Driving into a Horror Movie Scene

The dead-end road to the Settlers Grove of Ancient Cedars was long and rough through a deep forest in northern Idaho. Kellisa loved the rocks, potholes, and overall "bumpiness". We spent maybe two hours on the trail and enjoying a snack back at the rental truck after our hike before we returned to the forest road. We didn't see another human the entire time on our adventure to see the ancient cedars. As I was driving out, I came around a corner and came to a sudden stop. We were next to an old pickup partially blocking the road and maybe 10 yards in front of us, a tree was blocking the road and there was a man with a chainsaw. We were behind him and he couldn't see or hear us. 

My heart starting beating out of my chest. There was only one way out and a tree and chainsaw wielding mountain man were blocking the way. I watched the man saw a few sections of the tree and when the saw powered down, I called out a friendly, "Hello" while smiling and waving from the safety inside my truck.

He waved back. I decided to get out and offer help. I was banking on the fact that this tree had fallen over and he was just clearing the road. At worst, I was hoping he was poaching a tree and wouldn't see us as a threat.

He told me that he was on his way to hike the same trail we just completed and he found the tree blocking the road....and he just happened to have his chainsaw with him ready to go. Maybe this is normal for the area, I don't know? As he cut the tree down to manageable pieces, I helped clear the road by rolling the pieces off to the side. As soon as we had a clear path, he told me that he could handle the rest and we could go on our way. We had our way out and he didn't have to tell me twice. 

If he wanted to use the chainsaw on us, our bodies would have never been found. I don't know if the tree spontaneously fell, but I do know his pickup was between the tree and the trailhead. Since he said he was headed to the trail, if the tree fell spontaneously, it would have had to fall after he drove past. I suppose it's possible it fell and just missed his truck or maybe he saw it fall in his mirror. 

I will never know for sure if the tree fell on it's own and he magically appeared with a chainsaw. There was a sign at the trailhead warning about limbs and trees falling because of recent fires. We were many miles from cell service and the nearest anything. We would have been stuck for probably a very long time if the tree did fall on its own and he wasn't there with his chainsaw. If he was poaching a tree, I'm thankful that he let us pass without any trouble. 

Even in black and grizzly bear country, I'm a little more afraid of encountering other humans and this experience did nothing to change my mind. We cashed in some karma for sure, we just don't know how much we spent.

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Eye on the Girls

Redding, CA

July 2014

 

After a few days in Lassen Volcanic National Park, we headed towards Redwoods National Park. I needed to pick up a prescription for Kellisa at a Walgreens in Redding, CA. There was a delay in getting the prescription, so we spent a day swimming at a hotel and running errands. Laurel wanted to help Kellisa in the pool and they had a great time together.

 

I needed to get a few items from Walgreens, so we went into the store to pick up the prescription. Laurel wanted to look at some little girl make-up that was on an end cap. I was looking at something with Kellisa just around the corner from Laurel. We were less than five feet away, but Laurel was out of my eyesight.

 

I heard security paged over the speaker in the store to conduct a sweep of the store. I immediately looked around the corner to check on Laurel and she was standing there looking at the make-up.  I was disturbed to also see a man less than three feet away from Laurel just looking at her. When we made eye contact, he turned to fumble on a shelf like he was looking at something other than Laurel.

 

Laurel was not happy when I grabbed her without a reason and made her leave the aisle. I don't know what a molester looks like, but if I had to describe one...it would be this guy exactly. I kept both girls close the rest of the time in the store and I noticed this guy always hanging somewhat close to us and it never seemed like he had a purpose. I let Laurel get some lip gloss to make up for me grabbing her and we paid for everything at the pharmacy.

 

As we were leaving the store, we saw the man in the checkout line and he was only purchasing four of the largest containers of Vaseline. With the disabled card, we were parked right by the door and I quickly loaded the kids and we were off before the man left the Walgreens.

 

I'll never know if he was up to something or if it was just a series of coincidences. From then on, I made sure to keep both girls in my sights. It wasn't always easy since Kellisa likes to wheel off on her own and Laurel likes to assert more and more independence every day.