So, as you know from my prior posts, I spent a long weekend in Central Oregon at Sunriver resort. On Saturday, despite the fact that it was VERY COLD (had snowed on the foothills the night before) I hauled my sedentary - ahem - self out for what I had anticipated to be a half hour walk.
Now, you may think it is impossible to 'get lost' at a resort. I assure you, in Sunriver it is quite possible. Not hopelessly lost but, "wander around longer than you had planned lost".
I set out without any real plan, just picked a path in the late afternoon sun. Soon, I happened upon a herd of deer. Not tame, but not afraid either. A big doe, obviously the leader, another doe, a yearling and three little fawn, just past 'spots'. Two of the fawn had little boy deer horn buds. Well, I'm captivated. Naturally, I walk along with them, talking all the while. Talking to the deer, as they do their evening foraging. Talking, talking, and not paying attention to where I'm going. I keep this up until the 'head honcho doe' starts chuffing at me. "For goddsakes quit babbling and leave us alone we can't understand a thing you're saying...". So I walk on.
Pretty soon I realize that I have no idea where I am. No problem - this is Sunriver, all paths lead somewhere! So I wander on, hit a road and ask at a business for an alternate route back to the lodge rather than backtrack. They give me one, which I promptly foul up, walk a half mile on a loop and end up back in the same place. Then I DO decide to backtrack. But nothing looks familiar. The sun is starting to get low in the sky, its getting cold again, and all the houses are shuttered for the winter. I am thinking about the possibility of breaking into one of the summer homes and living on crackers and water until spring. I am calculating where the sun is - over my left shoulder, that would be Southwest at this time of year so I must be heading Northeast roughly. OH MY GOD WHERE AM I??
This is especially amusing because 1) I have blithely followed my dad into rough Trask drainage backcountry - true wilderness - when we used to hunt with never a thought about whether we could get back - all we had to do was find a 'cat road' (there is always one somewhere, even if it doesn't even resemble a road) and 2) I had a cel phone with me. But these fantasies do persist.
Finally, I run into my friend 'head honcho doe' and company and I know I'm on the right path. I stop to chat. The two little horn bud guys bed down six feet from me, and I figure its time to do the same. Two hours after my adventure in the wilderness begins, I'm sitting in front of a fire, reading a book and pondering my brush with death. And wondering - just how do you talk to deer?
1 comment:
...well, not counting mom that is.
This post cracked me up....only you, Nancy, would meander on a hike while communing with deer and nearly get yourself lost. Then remember later you have your cell phone w/you. (loved the bit about breaking into a cabin to live on crackers and water for the winter....you'd be fine as long as there was an axe and some wood for a fire....and with either you could always break the ice crust that formed on the water, thereby saving yourself from dying of thirst...hopefully the crackers would hold out).
That's ok, I love you anyway.....
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