I first heard about the trail over dinner last week with my friends Cindy and Derek. We are all avid hikers, so discussions about trails come up often.
“Have you ever been on the Mounthome Trail?” Cindy asked before taking another bite of her steak. Derek gave her a look and reached to get more mashed potatoes off the table.
“No - I haven’t even heard of it. Where is it?”
Cindy giggled, “There’s a trick to find the trail! It’s sort of magic. Just take any trail in the mountains for five miles, then the next time it turns, keep going straight instead, keep going off trail for a mile, and you’ll find the Mounthome Trail.”
I smiled politely and forked some carrots. Cindy had always been superstitious. I had seen her spend hundreds of dollars on psychics, go on a dozen ghost hunts, and once after my boyfriend broke up with me I woke up to her standing over me burning sage to “clean me”. While I loved her, I had learned to be skeptical of her stories.
“It’s true,” Derek said, noticing my disbelief, “it really does work. We went on it a few times while you were out of town last month”
“How does that even work though - if it was that easy wouldn’t almost everyone have found it? And what was it like, are you sure it wasn’t just a random lost trail that’s just not on the topo maps?”
Cindy made a pouty face “Of course it isn’t just a lost trail - you don’t find it if you don’t know the trick! And it isn’t that easy, just think about it!” She said, shoving a piece of cornbread into her mouth.
She was right. While the instructions were simple, it was harder than it seemed. Not everyone lived near mountains. Not every trail was longer than five miles with, or had a curve at the end. Going straight off trail for a mile without hitting a city, another trail, or some impassable obstacle would be hard. When you got down to it, it wasn’t something that would be easy for people to find, and certainly not by accident.
I regret it now, but I was curious, “Okay - what’s the trail like?”
Derek opened his mouth but was interrupted by Cindy’s enthusiastic yelling.
“It’s so amazing! The colors are so deep, the trail winds through beautiful woods, and the trail is well maintained! It’s really cool, we should do a day hike of it this weekend!”
I figured there’s no harm in a day hike, and exploring an unmapped trail in the backcountry would be a lot of fun. “I’m game.”
Derek looked down and picked at his food, “That trail gives me the creeps. I don’t think we should go again - why don’t we just do Mt. Si. We haven’t hit the haystack this year.”
Cindy shot Derek a glare before smiling at me, “Derek’s exaggerating - at worst it’s just a little strange, like any other old trail. Why don’t you and I just go on our own Jess? I know the way.”
“Sure - I’d love to see it, and I don’t want to pressure you Derek.”
“No,” Derek looked up at us. “It’s fine. I’ll go. It’s safer with three instead of just two. Let’s just all be careful, okay?”
Cindy squealed in excitement “Yes! I promise to be careful!”
Derek smiled slightly then returned to picking at his plate. “Okay. Let’s go this Saturday. The trailhead is in the north cascades, let’s meet there at 6:00 AM to try to beat any traffic. Bring enough gear for a night in the backcountry Jess.”
“Sounds great! Just send me the GPS coordinates for the trailhead,” I answered with a smile.
***
I arrived at the trailhead that Saturday at 6:00 AM sharp. I had driven by this particular trailhead before, but I had never actually hiked it. Derek and Cindy carpooled and were a few minutes late, as usual. Cindy jumped out of Derek’s truck, ran over to me, and almost knocked me over with a hug.
“I’m so excited! I love this trail!”
Derek walked over, “Alright, we had better get started so we have enough time before night. You both ready?”
Cindy disentangled herself from me and nodded. I checked my GPS, swallowed four sips of water, and nodded too. “Let’s go.”
The first part of the hike was pretty but uneventful. We passed through a dense forest on a well marked trail, ascending the mountain through at first very gentle switchbacks, turning over time much shorter and steeper. As we got higher we could see the larger mountains in the distance, towering upwards through the gradually receding morning clouds.
As we climbed I kept wondering what kind of trail they had actually found. The north cascades is a relatively dangerous area to hike. Much of the terrain there is as empty as it is beautiful, and you might not run into anyone at all during a full day of hiking on the less popular trails. More than a few people had simply disappeared in this area, some of them quite experienced hikers. I could see why Derek was so concerned about us being on an unknown trail up here.
At about four and a half miles up the trail Derek slowed down on a flat patch of the trail between two switchbacks, and gestured at a nearby log. “Let’s take a break.”
Cindy and I sat next to each other. I took out one of my protein bars and she took out one of her energy bars.
“Hey! Wanna trade half of yours for half of mine?”
I smiled, she always did this. I broke off half my bar and handed it to her and she gave me half of hers, giving me a playful smile as we traded.
“Before we go this last mile,” Derek paused to take a long drink off his bottle of water, “we need to talk about an important rule.”
Cindy’s smile faded. “Yeah that’s a good idea.”
“Once we go off the trail, and especially once we get onto the Mounthome Trail, it is important we not get separated. Let’s all try to stay close, and if you start falling behind, shout so we can regroup.”
“Why don’t we just rope up like when we’re on a glacier?”
He frowned and looked at Cindy.
She swallowed a bit of the protein bar. “It’s dangerous to rope up on the trail. Too easy to get pulled somewhere you don’t want to go. We almost fell off a cliff when we roped up last time.”
Derek nodded solemnly and continued drinking his water.
We all sat quietly, Cindy smiling at me off and on and Derek just staring off into the distance. I was curious about the cliff story, but they both seemed to not want to say more about it, so I let it be.
Once we were finished with our break, we resumed the hike. The trail turned, and we began going up a ridge. After moving up a steep grade nearly continuously for the last quarter mile, the trail veered off to the left immediately after the five mile mark. Derek looked to be sure we were still following, then kept going straight ahead, following the ridge right off the trail.
We had all gone off trail before, so this was nothing new to any of us. We moved carefully, keeping within sight of each other and slowing down as we hit obstacles like thorny bushes or rotting logs. As we kept hiking, the ridge got steeper and steeper, and the woods got more and more dense, pushing back against us as we kept moving forward.
When the incline finally let up, we found ourselves in a clearing. Cindy started giggling and I saw that there was a well beaten trail ahead, with a wooden sign that said “Mounthome Trail”. I pulled my GPS off of its carabiner to mark our location, but it just showed a question mark, it couldn’t find any satellites.
“It won’t work,” Derek said quietly, watching me fiddle with it, “Navigation aids don’t work here”
Cindy smiled and locked her left arm with my right. “I told you it was real! You only get to walk the trail if you know the trick!”
I sighed, defeated. I didn’t know if she was right, but this was definitely weird.
“Let’s explore!” shouted Cindy.
Derek looked ahead. “Yeah - let’s keep moving.”
The trail stayed fairly flat at first, with only a few small hills as we hiked. Cindy had been right, the colors of everything here were brighter. The flowers in particular were more intense colors, and with each step it got more obvious.
As we got about a mile in, I started noticing strange things in my peripheral vision. I kept thinking I saw a lake or a mountain, but when I’d turn, I’d only find more trees and flowers. I wrote it off as exhaustion.
“How far have you been on this trail?” I asked.
Cindy puffed up and smiled “We got to about four miles in before turning back at our last outing but-“
“I got a bit further,” Derek said without looking back, in almost a whisper.
Cindy’s smile became a bit muted “Yeah - he went out one day when I couldn’t get off work. He never told me what he saw or how far he got though.”
Derek kept moving, “We can talk about it later, for now let’s just focus on hiking, I don’t want to be out here at night.”
At about a mile in we spotted another hiker on the trail, walking towards us. He was about six feet tall and wore tan shorts, an athletic tank top, and trail runners. He had short hair, but it was mostly hidden under a Sounders cap. He was pretty normal looking as far as hikers go around here, but something about him made me uneasy.
Cindy smiled at him, “Hey there! How is the trail up ahead?”
He smiled back at Cindy “Oh it’s lovely! Just be careful when you get to the waterfall, it’s a doozy! I’m hoping to make it back home before night so I have to keep going, happy trails folks!”
He walked away and Cindy’s smile widened. “I’ve been really looking forward to seeing the waterfall! You’ll love it Jess!”
We kept moving, but Derek slowed down some and matched my pace.
He eyed Cindy as he spoke to me quietly “Hey - are you okay?”
I smiled “Yeah, the trail is definitely a bit weird, but I’m good. The waterfall sounds nice - it’s pretty warm out here.”
He glanced at me before going back to watching Cindy. “There is no waterfall.”
“What? But Cindy said-“
“Yeah. That’s why I came back here. There isn’t a waterfall anywhere near us, and she should know that. All there is up ahead is just a weird looking lake.”
We stared at each other. “Maybe there is a waterfall when it rains?”
He looked back towards Cindy, then at the ground. “Yeah. Maybe. Either way, be careful of the other hikers,“ he paused, “and of Cindy.”
We were both silent for a minute.
“This trail is dangerous.”
I nodded in response, unsure what to say.
He sped up again, overtaking Cindy at the front of our group.
As we kept walking, the colors of everything except us and our things kept getting brighter. It was like someone had oversaturated a photograph. I started noticing other unusual things. At first, it was subtle, just a few plants blooming that shouldn’t be blooming or even alive in summer, or plants from other climates like cacti that were somehow growing alongside the trail. Over time though, I started seeing plants that I had never even heard of - blackberry bushes that had cactus fruit on them, flowers that had pine needles. I also noticed that while I kept hearing animal sounds, I had not actually seen any animals since we got on the Mounthome Trail - not even small birds or bugs.
For a half mile or so, I thought I saw a hiker wearing purple in the distance, only to see them vanish below the horizon as we got further along the trail.
“Did you see them too?” Asked Cindy.
“Yeah - just another hiker on the trail I guess?”
“What?” Cindy seemed confused, “I think it was Tyler from my work - you met him at my place last thanksgiving remember?”
Derek overheard our conversation and shot me a glance.
“How could you tell from this far away?”
Cindy laughed “How could you not? It’s so obviously him. I bet he’s going to the waterfall! Wait until you see it, it’s beautiful!”
Derek cleared his throat. “It’s starting to get a bit late, I think we should head back here in a bit after we have a meal.”
Cindy put a hand on her stomach “That’s smart, let’s try to get to the waterfall first though, I want Jess to see it! We can have lunch there.”
Derek grunted. “That’s fine, as long as we head back right after.”
Cindy nodded, and we kept hiking.
We reached the lake about an hour later, dropping down about 300 ft into a small valley. The lake was a strange green purple color. At first I thought it was an algae bloom or maybe just minerals, but the colors looked somehow off.
We found a small clearing at the very bottom of the valley near the lake with some logs and rocks to sit on. I went around the logs several times before choosing one and sitting down.
Cindy took out her sandwich. “What did I tell you Jess! Isn’t it beautiful!”
I took my pack off and started getting my food. “The lake you mean?”
“Not just the lake! The waterfall!”
Derek looked at me, his expression stern.
I smiled and touched Cindy’s hand, “What waterfall? I don’t see one.”
She huffed “You can’t see it well from here, it was easier from higher up the trail. It’s just over behind that curve of the valley!” She pointed up the hill in the direction we had come from, but an area just over a ridge that was now out of sight.
I shrugged, “I guess I didn’t see it.”
“Oh well, maybe we can check it out on the way back. I’m starving!” She tore into her sandwich.
Derek looked relieved and stood up. “I need to go to the bathroom. I’ll be over on the other side of the trail, just shout if you need me.” He walked away from the lake into a patch of trees.
I bit into my ham sandwich and looked to the other side of the valley, where the trail climbed back up and continued past the horizon. I still wasn’t sure if this was just an old trail in a strange climate niche, but it was certainly weird no matter what it was. Supernatural or not this was the most adventure I’d had in a while. I wanted to come back and try this trail again.
I ate another four bites of my sandwich and looked back towards the lake. The lake seemed more beautiful now that I could see it better. The light from the sun reflected off of whatever was giving it the purple hue, making it seem to almost shimmer and have a purple glow.
I was interrupted by Cindy squealing. “It’s Tyler! I just saw him!”
“Where?” I darted my head around.
“He just went over the top of the hill over there!” she pointed to the hill just a few hundred feet down the trail.
She got up and started running, not even taking her pack.
“Hey! Wait, we can try to catch up when Derek gets back -“
“He’ll be gone by then! Just head up the trail once Derek comes back and I’ll meet you over this hill!”
“No - wait - we can-“ I sighed. She was already over the hill.
I quickly ate the rest of my sandwich, and was just putting my trash back in my pack when Derek came back.
He froze when he saw her pack, and turned to me. “Where is she?”
I pointed towards the hill, “She said she saw Tyler and went running over there, said she’d meet us just after the hill.”
The color drained from his face.
“I’ll go check for her if you want to-“
“No!” He shook some as he spoke. “Did you forget the rule? We stay together, we do not get separated. You don’t go anywhere alone.”
I sighed. “I waited for you didn’t I? Look - one of us needs to go get her before she gets too far ahead!”
He nodded and took a deep breath. “Yes. I can eat later, let’s both go.”
We put our packs on, and started running down the trail. We crested the hill, but she wasn’t there. From the hilltop we had a clear view of the entire trail up to the rim of the valley. She was nowhere to be seen.
We both startled as we heard someone humming behind us. We turned and saw a short old man with black hair going gray and a large bald spot. He was wearing a purple track suit with a small backpack, and was jogging up the trail from where we had come. He looked like the person I had seen in the distance earlier. He smiled and nodded at us. I shuddered.
“Pleasant day for it, isn’t it?” He said, stopping next to us while he continued jogging in place
Derek looked him up and down.
“Hey. Weren’t you ahead of us earlier?” I asked.
He smiled “It’s best not to compare where you are at to where others are on the trail, only to compare where you are to where you’ve been young lady. Women, huh?” he winked at Derek.
I rolled my eyes. “Have you seen our friend? About 5’ 4”, black hair, lots of energy? She came this way just a few minutes ago.”
He shook his head slowly, “I haven’t seen your friend, only a young woman named Cindy.”
Derek tensed. I smiled, “That’s her.”
The man chuckled, “Not anymore.” He gave us a toothy grin that was just a bit too wide for a few seconds before opening his mouth once more, “Happy trails.”
With that the man jogged away, humming to himself. I started to follow him, but Derek grabbed my shoulder.
“We can’t go after him, we need to get out of here. She’s gone.”
“We can’t just leave her behind! Whatever or wherever this is, search and rescue is going to need help bringing her to the-“
He raised his voice “We are not looking for her! Not now! Even from up here we can’t see where she went. She’s gone. We are staying together, and we are hiking out of here. There’s only two of us now.” His jaw was set, but I could see him slightly shaking.
I hesitated, then nodded. There was nothing we could do for now, and I didn’t want to be stuck here overnight. We could call for help when we got back to our cars.
The hike out was rough. The terrain had seemed flat on the way in, but it had actually been going slowly downhill. The way back was all uphill. This wouldn’t be a problem except that it began to rain, and the trail quickly turned into a muddy stream. The water managed to soak through our boots, and made everything slippery. The conditions forced us to move more slowly, and we would periodically slip and start to slide down the trail.
“We need to move faster,” Derek said, grunting as he pushed his boots deeper into the mud to get up a small hill.
“I’m going as fast as I can! If we try to move much faster we’re both likely to get injured.”
“I know, but it’s starting to get dark.”
He was right. The sun was fading, and as it did the trail started to become more obviously wrong. The intense colors did not fade as the sun started setting, they somehow seemed even brighter. The odd sights in my peripheral vision had become more disturbing as well. I was seeing people staring at us, only to once again find there was nothing there when I looked.
We reached the Mounthome trailhead just past 9:00, the final rays of sun just setting. As we crossed the threshold beyond the sign, I felt a bit less anxious. Derek stopped, and I almost ran into him.
“We still have six more miles to our cars! We need to keep moving.”
He looked down, not meeting my eyes. “Let’s just take a minute to catch our breath before we go down.”
I stared at him. “What aren’t you telling me Derek?”
He made eye contact, but just for a second. “They won’t believe you, search and rescue.”
I narrowed my eyes “What do you mean?”
He shook his head, “You’ll see.”
I sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.”
We bushwhacked until we reached the original trail again. We raced down the trail as quickly as we dared, moving a bit faster than was probably safe. Fortunately, the rain had let up, and hiking was much easier now. We sprinted down the switchbacks, cutting across the more gentle ones. We were both panting when we reached the cars around 11:00.
Derek leaned against my car as I grabbed my phone from inside and dialed 911.
“911, what is your emergency”
“Hi - I need search and rescue for my friend who went missing on a hike - I have the GPS coordinates for the trailhead-“
“Yes ma’am, please give me those whenever you’re ready and I’ll get the sheriff out there.”
“-but my friend got lost on an unlisted trail we found. The sign called it the Mounthome Trail”
The operator fell silent for a moment. She spoke again in a shrill voice. “Making a prank 911 call is a crime,” and then hung up on me.
I looked at Derek, he was staring off into space and still leaning against my car.
I sighed. “We have to go back and look for her.”
He kept staring into space. “No. I didn’t want to go on this trail again to begin with, and it’s far too dangerous to go out again with just the two of us. I’ve lost her, I-”
I crossed my arms, “You what?”
His face softened, “I don’t want to lose you too.”
I felt tears in my eyes, and I leaned against the car next to him. I spoke softly. “We can’t just leave her out there.”
He turned away.
***
It’s been four days since that hike. I’ve talked Derek into hiking the trail one more time to find her, with me and two acquaintances who do search and rescue and don’t believe a word I say about the trail.
I’ve been acting confident, but I’m scared. Scared we won’t find her, and even more scared of what we’ll find if we do.
We leave at 5 AM tomorrow. If I make it back, I’ll post an update then.