by R E Swirsky
CHAPTER 11
Saturday 10:15 Heart Mountain near Canmore, Alberta, Canada
Richard posed next to the inuksuk, the first of four stone cairns staged at the highest peaks along the Heart Mountain Loop. The Bow River Valley, Lac Des Arcs, and the southern part of the town of Canmore lay below them in the valley stretching out to the west. The rugged peaks of the Rocky Mountains reached out everywhere behind him in a picturesque backdrop as seen on a postcard. He squatted alongside the small stone figure.
“Smile,” she said.
Tawnie snapped a number of pictures.
The top of the mountain was wide open, denuded of trees, and the surface was stony and much flatter than he expected. It almost appeared like a miniature rocky meadow was carefully placed atop the steep-walled mountain. To the south, the rocky meadow narrowed, and both sides fell away into the valleys below on either side. Numerous evergreen trees lined the area where the trail continued south on its loop, traversing the four peaks along the two-mile-long ridge that made up the top of the mountain.
Richard was taken aback by the sheer beauty that encompassed him. It had been many years since he last hiked up so high in the mountains. He gazed around in awe and let an exhilarated smile wash across his face. Tawnie returned her tripod and lens back into the pack as she readied herself to move on.
There was no trace of wind. The sun was up high and the only discernible sound was that of vehicles travelling the highway in the valley below. It was the perfect day to be on any mountain.
The near perfect silence was suddenly broken by a short muffled high-pitched scream from somewhere down the side of the mountain below them. An icy cold shiver travelled down Richard’s spine.
Tawnie stared at Richard with her mouth agape.
A shrug was all Richard could offer. Both moved quickly towards the edge of the mountaintop and looked down. Neither could see what sat below. The drop-off was much too steep.
“That was a scream.”
Twenty yards down the mountain’s western edge, it was still impossible to see anything right below them. The western side of the mountain was a solid wall of interlacing vertical drops that fell away to the valley floor nearly a half mile below, and the natural curve at the top of the mountain limited any view directly below.
Richard cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hello!” he shouted.
There was no reply.
“That did sound like a scream.”
Richard nodded. “I didn’t see anyone behind us on the climb. Did you?”
Tawnie shook her head. “Not behind or ahead of us. I haven’t seen anyone.”
“Well…there were two other vehicles in the parking lot.”
The two of them stared into the valley below. Was it really possible that someone just fell off the mountain?
“If they got too close to that right side coming up, then.…”
Richard shook his head. “Don’t even suggest that.”
“What do you think we should do?” Tawnie asked.
Richard shrugged. “I don’t really know what we can do.”
“But it was a scream, wasn’t it?”
“It sure sounded like one,” Richard replied. But he wondered.
Richard and Tawnie retraced their path along the ridge, looking down the western edge of the mountain for the next half hour. Only the lower part of the path near the valley bottom was visible but was much too far away to see clearly. And then, only small snippets of the trail were visible where the trees opened up.
“Look!” Tawnie shouted. She pointed at an open section of trail over a thousand feet below.
“Where?”
“There. On the path. Someone’s going down.”
“I don’t see anyone.”
“Over there—near the edge where we came up. Right where it opens up and runs along the cliff way down below the Crux.”
“I don’t.…”
“Along the ridge right there before the trees thicken up.” She pointed. “He’s dressed in dark clothes. Dark blue, I think”
“Okay, I see him.”
Richard cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hello!” he shouted.
The hiker stopped, turned and stared up towards Richard and Tawnie.
Richard waved an arm back and forth above his head.
The sole hiker returned a brief wave, turned away and carried on with his descent down the mountain. Seconds later, another hiker similarly dressed came out into view from the trees and followed after the first.
“Well, he definitely saw us.”
“Uh huh.”
“They’re not moving very fast.”
They watched the hikers descend for another few minutes as the tiny stick-like figures popped in and out of the trees until the denser trees swallowed them up.
“Maybe they didn’t hear anything,” Richard suggested.
“Maybe it wasn’t a scream.”
“You heard it,” Richard said. “It was definitely a scream.” He turned away and motioned back towards the top. “C’mon, let’s move on. We’ve just wasted forty-five minutes here. They were probably just horsing around down there.” Tawnie followed close behind as he turned around and ascended silently along the path back up to the top.
“See? That’s what I was saying earlier about the Crux. Some people only come up that far before turning back.”
“Uh huh,” Richard replied. It seemed odd to him that someone would actually only come that far up the mountain and turn around and go back down without reaching the summit.