Читать книгу A Bet Turned Deadly - Alice Zogg - Страница 7

Except for Jacob and me, nobody knew the exact location of our camping spot in the mountains. I doubt that I could have easily found it on my own, even though Jacob had driven me up once. He, on the other hand, had gone there many times, carefully picking just the right site for our purpose. He had done the law-abiding thing by obtaining a National Forest Adventure Pass, which gave us permission to park our vehicles along the road and set up camp. Being the conscientious planner, he had also applied for, and was in possession of, a Campfire Permit.

Todd, the brothers Derek and Curtis, as well as Hannah and London were riding with Jacob, and we had the Kim family and Marcelo in our car. Yon and Min Kim did not say much on the ride, even though Tala tried several times to engage them in conversation. They answered her questions politely but did not volunteer any extra comments. There might have been a language barrier, I thought, or maybe they were just shy and needed to warm up to us. Later, as we got to know them better, it became clear that their English was indeed fine and they weren’t bashful. Min and especially Yon just happened to be quiet folks by nature. Their little boy Mikey was clearly excited about the camping trip and asked, “Are we there yet?” every ten minutes.

As we left the foothills behind and started the ascent into the forest on Big Tujunga Canyon Road, I took up the role of tour guide, saying, “We could have gone up Highway 2, also known as Angeles Crest Highway, but this access road is closer coming from the Valley.”

Then I pointed out, “After the Station Fire that raged in these San Gabriel Mountains for two weeks, starting at the end of August in 2009, this road was closed until December of that year when it re-opened to through traffic. But it wasn’t until the end of May, 2012 - nearly three years after the fire - that it finally re-opened for business, meaning for the general public to enjoy the area for recreation. The Station Fire burned over 160,000 acres and was the largest wildfire of Los Angeles County in modern history, killing two firefighters.”

We soon found out that Marcelo was a talker. He kept us entertained for a good part of the way. We learned that he was from Chile, attending college here in Southern California, that he didn’t own a car and got around on his bicycle, that he shared an apartment with two other students, and that he enjoyed our food, cheeseburgers being his favorite, and loved American TV, but not the commercials. His English was formal and excellent.

The curvy mountain passage led through rocky areas on either side of the road, and after turning left onto the Angeles Forest Highway, the road became even steeper and the scenery more rugged. And all along the way there was evidence of burned trees and brush. Whether this was still damage from the Station Fire or a more recent wildfire was beyond the extent of my knowledge.

When we had traveled approximately 30 miles into the Angeles Forest, we passed the small access road leading down to the Monte Cristo Campground. We glimpsed a couple of tents and a motorhome while passing by. I looked at the child passenger in the rear view mirror and said, “We’re almost there now!”

About three miles farther, we had arrived at our destination. The ride up from Foothill Boulevard in Sunland had taken less than an hour, and yet the landscape looked isolated and far from civilization.

There was a turnout in the road and beyond it a good-sized flat area, perfect for erecting tents. Parking the van and SUV parallel to each other was no problem, and there was barely enough space, but Candie managed to squeeze her car in behind mine. We got out, stretched, and then explored the piece of land that was to become our home for the next week. We could hear but not see a stream. Tala and I walked the length of the plateau and looked down the canyon. Sure enough, there was a creek about 30 yards below us.

Tala looked at the mountain ranges all around us and exclaimed, “This place is gorgeous! And not a cloud in the sky.”

We ate our lunches of pre-made peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, sitting on the ground, and then went about setting up camp. Jacob allotted the four two-person tents to the Kim family, Hannah and London, Candie and her dog, and Tala and me. He shared his big tent with Todd, Marcelo, Derek and Curtis.

Jacob unhooked the cargo trailer and with the combined efforts of his “tent buddies” managed to pull and push it to the center of the clearing, where they put up the six-person dome tent. The rest of us pitched our two-person A-frame tents in a semi-circle around theirs.

So far, the dog Nicklaus - - or Nick, as I preferred calling him - - was no problem at all. While the adults kept busy getting settled, little Mikey entertained Nick by playing the game of “throw and fetch” with the poodle’s tennis ball. Neither the dog nor the boy seemed to tire of the repetitive activity.

Tala and I found a flat surface, cleared away sticks, stones, and other debris, and then went to work. First we laid our tent out on the ground where we planned on setting it up. Assembling the poles by connecting the pole segments was easy. To put up the tent, we placed a pole at each end of the tent, lifting the pole straight up while putting the bottom of the pole into the ground. Then we fastened it to the ground by hammering stakes into the loops at each corner and side, making sure that the fabric was stretched tight. Next, we pulled the guy-ropes out and secured them to the ground, using a peg. The guy-ropes needed to be pulled taut to keep the tent from falling over in case of strong wind. Finally, we placed the flysheet over the top, aligning the corners with the tent’s ends, and then secured the flysheet guy-ropes tightly to the ground with pegs.

We stepped back to admire our handiwork and nodded in satisfaction. I looked around to see how everyone else was doing. The Kims to our right were almost done with their set-up, and it looked like Hannah and London, who occupied the spot next to them, had finished theirs. The guys assigned to the dome tent were still busy setting up, except for Todd, who seemed to be single-handedly pitching Candie’s tent to our left, while she watched.

I thought, so the prima donna among us has already found a willing victim!

Later, I was coming back from getting our backpacks out of the car when all hell broke loose. Apparently, Jacob had caught Candie about to text on her smartphone and he totally lost his cool, going into a rage.

He shouted, “What the hell are you doing? How arrogant and undermining! Not only did you drive up in your own car and bring luggage for an army when my instructions were one backpack per person, but you are in violation of our main goal of this venture: no gadgets!”

She murmured, “I just wanted to let my agent know where I’m at.”

“Oh, I get it. You were planning to have the paparazzi catch you up here for a publicity stunt. Over my dead body!” And he grabbed the smartphone out of her hand, ran the entire distance of the clearing, all the way to the edge of the cliff, and flung it down the mountain.

I let him cool down before I walked over and smirked, “Theoretically, you’ve already lost the bet.”

He stared at me.

“Candie didn’t willingly give up her gadget.”

“Let’s not split hairs over this. Willingly or not, she was about to use the phone but actually never did. Besides, I’m not even sure whether there’s reception up here.”

“Fair enough,” I said. “The bet’s still on.”