and kept offering us more food and asking if they could help us pitch a tent or something.

  After the burgers came ice cream. What a treat after such a hot day and a long sticky hike! Of course they shared it with us– I declined it at first, thinking it would be polite, but they explained that they had plenty of it in a cooler in someone’s car and that it probably wouldn’t last there all night. So I had an ice-cream sandwich after my burger and chips.

  Around 9:30 I did phone Mom and let her know what had happened to us. hearing we had run into the scouts, she wasn’t worried. –’I’m glad you found a safe place,’ she said. ‘Use your good judgment, Jayne.’

  ‘I will, Mom,’ I said, and then Jem and Jules said goodnight to her too. The scout leaders seemed relieved that we had someone to call.

  Some of the smaller boys put on pajamas to curl up in their sleeping bags and tents. Pretty soon it was only the guys– and girls– over 11 that were sitting round the fire talking and sharing stories.

  By now the three of us were feeling pretty conspicuous– they could all tell from our bare legs that we were in swimsuits. Who hikes in swimsuits? –only us ditzy girls who were naked about two minutes before the boys spotted them! I got out a beach towel and wrapped it around my legs, more for modesty than because I was cold. I swear the night air was still in the 90s.