Trent’s head hung low and he looked up to Lacey with huge embarrassed eyes, “I’m so sorry I threw up all over you, I uh never thought that would be how our first uh…” he got quiet suddenly.
“What?” Lacey questioned, her eyes wide, and her cheeks blushing.
Ben looked at both of them, embarrassment overcoming him and yelled, “AND CUT!” just as a movie director would if something wasn’t going quite right. “Let’s just save this for another time, huh, guys…yeah? Let’s get out of here and then you can get all mushy, if not you’re gonna make me vomit.” He laughed then helped Trent to his feet.
Lacey knelt down to the frigid water and took handfuls to clean her face and hair, she shuttered from the cold. As she stood, Trent looked at her and mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry.’
She smiled and grabbed his hand, “I’m so glad you’re okay.” They stared at each other for a few seconds too long.
Ben said, “Really? Really guys? Can we at least try to get out of here and find Megan, sheesh!” He stepped into the water and began walking down the tunnel where the river proceeded.
“Megan’s gone?” Trent asked.
“She’s gotta be somewhere, we’ll find her,” Lacey said trying to convince herself.
The beach ended as the water disappeared into another tunnel. Lacey and Trent followed Ben and all three were forced to lie back in the water and float in the darkness. They each held on to the boot of the person behind them to make sure they didn’t get separated, the flow of the water began to increase, the current was powerful as the tunnel got more and more narrow. Ben held his head up above the water’s surface to look ahead in the tunnel, hoping he would see Megan, what he saw instead was a circular bright blue patch of sky.
“Guys there’s sky up ahead, I think the tunnel is ending!” Just as Trent and Lacey lifted their heads to see their exit, the current became incredibly forceful, and a pounding, rushing sound vibrated the walls around them. Ben realized what was happening before Trent and Lacey could articulate it, he screamed, “WATERFALL!”
The three held each other’s boots tighter as Ben went over the edge of the waterfall, and out of the glacier. His falling pulled on Trent and then of course Lacey, they fell only a few feet, but each screamed along the way, not knowing how high this waterfall really was. As they hit another body of water, each relaxed as they realized they were indeed alive. Ben pulled himself to the surface and was almost blinded by the bright sunlight shining on him. The fresh air filled his lungs and he rejoiced that he could see trees and mountains and someone running into the water nearby him, he focused on the person but before he could yell out her name, Megan was almost pushing him under the water she was hugging him so hard. Trent and Lacey had come to the surface as they realized what was going on. They swam over to Ben and Megan and began hugging each other too, everyone relaxed a bit as they were bear hugging Megan.
Quietly Megan said, “So, yeah…it’s cold.” She looked at them all, clearly thankful they were alive and then repeated, “No really guys, I was warming up on the beach, it’s cold in here!” They all laughed, Ben grabbed Megan’s shoulders and dunked her under the water, as she emerged she punched him in the arm, she wiped her hair from her face then said seriously, “Now that’s just rude, Ben.”
24
“Thanks again, for the lift.” Trent shook the hand of each snow mobile driver then walked over to Lacey, toward the plane which was still waiting on the glacier.
“Hurry, let’s check on Compass!” Megan demanded as she jogged over to the door. Trent opened the small door for her and there still tucked inside a warm blanket, resting on top of a hot water bottle was the small wolf pup, sound asleep. She gently scooped him up in her arms and held him to her neck. He nuzzled her softly and then began rooting around her neck, an indication that he was clearly hungry.
Megan climbed in the plane and retrieved a small baby bottle that contained the powdered milk Sarah had given her to feed Compass with. She emptied some of the warm water from the hot water bottle into the baby bottle and mixed up the formula, then laid Compass on her lap as he suckled the warm milk.
“Looks like you’ve got that down,” Lacey acknowledged as she climbed in the seat next to Megan.
“Yeah, I love this lil’ guy.” Megan beamed.
Trent and Ben tossed a black garbage bag that was full of their wet clothes behind the seat, then climbed in the front and started the engine.
“Good thing the people at the information center at the lake had extra clothes, we’d have frozen to death.” Megan said as she stroked Compass’ forehead.
“Yeah, that was very cool, I imagine quite a few people need spare clothes after trekking on the glacier, or falling into the lake like we did, amazing though, I never knew that Mendenhall Lake even existed, I thought all glaciers ended at the ocean for some reason. That place was amazing.” Lacey yawned as she spoke, then quickly closed her eyes.
“You guys ready?” Trent called back to them over the humming of the engine and the vibration of the propellers.
“As ready as we’ll ever be!” Megan called back.
Trent initiated take off and within a minute they were flying over the mountains and seeing the enormous glacier from the sky, it stretched for what appeared to be miles, Ben couldn’t help but feel relieved knowing that Henry and Eddy were buried in it.
“So, I figure we’ll head back to the hotel, see your parents, dry our clothes, get some supplies and head to the next waypoint.” Trent said to Ben.
“How many supplies do you think we’ll need? According to the areal maps it looks like the next geocache is only a few miles up the West Buttress trail on Mt. McKinley.”
“Ben, people train for years to climb that mountain, what looks like only a few miles, could take days. If there is a storm, maybe weeks. We’ll need to stock up, get some tents, heaters, climbing gear, this is gonna be intense. I’ll fly us in as far as I can, but after that it’s up to us and mother nature.”
“I have a feeling we’ll be okay,” Ben said, totally at peace. He wasn’t sure what was causing his overall calm. Perhaps it was that they had faced death time and time again. Maybe it was that he was sensing an end to this journey. Or maybe it was the fact that he knew they weren’t alone. Something, some force was protecting them, he was finally allowing that thought to take precedence over his fear.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure we will, besides if it gets too dangerous there’s no harm in quitting” Trent said as he adjusted some gauges.
“I don’t think that’ll happen,” Ben replied.
“Why?” Trent asked.
“Every time we’ve tried to quit something happens, I think…I think there is a greater purpose in us following this Cache Master, I think…” he paused not knowing if he sounded silly or not, then decided he didn’t care, “I think it’s fate.”
“Huh?” Trent thought on what Ben had said and then added, “Well I believe in fate, I think you’re right, I think it was my fate to meet you guys, especially your aunt.”
“Oh boy, here we go.” Ben laughed. Trent looked behind him and saw Lacey sleeping on Megan’s shoulder, he was relieved she hadn’t heard him. He turned his eyes back to the clouds in front of him and settled in for the flight.
Lacey kept her eyes closed but couldn’t stop the big smile that had appeared on her blushing face. She suddenly, for the first time in her life, was starting to believe in fate too.
There was no end to the sunlight here, for a few hours it would get a little darker, but never totally dark, it was confusing to the body and mind. As Trent and Lacey loaded the plane with climbing gear Ben and Megan hugged their parents and got ready for their journey.
The flight to Mt. McKinley wasn’t long, but by the time they arrived it felt as though only minutes had passed. Although adrenaline was playing a huge part, there was also a sense of relief. Ben and Megan had agreed with their parents that regardless of what this geocache held, this would be their last stop. Aft
er this one, they would go back to Anchorage and fly out, in exactly five days.
Once they had landed, secured the plane, and gotten loaded up with their packs, which held the tent, food rations, hiking and climbing gear and in Megan’s case a very tiny wolf pup, the group began climbing the West Buttress trail. Even though it was June there was still plenty of snow, and the wind was relentless. They wound through the low lying forest, at the base of the mountain and slowly as they climbed in elevation the vegetation got more sparse and the snow changed into ice, much like the glacier they had just been on. It wasn’t long before they had to tie their safety ropes together to hopefully prevent another fall into a crevasse. The stories Trent had told them about all the people who died, who were experienced climbers, made them take this very seriously.
The first day they made it two miles up the trail, before setting up camp and settling in for the night. The wind shook their tent, it was a scary feeling to know that between the elements and the four of them there was only a piece of fabric, but through laughter and conversation they somehow all dozed off to sleep, bundled in their sleeping bags like mummies.
The next day was very similar to the first, the climbing was slow, the weather was cold, windy, and scary. Sheets of glacier-like ice and snow, scarred with crevasses terrified the group. Sometimes putting one foot in front of the other took more courage and strength than they ever imagined. It was crazy how fear played such a huge part of this climb. They knew the fear wasn’t helpful, but at the same time, they had to pay attention to every step, they had to know that at any minute one of the group members could fall into a crevasse and disappear, forever. The mental and emotional stress was almost worse than the physical stress on their bodies.
After a few hours of hiking the four explorers sat on the icy snow and opened up their MRE’s they had purchased from a sporting goods store. These readymade meals; which were dehydrated foods, basically blended together. They were high calorie, high carbohydrate, high fat and highly disgusting. All they had to do was add water, and then somehow stomach swallowing the concoction without barfing. Ben quickly decided that was a task in itself. He coughed as he plugged his nose and tried to consume his mixture of food.
“You okay?” Trent asked, genuinely concerned that Ben may choke.
“Oh yeah, I’m just not used to liquefied roast beef. It’s um delicious, do you wanna trade?” he coughed again trying to keep the food down.
“No, I’m good, I have scrambled eggs with bacon,” Trent said sarcastically.
“This is awful!” Megan complained.
“Well, you whiney babies, we only have about three quarters of a mile, according to the GPS, let’s just down this stuff, and get back to it, maybe we can get to the geocache and somehow make it back to the plane by tomorrow,” Lacey said optimistically as she stood.
“Wait, wait…I just need a few more minutes, I’m gonna puke if I have to keep going right now, this food it’s just…it’s just,” Ben covered his mouth in another attempt to keep his food in his stomach.
“I guess we can wait a little longer, they don’t call it ‘Buttress” for nothing,” Lacey giggled.
“Well my butt definitely needs a rest!” Ben laughed then all the sudden couldn’t control himself and threw up next to Lacey.
Lacey let out a scream as she leaned away from him, “What is it with you guys and vomiting either on me or next to me, it’s just not fair!” She whined.
“Sorry,” Ben said as he wiped his mouth and nose, “At least it was pureed, I guess.”
“Okay gross, Ben!” Megan yelled and kicked snow at him.
Trent handed Ben a bottle of water and an energy bar, “Try this for now, and Lacey, well at least he didn’t get you in the face,” Trent laughed.
Lacey made a gagging sound then stood quickly, “Seriously just being by it is making me sick, let’s go you guys, then we don’t have to look at it, yuck Ben…really, you couldn’t aim away from the group?!”
“Like Trent said, at least I didn’t aim toward your face,” Ben smiled and giggled to himself, then climbed onto his feet and helped Megan up.
The group worked slowly on the trail, through valleys of ice and hills which they had to zigzag along switchbacks in order to safely gain altitude, the journey was tedious, but just as they were all becoming exhausted Lacey announced that they were within one hundred feet of the geocache according to the GPS on her phone.
They all paused and looked around, for anything that may have a geocache attached to it, as they glanced about the icy landscape they all settled in on one thing, a large bright yellow sign which read “HAZARD AVALANCHE ZONE.”
“Okay everyone, let’s move slow and let’s be quiet, we really, really, really don’t wanna test our avalanche survival skills today.” Trent said. The group worked slowly to the sign, then once at the location, they began looking around it. The phone had indicated that this was the spot, and the GPS accuracy rating was within five feet so they knew that if the geocache was here it would be attached to this sign.
Finding nothing on the sign, Ben got out his ice pick and began gently digging and chipping away ice and snow that surrounded the post which was holding the sign up.
“Please be careful!” Trent warned quietly.
“Don’t worry, I will, I just figure this post has to be pretty tall, the snow level must change a lot here.” He continued to break small pieces of ice away and uncovered more and more of the frozen wooden post. Once he had cleared almost two feet of snow from the post, his pick hit something metal, he looked at everyone, excitement overcoming him, then dug more quickly.
“Please, Ben, slow down.” Trent cautioned again. Ben took his advice and slowed down, but quickly uncovered the box, it was attached to the post, they couldn’t remove it, so Ben was forced to lay on his stomach and unlock the box within the small hole he had dug. As he twisted the key everyone held their breath, as he opened the lid and another brass key fell out, everyone sighed in disappointment.
“Seriously?!” Megan shouted with frustration, just as she did a large cracking sound echoed around the group. Her eyes became wide with fear and regret, they all grabbed each other’s hands, knowing what was about to happen. As the first wave of snow moved under their feet Trent pulled them all down into a crouching position, he grabbed onto the HAZARD sign and held tight, as the snow plowed over the top of them, burying each one in an icy tomb.
25
The thick frozen wood post from the hazard sign laid heavy across Trent’s back. He felt as though a tree had fallen on top of him, rather than just a six inch post. Trent moved his shoulders a bit, and then managed to free one hand to wipe the snow and ice from his eyes and face. He held tight to Lacey who had grabbed his other hand right before the avalanche had buried them.
As he shifted his weight he realized that they weren’t buried completely in snow, the post of the hazard sign had snapped, pushing the large sign on top of them, creating a barrier of sorts. As he used all his strength to lift the sign, which was covered in loose powder, he thought about the irony of the situation, the sign which warned them, had also saved them.
As Trent lifted the sign, Lacey, Ben, and Megan began to slowly move and assess their injuries. They each climbed out of the snow, which was now chest deep, with moans and cries of pain and fear.
“I’m so sorry,” Megan whispered, for fear of causing another avalanche.
“It’s okay, Megz, I’m just glad we’re all okay,” Ben hugged his sister gently, as he did he noticed movement under her thick coat, “Is Compass okay?”
“I think so, probably just a little scared, poor thing.” She reached into her coat and pulled out the stunned small wolf pup. He nuzzled her neck and face, she gave him a quick kiss on the nose and then returned him to his warm sanctuary within her coat.
Trent laid the Hazard sign face down then sat on the back of it, using it for a seat. “Well guys, we have to get back, it’s just too dangerous to stay up here. Let’s try
to get back to where we camped last night, before nightfall.”
Lacey pulled her sleeve back and checked her watch, “Too late, it’s already night.” The group looked at the horizon, there was no sign of darkness, just a thick wall of clouds moving in and a swift wind blowing.
“Well, we’ll probably get a few hours of darkness, so let’s get a move on before we get stuck out here tonight.” Trent stood up from his seat on the sign, then looked at it one more time, “Ya know, it’s gonna be horrible to try to walk down the hill in this thick powder, probably dangerous too…we could probably fit two people on this sign and use it to slide down.”
“What about the other two?” Ben asked.
Lacey threw him the safety rope and motioned for him to tie it onto the end of the broken post. “Two of us slide down, then the two on the slope pull the sign back up and slide down. We can do it in stages.” She smiled at her quick thinking. “Megan and I will go first, then you and Trent can go.” She motioned for Megan to sit on the front end of the sign, then climbed on behind her.
Once they were both stable enough, Trent put his hands on Lacey’s back and pushed as hard as he could. The sign moved slowly at first but within seconds picked up speed. Both Lacey and Megan tried not to scream as they sailed down the side of the mountain, the wind and icy air biting at their faces. As the incline of the slope lessened, their speed did as well and suddenly the make shift sled lurched to a stop. The three hundred feet of rope had run out and Trent was holding on to the other end up on the mountainside.
Lacey and Megan rolled off the sign and lay on their stomachs across the snow. They weren’t sure if there were crevasses under the new fresh snow which had fallen in the avalanche, so they decided it would be best to simply lay flat and distribute their weight until the guys made it down to them.
Waypoint Alaska Page 14