Exploration 3

After the events of the morning, the group began to slowly settle down. Finding the large amount of bones had seriously unnerved them, but the group was determined to continue on with their camping trip despite the lingering worry of whatever that creature was following their trail. The group continued to climb up the mountain ridgeline, handlers hunching their shoulders and ducking their heads at the fierce wind that whipped over one side of the mountain and buffetted them in their saddles. The tokotas doggedly continued on, bending their heads and half closing their eyes at the snow that whipped into their faces. Their handlers remained silent-speaking would only fill their mouths with the cold and the wind would rip the words away from the rest of the group and carry it off the mountainside.

An hour passed before Robyn led the group into a valley, taking it slow and easy, letting Noc take his time making his way down the rocky slope. The rest of the handlers and tokotas waited on the mountain ridge until Robyn and her brown tokota made it onto a trail of sorts, away from the loose rock, before June and Faliene started down. The group went one at a time, making sure that the handlers and tokotas already in the valley were clear of any falling rocks that would be kicked up by a descending tokota’s paws before starting to make their way down. Logan and Kal made it down without incident, though Ruddy stumbled and fell as he was making his way down with Jacob, causing the other handlers to worry, but thankfully the large yeti was able to catch himself quickly without any harm to himself or his poor handler clinging onto the saddle and his mane. Archer and Shavaad made their way down last, with Archer making sure to let Shavaad take her time and pick out the best way to make it down the rocks. The group was reunited, and after the loud wind and period of quiet, they all were trying to chatter at once.
“Did you see that cool peak to the left when we were climbing?” Jacob turned to Archer and asked, and Archer shrugged.
“Which cool peak?” He asked tauntingly, and Jacob shook his head.
“The one that looked like a fish leaping from the water.” He said, and Archer tilted his head, thinking for a few moments.
“The one with the white on the very top of the mountain?” He asked, and Jacob nodded. That peak had been particularly impressive, rising in a narrow spur of rock with a couple of smaller peaks below it, giving rise to the fish’s body and tail. Archer looked over his shoulder at the girls, who had gathered and were now chattering animatedly about the best ways to cook a cake while camping. Archer steered Shavaad, and listened in on the conversation, curious. Robyn was adamant that the best way would be to build the fire around the cake tin, but Logyn was sure that it would be better to suspend the tin over the fire to cook. Archer simply listened in amusement, knowing that there was no good way to get a cake cooked evenly while camping, and then Jacob piped in with a suggestion to try out both ways that evening with dinner, as he had brought some cake mix along with him. With the debate put on hold until their evening meal, the group decided to snack on some sandwiches as their tokotas made their way down into the valley below.

The valley was picturesque, with gently sloping hills leading down to a clear mountain stream. Shrubs and bushes lined the higher altitudes which they climbed down first, before giving way to trees. Archer lost sight of the stream beneath the cover of the trees, but relied on June, who was now leading the group with Faline, to make her way to the stream. She had a good sense of direction, and Archer was confident in her abilities to lead them to the stream, where they would hopefully camp for the night. A source of running water was always a good thing to have nearby, unless it was mud season. Archer followed June and Faline on Shavaad, with Jacob and Ruddy behind him, and behind the other man followed Logan and Kal and Noc and Robyn, remaining next to each other and talking quietly as they moved through the forest.

June didn’t take long to get the group to the stream, and the handlers let their tokotas stand on the edge of the stream or wade in to drink. Archer looked around the area, but didn’t see an area that would be big enough for the five handlers and five tokotas to camp in comfortably, so he suggested that they move either up or downstream to find a better place. Jacob perked up, looking around them.
“How about we head upstream, that way when the trees begin to thin out we’ll have a bit more space for the ten of us.” He said, and June nodded, turning Faline and guiding her up the stream bed. The rest of the group followed, with most of the tokotas following Faline up the stream bed so they didn’t have to get their paws wet, with the exception of Ruddy. Despite Jacob’s tugging on the reins, the large yeti managed to not only get the fur on his legs soaked, but got his belly and rider’s feet wet as well. Grumbling, Jacob managed to finally get the yeti up onto the bank, where shook himself, scattering water over Noc, Robyn, Logan, and Kal. Logan screeched, startling Kal and Faline, causing both tokotas to start and swing their heads around at Logan, who patted Kal’s neck reassuringly as she mopped water from her face.

After making their way upstream, the group found a good place to camp where the trees thinned out and had enough space for their tokotas and themselves to set up camp for the evening. Archer climbed from his saddle, dropping to the ground and walking stiff legged in a slow circle around Shavaad as he worked on getting his legs moving normally again. The group had just started to take supplies down from their saddles when Noc’s head shot up, followed by the rest of the tokotas. Fearing the worst, Archer called out a tentative
“Who’s there?” A twig snapped in the trees, and a older gentleman on a horse emerged from the streambed.
“What are you all doing here? This is my property!” He shouted angrily, waving a rifle around. Archer stared for a moment, confused by the turn of events, but kept his eyes on the firearm.
“Sorry sir, we didn’t know that this land was owned by anyone. Could you please tell us what parts of the mountain here you own so we can avoid them?” He asked politely, still wary. It took the older man a little while to calm down a bit, but he outlined the property that he owned, grumbling under his breath about the young folks running all up and down his land with snow machines and now large dogs. Dismissed, Archer and the group quickly packed up their things and climbed back onto their tokotas, quickly leaving the area and heading for where the man’s property ended. Archer was somewhat surprised-he hadn’t thought that anyone would live this high up, but wanted to respect the man’s need for space, enforced by his rifle. The group rode past the edge of the man’s property and continued, not wanting a visitor in the night.