sure what it is. Why should she feel this way at a pleasant campground in Little Round Pond State Park near Sandpoint, Idaho?
They were cooking their dinner on the Coleman stove and contemplating camping here for the night. Gary was busy tending the stove and seemed to be as happy as a mouse sitting on a mountain of cheese. They had come through Spokane, Washington, in intermittent rain and then crossed into Idaho. At Coeur d’Alene they had purchased some groceries and then headed north through beautiful scenery-trees, hills, the occasional lake. One thing the U.S.A. had in abundance was beautiful scenery.
It was cool but not cold. The sun would be setting in a while. Its rays were being filtered through the evergreen trees. The air had that fresh, foresty aroma, the aroma of an outdoors with clean air and no Los Angeles smog.
The ranger in charge of the campground was being very attentive to them. He had the time to be attentive because they were the only people in the campground. He was middle-aged and mild-mannered. He wore glasses and a ranger uniform. He looked as if he wouldn’t hurt a mosquito.
He was chatting with Gary at the moment, asking where they had come from, where they were going. Why had they decided to elope to Reno to get married? Didn’t they have family? Friendly questions. Nothing to be concerned about. Questions that anybody might ask. Questions that an ax murderer might ask.
Since it was the end of the camping season, the chances of anybody else showing up at this campground tonight were slim. All right, the chances of the ranger actually being an ax murderer ranged from slim to nonexistent. He was no more an ax murderer than Gary was. Penny admitted to herself that her fears were completely irrational. But irrational fears destroyed many a night’s sleep.
Maybe it was the ghost of Emily, coming to haunt her. Making sure that even when everything seemed idyllic, she had something to worry about. Things were going too well. That was a crazy thought, perhaps, but Penny couldn’t shake it.
Before they put up the tent, she broached her fears to Gary. She didn’t say that she thought the ranger was an ax murderer. She said that the campground felt creepy since they were the only campers. He was surprisingly sympathetic. He didn’t tell her she was crazy. He said that if she felt this way they would go on and stay somewhere else. She got the impression that he felt the isolation too.
CHAPTER 12
The landscape was getting wilder and wilder. Alfred had not known that large portions of the United States were completely uninhabited. While driving across the country he had encountered the emptiness of the plains, but at least there had been scattered farm houses.
He didn’t know where Penny and Gary were. He hoped he was ahead of them, because that’s what his plan called for. He had stayed the night at a motel in Sandpoint, Idaho, and gotten an early start this morning. Today, he knew that they planned to go into Glacier National Park on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. They had talked about hiking to a place called Sperry Chalet where they would stay overnight. That was complete madness, and Alfred would put a stop to it.
He ate an early lunch in Kalispell, Montana, because his map didn’t show anything beyond it that looked civilized. He had been picking up maps at gas stations as he went. Fortunately, most of them were free. As far as dinner was concerned, he expected to be back here by then, with Penny sitting happily beside him.
He drove into Glacier National Park and alongside Lake McDonald. He knew that the trail to Sperry Chalet started from the lake. He drove carefully on the road that some halfwits might call scenic, looking for signs. With trees on one side of the road and the lake on the other, unbroken expanses of green and blue, it was almost impossible for him to know exactly where he was. He was afraid that he might have passed the trail when he saw the sign. He pulled into a parking lot at the trailhead.
His heart sank as he spotted the green Volkswagen, sitting among a handful of other cars. Penny and Gary were nowhere to be seen. Alfred parked his car and walked over to the VW. It was locked. They were already on the trail.
“Do you remember when we climbed Mt. Manual in the Big Sur?” Gary asked as they stopped to take a breather.
“Do I ever.” Penny sipped water from her canteen. “It’s a good thing I had my hiking boots. If Grandpa hadn’t sent me the ten dollars to buy them… Do you know that you’re my first boyfriend he’s ever approved of?”
“You must have told him a good story.” Gary had never met her grandfather. In fact, he hadn’t met any member of her family except an uncle and aunt and a couple of cousins who lived in Goleta.
“I told him all about you in my letters. And, of course, I saw him when I went back east. I think the thing that sold him on you is the fact that you’re not Catholic.”
“Then for my sake, I’m glad I’m not. Anyway, Mt. Manual was a good training hike for this one. And I’m the one who got blisters.”
“That rattlesnake scared the bejesus out of me. I almost jumped off the mountain.”
The snake had skittered across the trail in front of them. They had been hiking alongside a cliff, and for a moment Gary had been afraid that Penny was really going to jump off. That was when he found out how scared of snakes she was.
“I wouldn’t have made it if it hadn’t been for you,” Penny continued. “Remember, I sat down and said I couldn’t go another step.”
Gary had been sure they were very close to the top. He went on ahead and spotted the peak. Then he returned and persuaded Penny to go the rest of the way. She staggered to the top, sank down on the ground, and took off her shirt to cool off. She looked very appealing, sitting there in her white bra, but neither of them had the energy to do anything about it.
Gary commented on that and Penny laughed. “As I recall, we were sharing the peak with a herd of wild pigs, so we would have had spectators if we had started messing around. Anyway, this trail is duck soup compared to that one.”
After they had left the campground last night, they had driven on to the thriving wilderness city of Libby, Montana, and stayed at the Hotel Libby. It was a nice room, but they weren’t sure whether they were sharing their bathroom with others. This morning they drove to Kalispell, picking up purple and green rocks on the way for a table they were planning to make. The rocks were to be inlaid in plastic to form the tabletop.
In Kalispell, they cashed travelers' checks and purchased groceries. They arrived at Lake McDonald shortly after noon and ate in the car because the meadow hummed with bees. Then they set out for Sperry Chalet.
This trail wasn’t really easier than Mt. Manual. It was longer, at 6.7 miles, with a 3,300 foot gain in altitude. They had to hike through stream beds, and sprinkles of rain fell on them from time to time. They were both holding up very well. Gary figured they might make it to the chalet in three hours, which was certainly faster than the average bear.
That thought made him look around. They were indeed in bear country, including grizzlies, and they wanted to stay clear of those big bad bears that could be killers. If Penny thought rattlesnakes were scary… He didn’t mention this to her, but they should keep moving. He shouldered his pack and said, “Time to hit the trail.”
The fates were conspiring against Alfred. Yesterday it was the rain at Grand Coulee Dam. Today they had beaten him here, somehow. He thought they were going to sleep at a campground near Sandpoint last night. If they had, he would have arrived here before them. They usually dallied along the way, and he had come directly here with only a couple of short stops.
All of the hope and optimism he had acquired as a result of the meeting in Seattle had evaporated. Now he was faced with few options. He could go home. If he had started for home two days ago, he would be getting home
