
Silence falls through the forest as the young traveler tighten his grip on his oak staff. He turns his attention to the sun as it makes its egress towards the horizon. He holds the staff so that the ball shaped top just covers the sun and counts the knurls on the handle. Only 8 knurls between the sun and the horizon. He has roughly 2 hours to find good shelter before dark. He scans the general area for a likely spot. He had hoped to reach the hospitality house before sundown but the ferry was missing when he reached the river and he had to find a place that was shallow enough to cross. That little twist of fate put him 15 miles short of his goal. He also heard about the danger that lurked in on this part of the trail. People had gone missing. He spotted a rocky ledge about 2/3 of the way up the mountain. The only way to reach the ledge was by taking his hard sole boots off and finding enough hand and foot holds to reach the top. But it was worth the effort because anyone or any thing would also need to climb to reach him. To make the climb easier he dropped his pack and attached a thin rope to it. The other end tied to his belt. His plan was to reach spot where he could stop climbing and haul his belongings up with the rope. His staff he slung over his back by a smaller string. God forbid that when he reached the ledge it would be claimed by a bear or some other dreadful thing. But if it was he wouldn’t meet it empty handed. It only took a few times of stopping on a small ledge and pulling his pack up to get to the top. Once his gear was safe and secure he tugged sharply on the tab end of his rope and it fell away from his belt. He coiled it neatly and placed it back into his pack. The ledge was fairly stable and the overhanging rock would provide shelter in case of rain. A quick examination of the stone overhead revealed that it wasn’t as stable as he’d hoped. If he builds a fire in the mouth of the cave it could cause the roof to collapse. He’d have to rely on his wool blanket to gaurd against the cold as he slept. That would be better anyway since he has no idea what happened to the missing people. The light of a fire might draw unwanted attention. He checked the horizon again and decided that he still had about an hour of daylight so he moved back away from the ledge and took up his staff again. He surveyed the small area and decided on what angles he could expect an attack to come from had whatever predator that stocks these woods observed his climb. He’d been concerned about finding a bear on the ledge but the thought of a human predator was even more bothersome. After all, it’s easier to outsmart a bear. It was at that precise moment that something snapped a twig on the trail below causing a huge vulture to leave its perch and sail by the ledge. He quietly reached down and removed the rubber tip on his staff exposing the triangular spike. He held the staff, which was now a lance, in the gaurd position that he’d learned from his Baritsu that he’d learned overseas. He strained his his ears to locate the source of the thumping noise that came ever closer. His discipline was impressive but the sound of his own heart pounding was making it hard to hear whatever was out there. He realized that if it had to climb up the way he did that he could simply thrust downward with the spike and prevent it reaching the top.
… to be continued on tomorrow’s post. Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.
Announcement 2.0
For those who have been following me on Facebook and know of the struggle content providers have to get circulation from big tech I’ve been recommending for people to adopt MeWe as a social media platform. One of the problems I’ve run into on MeWe is that people don’t know how to navigate the platform. So to help with that I’ve created a permanent page on my website as a basic Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe I’ve tried to anticipate all basic questions there and You can bookmark the page to have as a reference and if you have any questions or suggestions don’t hesitate to contact me. I do still have a day job and I help admin several pages on both platforms so replies might be a little slow but I will answer you.
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I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simply use the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.

Great photo!
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Thank you 😊
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