(Day 2, 2/14 continued)
Now in theory, I should have been glad to be standing in the cave with the chance to take down whatever lied within. But I am ashamed to admit that every ounce of my body told me to GTFO of there. Besides, I didn’t want to fight whatever beast lived there on its home turf. I slowly inched back, shouldering my rifle and pointing it to the cave. Each step felt like it was 1000X louder than normal. As I got back into the daylight I bolted back the way I came. It was late afternoon and snow had begun falling. I felt weak and had to use my compass to get back to camp. It took awhile. I decided it was probably best to pack up and go home, perhaps come back when conditions improved. At this point felt tired, ill-prepared, and in over my head.
As I came up on my camp, and noticed something seemed off. The place didn’t look like it did when I left it. I felt extremely uneasy now. When I got closer, this feeling got worse. I realized my campsite had been gone through. Tent had been slashed, food scattered every which way, and my spare bags dumped out. The charred wood from my fire was strewn everywhere. I assessed the damage and then realized something:
nothing was actually missing. This was a case of clear-cut vandalism, like someone (something?) was sending me a message....or a warning.
Something else I noticed. It was quiet, even for a snowfall. No birds, no noise, nothing. Total and complete silence. I should have known then that this land belonged to someone else, and that the tables had been turned on my little “hunting trip.”
Quickly losing daylight, I decided to patch up my tent, rebuild the fire, and crawl into my sleeping bag with some extra foil and coverlets. I drained the remainder of my flask to keep me warm and settle myself down. I intended to leave at first light. Nothing could change my mind about that now.
But it was a mistake NOT to leave that night, in fact that very instant, even in bad conditions and in the dark. It was a huge error to try to stick it out one more night. The weather was the least of my problems. I will describe my encounter tomorrow….