A Night at Boulder Creek, By Jen Donier

A Night At Boulder Creek

My dad was always up to something that was exciting and fun.  As a result not one of us kids turned down the suggestion of playing hooky from school October of 1964
I was about fourteen year old then. My  dad's  philosophy was  we could get as much  if not a better education in the great outdoors, with mother nature as our teacher, than in a stuffy old class room.

It was hunting season and daddy had readied three packs filled with nylon stockings; which he had collected and rolled into a giant ball, this was the kind that had the seams up the back of the legs and required women to wear a garter belt. He collected them and picked them out of the local dumps which he dubbed "The trading post," a nylon stocking was always good for hanging up a deer or tying a berry pail to the waist. They had numerous uses so were invaluable to us on our jaunts into the hills.  We put them in the packs was and used them for our first aid kit too for slings, or bandages. In the back packs in addition to the first aid kit was A package of raisins, some dried jerky, dry rolled oats, matches for lighting a fire, a small bible, a hatchet, some butcher knives, shells for the rifles, chocolate bars and a few other odds and ends.  Prepared also for the trip were Dad's 30.30  myy .22 rifle and my brothers single shot.22

That evening some friends came over for a visit and Howard was invited to spend the night with my brothers and was allowed to stay along with his dog who had been unused to country living, she was a half grown boxer pup that seemed to be rather stupid and did not like to mind at all.

The next morning we rose bright and early ate a hardy breakfast of biscuit and gravy, eggs, bacon, cocoa, fruit and and us girls climbed in the cab of my dad's truck while my brothers, Eldon and Duane armed with a dozen old army type coats too big for them climbed in back and burrowed beneath the coats with Howard and his big-eyed city dog and our dog Hawk.

Boulder Creek was our destination as dad planned on doing some rock hounding  as well as' hunting. Dad told mom we'd be back home about 7:00 'p.m. Then we were on our way. We made a stop at the local Trading post (dump) to see if any body had left any goodies there.  We didn't find much except Eldon  who found a bunch of candy bars thrown out by the local store and which

revealed worms in it after unwrapping them.  The boys just picked out the worms and ate the candy anyway But no way would my sister and I eat
them.

From the Local Trading Post we proceeded on into the mountains; stopping' occasionally to pick huckleberries or flowers and once to shoot at a young buck but he  was gone before dad had him in the sights.  We arrived at Boulder Creek  about 2:30 in the afternoon.   

Dad, myself and Eldon slung a pack on our back. Florri, my sister and my  brother Duane and Howard carried a couple of the old coats.  We took up our rifles and Eldon grabbed his sack of wormy candy bars.  We set out hiking up a trail.
Our goal was to get to where my dad had found amethyst quartz earlier in the year and to look for game on the way.  

Boulder creek was so named because of its boulders.  We skirted the creek on the trail for a while and then decided it would be easier to wade up the creek. Taking off our socks and shoes we stored them in the packs then plunged into  the icy water.  Sometimes the water was waist high on us kids.  After awhile we got used to the water. Occasionally we would stop and pick up a pretty rock or to fish a few minutes.  Around 5:30 p.m  dad said we'd better start for home as it was getting to late to go on to the amethyst field that night, I was really disappointed as had wanted to see those pretty crystal rocks, but dad said we would have to go another time.

Crossing the creek we started climbing a steep trail up the other side.  My sister was always the one who had problems on these hikes as she was a bit bottom heavy and didn't really like to go out on this kind of a trip but went to get out out of going to school. When the rest of us were nearly to the top and she was  half way up she slid back down and started crying.  It was dark by now and she was wet, cold and tired as all of us were. The rest of us started teasing her, calling her "panty waste" and "weakling" which only made her mad and she started screaming at us and how she was going to punch us when she got to the top. My brother's and Howard just laughed and said she would have to catch them first.  Finally dad went back down and to help her up.  He got behind her and pushed and when they got close enough the rest of us pulled her to the top. 

As darkness set in dad took out his big flashlight and it made shadows that made us look like giants among the trees. Old-city-dog started getting spooky.  She barked and scrunched down at all of the unseen noises and rolled her eyes and looked afraid of everything around us. She was shaking and shivering. Dad gave Howard a nylon stocking for a collar for her and another for a leash and she slunk along plastered to Howard's leg.

The light had faded and it was getting to dark to see. Above through the tree branches we could see stars coming out and saw the moon rising. We were not sure how far it was back to the truck and were on dry ground high above the creek now.

Dad decided it was best we stop and stay the night stating it was to dark to go on.  "Ok!, Yeah, all the boys said."  "No! us girls protested."  "Why not, dad asked?"
The real reason was we wanted to watch our favorite t.v show that was on that night which was "Bonanza". But dad wasn't a boob tube watcher and we knew if we said the real reason that he would just scoff and our brother's would tease us.  So we said, "Because we were hungry and cold."

Dad said he'd fix that shortly.  So he sent us all out to gather  sticks and wood to build a fire with. Then he got a fire burning and told us to wrap up in the coats, one reason down the drain."What are we going to eat." wailed us girls.     knowing we were missing Bonanza.

"Wormy candy bars" the boys said. "You dumb panty wastes," "NO!" was our retort,
Then dad said raisins, rolled oats and jerky.  Our fate was sealed and we were stuck in the hills for the night. So we found spots near the fire to keep warm and dad broke out the emergency rations that were always in the packs.

Camping out with only the basics that frosty October night was a learning experience. First we sang songs and dad played a harmonica he had in his pack. Every once in awhile one of us would untangle our selves from one of the big wool over coats and throw a chunk of wood on the fire.  City-dog's eyes were big and she kept looking all around, shivering with fear. Hawk our dog had taken off on a game trail and we would not see him for several hours.  Dad then told us a couple of stories and finally the warmth of the fire made us sleepy. Dad took the first watch while we slept on the cold hard ground. Each of us took a watch too keep the fire burning through out the cool autumn night.  My sister Florri and I took the last watch together.  Watching as the stars winked out one by one from the sky and the round yellow moon slowly sank on the western horizon.  We woke everyone up at 6:00 a.m and ate a breakfast of dried oatmeal, raisins, jerky and water.  After we had packed our gear again back in the packs dad showed us the reason he had wanted us to camp over night.

Not 500 feet from our chosen campsite was sheer one thousand foot drop to the rock strewn "Bouldered Creek" below. Boy was I glad that we hadn't gone further in the dark.  Dad had known all along where we were but he wanted to teach us a lesson that whenever dark catches you in the woods it is best to stop for the night and utilize whatever you have for your comfort.  We made our way down from the hills stopping along the way to pick frozen huckleberries,
It sure was a pretty drive with the air crisp and frost sparkling along the roadway and the autumn leaves in shades of russet brown,scarlet and gold.  Frost sparkled on the ground and whitened some of the evergreens. We saw a herd of deer in a valley meadow and ravens soared in a deep blue sky as the sun rose tinting the clouds with pink and golden streaks of light
   
It was one night in my life I'll never forget. We had learned a lesson that night that school books and class rooms could never teach us. The art of making do with what you've got and enjoy it. It was very special to sit by a warm glowing fire side in the silence of a night and watch the stars wink out of a dawning sky and it is a night I will always remember sharing with my dad and sister and brother's.