Jen's Legacy.

Early in the afternoon, Royce could see that Claire seemed to be struggling in the oppressive heat. She was not used to this. Her feet were also likely to be sore in those thin sneakers on the blistering-hot rocks.

She was showing signs of tenderness on her feet and it would not do to have her raise blisters so early into their walk. She was also agitated and flushed in the heat of the sun. The heat of walking, unable to perspire properly in that swimsuit, was also getting to her.

He should have anticipated that problem earlier, and suggested she not wear it or should take it off, but that might have created too much uncertainty for her and difficulty, especially on that climb, with him being so close to her and helping her as personally as he had.

She would get heat stroke or drop from exhaustion if he didn’t make that call for her. This was only her first day like this, so rather than push on any farther, Royce decided that they should stop for the day.

There was a small stream that he knew about, very close to them, and which crossed their path. They could spend the night by that, but until they got there, they should rest for a while.

He shrugged out of his pack, and broke out the water, encouraging her to sit down and drink as much as she needed.

He opened up her shirt and teased at the middle of her swimsuit, pulling it away from her body, seeing how angry her skin looked where that material had contacted her around her middle. She was too exhausted and unhappy to try and stop him.

He could see the cause of her problem now.

Heat rash!

He wet his hand and dampened her neck and shoulders before pouring some of the water directly onto her shirt where it rested on her, and poured more into her swimsuit, turning the bottoms down from her, but not far enough to cause her to object at what was almost exposed. The air needed to get to her body. They would have enough water, now that he’d decided to break their journey early. She should take it off, but he was not comfortable telling her that just yet.

He accepted that they would lose a day or two from the schedule he’d laid out in his mind. It no longer mattered. New priorities had taken over his world.

After a further thirty minutes of what amounted to little more than a stroll, with her hanging onto his arm and clearly uncomfortable, they came to where a small stream came off the rim and ran across the gently sloping plateau they were on, to drop over the edge, eventually reaching the river, hundreds of feet below, but no longer visible to them.

He’d been here ten years ago with his father, though he and Jen had by-passed it, pausing only for a few hours to bathe, to replenish their water, for a meal; and to make love, of course.

The stream was slowly cutting deeper into the plateau and in another million or two years might manage to carve out a significant side canyon of its own--nothing stayed the same for long in that time scale--but at this time, it was no more than a gully, only a few feet across and no more than a couple of feet deep.

He knew what he was looking for; a place he remembered where there were flat slabs of sandstone that had been carefully shaped by someone with a hammer—by a geologist perhaps—to closely fit into the narrow channel in grooves cut at the side. They could be pushed into those grooves to settle into the loose sand of the stream bed, overlapping. Larger support-boulders could be added below and behind them to hold back the weight of water which would build up in front of them to a depth of about eighteen inches if the gaps were properly plugged, before it overflowed.

They made camp where that stream could be ponded as he’d remembered. The slabs were still there to one side, so he dammed it, leaving it to fill, as he did other things. She could lie out in the water when it was deep enough.

“You need to cool down in this water, and you may as well start now.” He helped her off with her shirt and shorts, leaving her socks and sneakers on. He’d see to her feet later, and deal better with that rash. He had the proper lotions for that. He should also have told her not to wear that swimsuit to walk in, but she might have rebelled at that, with only her shirt and shorts to cover her, and neither of them likely to do a good job of hiding her body without other clothes beneath them. He should have cut more out of that swimsuit while he'd had the chance.

“We’ll get onto the uppermost rim tomorrow, but we’re about a hundred feet below it. There is no point in trying to do too much in the first couple of days, so we’ll stay here tonight, as long as the bad weather holds off.”

Being caught out in a lightning storm on such an exposed open expanse of plateau was not something they needed to experience. If an electrical storm came through, they could easily relocate closer up under the rim to the north of them if necessary, along the same trickle of water, but the only place he could do something to dam the stream, was here.

They faced a two-hour long steady and easy climb after this to get to the next level but he didn’t want to get caught out in the dark on the slope getting up to the rim above them without a campsite or a source of water, and with her showing signs of distress.

“Sunset is not a time to get caught on that slope so we’ll stay here. This stream will pond up and make a warmish bath for you to relax in.”

She looked hot and was flushed, so until the water was deep enough to lie in, he scooped water in his pan and poured it over her head and all over her, seeing signs of relief almost immediately.

“While I am out on that slope collecting wood, get rid of everything you are wearing; everything"--he looked at her as he told her that-- "and sit in the water, or lie in it. Even that little bit of cooling water will help if you splash it up onto your body, or you can keep pouring it over yourself.”

He got a fire going, using the little wood that he didn’t have to go so far afield to find.

“Keep yourself wetted down. I’ll let you keep the fire going if you are up to it until I get back, and you can unpack my things and start some water heating for a meal when you see me coming back.

“I’ll go out to those slopes over there”—he pointed— “and will drag bigger pieces of wood in for tonight. Watch out for rattlers or scorpions if you need to go into the rocks.”

She knew what he was telling her. She could relieve herself when he was far enough away not to embarrass her, and where she could see him. He took a couple of his rope loops with him to make it easier to bring any wood back with him.

“I'll be collecting wood on that far, wooded slope for about thirty minutes”—he pointed again to be sure she understood— “so you will see me as I work, and will see me when I start back.” She didn’t need him coming back to surprise her if she was naked.