The Wild Lands by Paul Greci

Author:Paul Greci
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Imprint

CHAPTER

38

WE KEEP HEADING DOWNSTREAM IN silence, searching for an escape. The fissure keeps narrowing and dropping. In one spot the creek tumbles over a series of tiny falls, each three or four feet high, like a descending stairway.

The steam and boiling pools totally disappear. So do the birches, leaving a thick band of willows following the stream, bordered by rock and dirt. This feels like the old Interior Alaska. It even has the old smell of freshness you get when rushing water creates its own cool breeze.

We hug the south wall, each with our big walking sticks that we hope to craft into spears.

Up ahead a spine of dirt and rock slopes down from above. The tip of the spine disappears into the creek, creating a sharp bend with willows clinging to the outside edge.

I stop and point. “Right up there. Could be our way out.”

“Steep,” Tam says, “but doable—probably. A little risky, but I don’t think we have another choice.”

“We might have to ditch the walking sticks.” Max points about halfway up. “It looks like we’ll need to use our hands in places.”

“Let’s strap them to our packs,” I say. “We really might need spears.”

Jess hasn’t said a word. And her face is way closer to an all-out frown than a smile.

“Sis,” I say, “what’s wrong?”

Jess points partway up the spine we’re talking about. “It looks really steep right there.”

“What if we use the rope in the really steep place where we need our hands to climb?” Max says. “Not for everyone to climb on, but we could have a couple people climb up the steep part, lower the rope, and then we could tie the packs onto the rope and haul them up one at a time.”

Tam nods. “I forgot we had a rope. Good idea. That way we won’t have all that weight throwing us off-balance on the dangerous part.”

I turn to Jess. “Do you think you could give that a try? You could even use the rope for a little support while you’re climbing if you want.”

Jess nods. “I could try.”

We climb with our packs on about a third of the way up the spine before we hit the really steep section. Tam and I drop our packs; I put the coil of rope around my neck and start climbing. Using my hands and feet, I climb toward the spot we’ve picked out, about thirty or forty feet above where I started from. It’s more vertical than I thought it would be. I’m glad Jess will have the option of some rope support. Truth is, I wouldn’t have minded some for that stretch.

I hoist myself over a small ledge and turn around. Tam is about halfway up and moving fast. The spot I’m standing on, just back from the little ledge, is tiny. Behind me the slope rises steeply, but it’s not vertical like the climb Tam’s about to complete. When she reaches the ledge, I put out my hand and she takes it, and I help her over the ledge.

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