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Temperence and Cross Rivers

The Superior Shuttle arrived, as scheduled, at the Caribou Wayside. There were three other groups, an addition to Melinda and myself. A guy and his granddaughter, a couple college-aged kids and another couple (dayhikers), with a poodle. The van was kinda full. Anyway, the run up to the Temperance River wayside didn't take much time at all. Actually, it went pretty quick, with a couple stories from the guy with his granddaughter. Seems he's been hiking different parts of the trail for a bunch of years now.

The morning air was still a little chilly when we were dropped off, but the sun was out and the two of us raring to go. Not far from the road is one of the Temperance falls. The water is a white boiling, swirling mass, shooting and surging through the rocks & cliffs. The trail climbs right along the river, providing an immediate distraction before we really get started. The area was almost crowded, there were sevaral groups of people taking pictures & just checking out the power of the river. It is rather spectacular to see how much the river has carved through solid rock over the eons.

A bit upriver of the falls, we cross via a footbridge and enter the woods. The trail is in the shade of the trees, but close enough to the river to occasionaly glimpse the water, and to hear the splashes of it flowing over & around the rocks. Its a bit calmer at this point, but still moves at a good pace.

We're less than a mile from the wayside, and the trail turns southward, and away from the Temperance. Before us is the first climb, diagonally up a bluff that will net us a 200 foot altitude gain. Being away from the river, its much quieter, other than our own huffing and puffing. The forest is peaceful & pretty, a mix of various deciduous trees, with the occasional evergreen & plenty of underbrush. The sounds of various birds echo through the trees, a gentle breeze ripples the leaves and we get occasional glimpses of a blue sky above. What a gorgeous day!

Time Warp

forgive the gap; but I needed to write 'bump' to fit in with the yellow river story.

Bump in the Night

At some point during the night, I was wakened by some kind of noise. Sharp intake of breath (that's me), be vewy vewy quiet... Rock scraping on rock - at our campfire? Something running through the woods. A scream? Not quite, certainly not a human noise. What would be in our camp? Bear going after the food? Digging under the rocks we put on the fire? Makes no sense. Theres that noise again - don't bears roar? That wasn't a roar; it seems to be moving. Not coming back, but not getting farther either. More sounds of something moving through leaves and underbrush. Wolf? But wolves howl. Between screeches, its so quiet, I can tell my heart has stopped. Ears ready for any sound. Do I yell & try to scare it? Or would that just scare me... No, don't want to wake Melinda. The gauze netting of the tent sure isn't reassuring if there's some large, probably rabid carnivore running around out there. It would take a while to find our bodies, since we'd crossed the river and were not in a designated site...

I think I laid there in a cold sweat for half the night. The scream/yell/growl would come through the woods intermittently. I didn't move a muscle until I fell asleep again.

In the morning, there was no sign of anything (except us) in the campsite. What the? I did not imagine that. It is amazing though, how silly that fear seems now that its light out. Now that I've heard the sound again, I've done some research, and believe that I heard some kind of wild cat / mountain lion. If you're interested in learning more, check out the Cathouse. They've got some cool sounds recorded, but not the one I heard.

Birches & Ferns

Really, really cool forest of Birch trees & ferns, nothing else. Wow. Also the Crystal Creek, hidden amongst the birches.

Caribou River

Really, really cool waterfall.
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Comments: Brian Simon / bsimon@nospam.visi.com