Mountain Stories
Mountain journeys are the source for a rich life, one filled with good stories, like those fresh in my memory from a backpack trip I just got back from. I climbed hard, during a rainstorm, and knew I was in the early stages of hypothermia when I threw off my pack to set up camp on a ridge overlooking a timberline lake. Eating and drinking were my first priority, which made me feel a lot better. I then set up the tent, and took an afternoon nap along with Ben and Maggie, my two exhausted border collies.
When I awoke, an out-of-place sound caused me to notice several mountain goats 300 yards away on the ridge just across from us. I have trained my dogs to stay close, and the goats remained nearby, even coming into my camp, several times. Once when returning to camp I knew they were there by watching Ben and Maggie pick up their scent. I tied the dogs to a tree to check out the camp alone. I found three Billy goats within twenty feet of my tent. I was awful glad their curiosity didn't proceed to the stage of tromping on my tent. A male mountain goat can weigh up to 300 pounds, and would be more than capable of doing in a backpack tent if so inclined.
Our experiences with the mountain goats got even more bizarre the next evening, when it was almost dark, and Ben and Maggie were already sound asleep. A Billy goat walked into view no more than 15 feet from my tent. I yelled 'git' to him, and he ran down the slope when Ben and Maggie barked. Five minutes later, here he comes again, with inquisitive eyes, walking right towards my open tent flap as if he was trying to figure out what is this thing that yells and barks at him? This upset Ben and Maggie to no end, and it took them quite a while to calm down enough to go back to sleep.
Events like this, after settling some, will likely find their way into my nature programs for children and their teachers, as story - instruction mixed with entertainment. In the course of the story I will describe some of the biology of the mountain goat, their diet, range, or other facts about these mountain animals.
My favorite venue for storytelling is up on a rocky cliff where I stand with my back to the valley and the children and their teachers on the rocks facing me. The hike up the steep trail to the cliff makes the adventure of the mountains up close and personal for them: "We are higher than the trees", "Our bus is tiny down there" is what they say on the way up. I tell stories about mountains and wildlife as the children listen with wide-eyed attentiveness.
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