case is, we had to be within three to five miles of where I hiked last year, and we’re bound to find something if we all branch out from that spot we were at,” Dave explained, slowly lifting his backpack to his shoulders. “My gut feeling is that river has to be to the west. We could head southwest from here, but we’d be blazing a new trail, so my suggestion is we retrace our old trail and each separately head out from where we were the other day, just like Bill suggested.”
This time Dave took the lead, reaching the spring fed marsh in less than two hours, while stopping to rest only once.
“It looks like the underbrush thins out toward the west, so hopefully you won’t need to chop your way any longer, but I recommend you each mark your trail frequently,” Dave explained, as he tied a red marker to a tall branch that was clearly visible from the west end of this rather large clearing. “Remember it’s an overcast day, so you’ll really have to rely on your compass.”
Dave planned to head in a southwest direction and Bill to the northwest, while Ed would walk between them, directly toward the west, and they all agreed to return to Dave’s marker in two hours. If any one of them did not return by then, the others were to wait one hour before giving any type of gun signal, since Dave felt it important they keep their presence in the area a secret.
“And for God sake, if you feel you’re lost, don’t keep walking,” Dave explained. “Just stop and wait for us to come and find you.”
Bill had been walking at a good pace for almost an hour before he heard what sounded like rushing water off in the distance. Although he knew better, he began to run in the direction of the noise, something you should never do in the wilderness. And then suddenly, right in front of him stood a huge black bear that seemed just as startled as he was. Standing motionless, Bill tried to look as tall as he could while slowly reaching for his magnum. Once his hand contacted the handle, it was out of his holster in less time than it would take to blink your eye, and as he slowly raised both arms with no eye contact, the bear stood up on his hind legs and snarled with his hair raised on his back, poised to attack at the slightest provocation.
“Get out of here,” Bill shouted loudly, while realizing that if the bear did decide to attack he’d have time for only one shot. To Bill, the bear’s challenge seemed to last for an eternity, while he intentionally tried to avoid eye contact, which would surely cause this monster to attack, a characteristic of most wild animals when challenged in a sudden confrontation like this. While Bill held his arms up high to look as big as possible, he realized he needed to carefully lower one arm and level his gun at the bear’s head, just in case. And as he did that, the bear’s stare down finally came to an end as the animal slowly lowered his towering frame to the ground. Turning and walking away, the bear only stopping to look back as if to once more evaluate this unusual animal that’d suddenly interrupted his search for food and wild berries. Only after the bear disappeared into the forest, did Bill gradually wipe his forehead and take a deep breath, muttering to himself softly, that was way to close.
Bill’s first thought was to turn around and head back, but he felt certain that Dave’s stream was just over the next rise, so he proceeded, but far more cautiously this time.
Finally he found himself staring at Dave’s stream right before his eyes. “There it is,” he chocked, suppressing a yell for joy as he tightly clenching both fists. “I’ll be darned, Dave was right,” he whispered.
The stream looked just like Dave had described it, filled with swirling rapids and backwater currents. And as he crouched by the edge of the bank the sun suddenly broke through the clouds for only a moment, as if to celebrate his good fortune.
Meanwhile, Ed had also been hearing a peculiar noise that he couldn’t quite identify, but he trudged on rather discouraged by not having found anything during the first hour. But continuing further, he noticed the noise was becoming louder with each step.
What is that noise? Could it be the wind or maybe a train off in the distance? He thought to himself. Then as he roughly pushed aside a clump of brush, he spotted a huge granite cliff several hundred yards away. Increasing his pace, he suddenly felt both fear and excitement at what might lie ahead.
I hope that noise isn’t some Indian tribe, he thought to himself. This had been in the back of his mind much of the morning, and he’d been thinking of what he might do if any Indians confronted him, mainly now while he was all alone.
Then suddenly he found himself standing and looking up at a solid granite cliff that towered over him.
“That’s gotta be a waterfall I’m hearing.” he whispered, his excitement growing with every minute. Hurriedly he worked his way along the base of the cliff to a steep crevice he thought he might be able to climb without falling, but as he looked at his watch he realized he’d already seriously exceeded the halfway point in time, and he paused to evaluate the situation before starting any dangerous climb.
I better return for help, he thought. In fact I could fall getting up there and that would be a disaster. Pausing only to once again confirm the sound of running water, he quickly turned and started back. This time his pace was filled with renewed energy, while stopping frequently to check for the marks he’d carved in the trees.
Boy, am glad I brought my compass, he thought, as he kept missing marker after marker. At times he felt completely lost, but then after what seemed like an eternity he’d finally find another mark.
It was now well past their deadline they’d set, and Dave and Bill were getting very concerned by Ed’s absence. Dave was just about to start tracking Ed’s markers, when he saw him suddenly appear from a patch of birch trees far to the south of where he’d originally started out.
“Thank God,” Dave whispered to Bill. “Hey Ed, we were getting worried about you,” he shouted.
As Ed approached them, they could see the relief on his face, along with a smile that suggested he’d also found something.
“Just wait until you hear what I have to tell you,” he joyfully smiled, clearly relieved by finally finding his way back to where he’d started from earlier that day. For the next half hour they ate lunch and talked about the cliff, the hidden waterfall, and laughed over Bill’s frightening confrontation with that huge black bear.
“I told you guys we’d figure this thing out!” Dave slyly chuckled, grinning from ear to ear. “Now I’m more determined than ever. And Damn it, we’re now gonna find some gold nuggets,” he laughed, once again marking his map where he’d suspected the mysterious lost river was located. “It all makes sense,” he said. “I bet those map makers just assumed it was the Split Rock River.” Then he paused to think a moment. “Let’s try to make it to Ed’s wall, and we can camp there tonight.”
As they gathered their packs, they continued to jabber, and during the silent moments it was obvious they were hopefully thinking about the gold they were surely going to find, once they found this hidden stream. During their brisk hike, they also joked about chopping their way along that dried up river as their obvious enthusiasm was rekindled with every step they took.
“It looks like we might have to move our campsite and the boat.” Dave explained.
“Yes,” Bill agreed, “but first we’ll need to determine where this new river empties into the lake.”
Suddenly Ed pointed straight ahead. “There it is,” he grinned, stopping just long enough to stare at the jagged cliff he’d been describing over and over.
“It doesn’t look so big from here,” Dave laughed. Then with a little more concern, he whispered, “But I don’t recall seeing anything like that last year!”
Once again, it took only a short time before they were standing at the foot of the cliff.
“That surely sounds like a waterfall to me,” Dave whispered, “there’s no mistake about that. Now all we have to do is figure out how to get up there so we can see it.”
After much searching, they