Chapter 1 #2
Hunter pulled his gaze from the blonde beauty in the front of his canoe and fixed it on Hannah and Alyssa’s canoe, which was headed straight for a tree limb hanging low over the river.
Both ladies ducked in the nick of time to avoid getting clotheslined.
Hannah growled something at her friend that he couldn’t make out, but whatever it was, it caused Alyssa to paddle feverishly.
It was probably a good thing they started out in the shallow and mellow section of the river today.
It gave the ladies a little practice before they entered the deeper, somewhat faster flowing waters.
Once the two paddled farther away from the shore, Hannah shot him a glance and shook her head. He couldn’t help but grin at her obvious frustration with her friend.
Hunter paddled up alongside Hannah and pointed to the campsite they’d use the first night.
“That’s where we’re headed.”
This was his favorite campsite. It jutted out on a little point and reminded him of the Hamm’s beer sign that hung in his grandfather’s basement bar. As a kid, he’d watch that lighted, rippled water motion sign for hours on end, mesmerized by the flowing waters.
Hannah nodded and followed him to the shore. He hopped out of his canoe and pulled it up onto the rocky beach, then grabbed hold of Hannah’s canoe and pulled it on shore so the women could climb out without getting their feet wet.
Side by side, they all stood on the shore for a moment, looking over the river.
Off in the distance, he could hear a pileated woodpecker pecking away; more like hammering at a tree.
From the direction it sounded, it was probably pounding on that near-dead white pine.
He’d seen woodpeckers on it recently when he and his clients hiked by, on their way to the falls and gorge they’d be seeing today.
There were so many holes in that once mighty tree, he couldn’t imagine there were many insects left within its bark wall to feast on.
“These tents won’t pitch themselves,” he exclaimed as he bent over and pulled two tent packs from his canoe.
He carried them into the woods a few feet before plopping each one down on a tent pad.
“That one is yours,” he informed the ladies, as he pointed at the slightly larger bag.
Hannah nodded.
“The setup instructions are in the bag. And that one is mine. I’ll race you,” he teased.
Bianca and Alyssa smiled, Hannah, not so much. In fact, her look bordered on annoyed. Why? He was just teasing. Did she not like challenges or competition?
Within minutes, he’d pitched his tent. Having done this so many times, he could do it in his sleep.
Now and then, his uncle talked about building little cabins at each of the campsites, but he always decided against it because he wanted to give his customers a more ‘outdoorsy’ experience.
Some visitors even chose to sleep under the stars.
Hunter eyed his current clients. They certainly weren’t the type to sleep under the open sky.
In fact, it surprised him that two of the three were here at all.
Hunter stepped up to the ladies. Overall, they were doing a decent job setting up their four-person dome tent, but if it were him, he’d be finished already, and likely the camp would be set up, too.
But this, the clients being hands-on, was all part of the experience they paid for, so he let them be.
Hannah read the tent assembly instructions and directed her friends on how to set up the tent.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Hunter’s amused gaze.
The look in his dark brown eyes matched his teasing tone from earlier when he challenged them to a race as to who could set their tent up more quickly.
Why was everything a competition for men?
Especially the too-good-looking ones. The ones who thought the world revolved around them. Jerk.
He crossed his muscular arms over his chest and leaned back on his heels as he watched. The corners of his mouth had lifted slightly, making him even more annoying to her.
She gave a few more instructions to her friends.
Why couldn’t they seem to understand her?
Why were they struggling so much to set up this stupid tent?
And most of all, why did her friends insist on taking this trip?
They were the least outdoorsy people she knew, yet they insisted on this kind of trip.
She’d grown up in an outdoors-enthusiastic family and loved the outdoors and all it had to offer, but her college roommates certainly didn’t.
She should never have let them talk her into taking this trip.
Bianca peeked around the partially erected tent she steadied with her hands gripped around a pole. She batted her eyes at Hunter, likely hoping to get him to finish setting it up for them. Hannah barked out her next instruction. She would be darned if she’d ask for help.
“Would you like some help?” Hunter asked.
His gaze stayed on Bianca, and his grin widened.
“Sure,” Bianca replied.
“No, we got this. We’re almost done,” Hannah said quickly as Hunter made a move toward them.
Hunter halted.
“Just insert the ends of the rods into the loops at the base of the tent, and we’ll be set,” Hannah instructed.
Alyssa and Bianca did as told, and the tent pulled taut.
“There. Done,” Hannah said as she stepped back and eyed their handiwork.
“Looks good,” Hunter affirmed.
Without looking at him, Hannah shrugged, then she spun around and headed toward the canoe to retrieve her backpack and the bedrolls their guide had packed for them. Her friends followed.
Hunter returned to his canoe and pulled a cooler from it, and carried it over to the brown, metal, bear-proof food locker.
He pulled four bottles of water from the cooler and a couple of other small packages Hannah couldn’t quite identify, and he stuffed them into his camouflage backpack.
After stowing the cooler in the metal bin, he latched the door.
He spun to face them. “Who’s up for a short hike to Wild Canyon Falls?”
“I’m ready,” Bianca responded eagerly as she stepped to Hunter’s side.
“I’ll be ready in a second. I just need to grab my camera from my pack,” Alyssa said as she dipped her hand into her backpack and pulled out her expensive-looking camera and two lenses.
“And you?” Hunter asked with a quick glance in Hannah’s direction.
Hannah nodded.
Hunter led them down the single-file trail.
Beach stones lined the first several feet of the path.
Most were oval-shaped, dark colored, and they looked invitingly smooth.
Hannah liked rocks and shells. They were like little treasures to her and she fought the urge to snap one up. Maybe on the way back.
The path quickly transitioned to moist dirt.
It had rained earlier in the day, and the trees lining the path blocked the warm sun from drying the earthy-smelling ground, causing any little slope to be slippery.
Hannah figured her hiking shoes would maintain her foothold, but her friends wearing their fashionable tennis shoes, rather than practical ones, would have to be careful not to slip and fall on their rumps.
She had warned them to pack shoes more suitable for hiking, but they dismissed her advice.
The ground grew muddier and more slippery as they trekked over a slight decline in the terrain. Now the girls would really have to be careful. She shook her head. This was on them. She had warned them.
Closing her eyes to envision the map she’d studied earlier, and had since stuffed in her backpack, she knew the faint trickle of water she heard was likely not the Wild Canyon Falls. It had to be from something else. Probably a little creek feeding into the falls, or from the falls.
When she reopened her eyes, she focused ahead to find a narrow two-plank walkway a short distance away.
The guide walked over the planks with ease, even though there was no railing.
Alyssa hesitated and glanced over her shoulder at her and raised a skeptical brow.
Hannah nodded, then Alyssa turned and lifted her arms for balance, and crossed over the planks. Bianca did the same.
Hannah followed suit. She glanced down. The distance between the walkway bridge and the ground increased with each step she took.
Within a few more steps, a narrow stream flowed under the boardwalk, about four feet below the planks.
She studied the clear water for a moment before continuing along.
Only a few more feet to go to get back onto the dirt path—solid ground.
The trail twisted and turned. Hunter stopped and pointed at a pine tree about twenty feet into the woods.
A pileated woodpecker drove its beak against the bark, carving out yet another hole in the tree that already looked like Swiss cheese.
How could the poor bird pound that hard and not get a migraine?
Alyssa snapped a few photos of the woodpecker before they continued down the trail. The sound of rushing water echoed through the forest, louder and louder as they closed in on Wild Canyon Falls.
A cool breeze swept through the air as she stepped onto a flat rock formation overlooking the falls and gorge.
The water flowing over the twenty-foot-long ledge was fairly clear.
White foam formed at the bottom of the ten-foot falls and then flowed through the gorge with the rapid current.
It was louder than Hannah had expected it to be when she’d read about the falls, especially since the drop wasn’t all that far.
She stared at the rushing water, mesmerized by both the sight of it and the thunderous sound echoing off the canyon walls.