The large expanse of untouched boreal forest before Ashley was foreboding. Yet, the old provincial park map pinned on the right side of the oak tree read out a straightforward hiking path leading to her friend’s small campsite. There was no reason to feel anxious about the half-day trek through the forest, but she still had to force herself to believe that her stress was over nothing. Plus, she had her phone, with a battery that would hopefully last the length of her hike. Taking a deep breath of the morning fall air, she captured a picture of the map with her iPhone and stepped past the threshold of the forest, beginning her trek toward the campsite.
The first thing that stood out to her upon entering the forest was the unnatural cacophony of wildlife resonating from the thick foliage. These sounds only seemed to grow as she made her way along the path, detailed on the glowing screen.
After what felt like hours of walking on the overgrown grassy path, she came to a large clearing filled with blueberry bushes and enclosed by trees with smooth bark holding peculiar horizontal marks. Looking up at the sun high up in the afternoon sky, she decided to take a short break, grabbing some of the berries to snack on. Reaching her right hand toward her backpack, she slid her phone into one of the side pockets and took off toward the cluster of berry bushes.
After only a couple of minutes of eating the berries, she heard the sound of a twig snapping just metres away. The silence of the surrounding wildlife caught her attention. The now eerie stillness of the meadow was unsettling, and she quickly took out her phone, deciding to set back out on the path. But the moment she entered the password into the lock screen, her phone went dead and her unease grew tenfold. Swearing under her breath, Ashley briskly walked to the edges of the clearing to retrace her steps. If she were more focused, she may have noticed the subtle movement of black on the opposing treeline or the large indents in the mud by her feet.
Another couple hours passed for Ashley as she searched for the old path and listened to the returning sounds of subdued wildlife. Yet no matter where she looked, she couldn’t locate the path among the high grass and tall, broken-branched trees. With a huff, Ashley sat down on a large overturned rock and came to the conclusion that she was officially lost. Sighing and taking in the setting sun, Ashley caved into defeat for the day and began to scavenge bark and branches spread about on the forest floor to set up a small fire in a cropping of pine trees.
As evening turned into night, the forest’s noise didn’t cease and unbearably emphasized her unknown surroundings. There was no way to ignore the feeling of dangerous isolation as she lay on the pine-needle ground, curled up next to the small fire, seeking to find solace in sleep.
Upon waking from a shaky and less-than-restful sleep, the short reprieve of a turbulent dream vanished as if it was never there and once more, the never ending echoes of life resounded from every direction. Grumbling, she stood up and yet again began to search the forest grounds for any sight of the old path.
However, most of the day passed without any sign of it, and she began to wonder if her friends would send out a search party. It must have been at least 24 hours since she was scheduled to arrive at the camp. They had to be curious as to where she had gone. If not, her coworkers at the restaurant would hopefully send a missing persons report by the end of the weekend if she missed the Sunday cooking shift. How long could she survive though? She already ate almost all the light snacks packed for yesterday and her water bottle was empty. Letting out a light groan, she gave up on finding the path and set off to find supplies instead.
It took another hour before she eventually stumbled upon a slow-flowing river carved into old rock and stone. Thanking her good luck, she scrambled to the river and greedily filled up her water bottle. After a couple long drinks from the bottle, movement in the water caught her eye, and she restrained herself from crying with joy at the sight of fish. With a little ingenuity, she quickly emptied out the snack containers and utensils from her backpack onto the rock before depositing her clothes on the ground. With confidence she began trudging a little ways into the moving water of the river with the empty backpack held ready.
It was definitely not easy and the sun was now setting, but she managed to capture a small fish in the backpack. Hauling the bagged fish onto the rock, and leaving it to dry next to her pile of containers, she slid on her clothes to collect some wood for a fire.
By the time night once again descended on the land, Ashley was weary from the gruelling day and was thankful she brought a small knife with her snack utensils to gut the fish or she would not have had enough to keep the hunger pains away. Settling down by her moderately-sized fire and pile of scraps, she let herself collapse into the realm of sleep.
Snap! The sound of a breaking twig startled Ashley awake and the dead silence of animals near the river chilled her to the bone. To her right, clacking, huffing, and banging carried from the pitch black of the woods. Whatever was creating the noise was hidden by the dark of the moon behind clouds and the dying embers of the fire only heating the hot coals. Flicking a panicked gaze around the rocky area, she loudly scrambled to put what was left of her collected wood into the fire. Swivelling her body, the sound of rustling bushes alerted her that whatever was there ran when the popping and crackling fire lit up the terrain. Ashley couldn’t convince herself to fall back asleep, and lay awake for most of the night.
Time seemed to pass in a fog the next day, she only managed to catch another small fish and collect more wood before night drenched the land in shadows. With the events of last night highlighting the deadliness of the landscape, sleep was non-existent and when dawn transformed into day, exhaustion became overwhelming. Her mind became a thick bog of thought and escalating volume. However, unlike yesterday, day only dragged on and her luck wore out.
When the last rays of sun fell in the distance, focusing became impossible and her stomach begged for food. It was far too late to catch fish, and she needed to get a fire made before she could hope for sleep. Sliding on her dirty clothes, she felt along the rocks toward the pile of leftover wood in the almost complete pitch blackness. However, the moment her hand found the wood, she stilled. It was too silent.
Crack! The audible sound of a branch breaking arose from her left.
Her head snapped to see an ominous dark silhouette advancing from under the low-hanging branches of the treeline with empty pools of black reflecting moonlight. Scrambling to move, her shaking exhausted body would not cooperate. She made it a metre before her back bumped into something solid.
A deep huff of air blew on the back of her neck and goosebumps formed with the ice that had taken up residence in her stomach. Slowly turning around, cold glazed eyes met hers and wet droplets of saliva slid down her face as she found herself face to face with the unforgiving glares of famished bears. Placing her shaking hands together, she closed her eyes and began to pray.
In the endless dark of the night, no sentient being could hear her words. The beasts sunk their jaws into her and tore at her flesh, ignorant of her pleads until her entrails bathed the rock beneath her writhing body red. Her horrific screams were drowned out by the river of the boreal, serving as martyrs of what happens when one hikes without precaution.
Featured image by Manuel Baechlin.
