Measure of Endurance The Unlikely Triumph of Steven Sharp

CHAPTER ONE Steven sharp woke in the night to the percussion of hooves on the thin mountain soil. With only a folded blanket between his ear and the ground he could sense their approach before he could hear or see them. Elk. Then he felt the commotion of their heavy bodies pushing through the brush and the low branches a stone's throw from the clearing where he'd built his fire. The early June night was chilly and moonless. Unmoving, he lay in the dark, his lanky body folded in on itself inside the thin sleeping bag, inured through long habit to the pebbly bumpiness of the cold ground, reading the sounds of the herd's movement for the number and size of them. They were heading for the new grass in the lower meadow that bordered Hidden Lake, now passing close enough through the undergrowth for him to distinguish the guttural grunting and snorting of bull, cow, or calf. To be on the ground among large animals, potential prey, though with no thought of hunting them, brought him to an alertness indistinguishable from joy. All game commanded his attention, perhaps elk most of all, for to the hunters in the Pacific Northwest elk were a prestigious prize. What drew Steven, however, was not the allure of the animals as trophies so much as the force of the connection he had established with them half his young life ago. His father, R. E., had first brought him up into these mountains in the fall of 1981, when Steven had turned seven and was first capable of sitting a mule. Since then Steven had never missed a hunting season, which began early in October. Usually the weather could be counted on to be decent-cold, but still free of snow. On that first trip, however, which had begun in bright sun while he and his father spent half a day packing in on muleback, snow surprised them. It fell in the night, starting sometime after midnight and silently blanketing the world. At dawn father and son had emerged from their tent to find the pine branches loaded and the meadow below covered in nearly a foot of snow. The air had a sharp, ozone edge to it, frosting the inside of their nostrils. Scanning the apron of the meadow, R. E. found fresh elk tracks. Hurriedly he pulled on his high boots and heavy jacket, then bundled Steven in an extra flannel jacket and a hunting cap with earflaps. The two of them set out after the tracks, wading in the snow toward the lake. The trail led around the rim up into Box Canyon, and was so fresh R. E. couldn't resist heading over to see whether he could catch a glimpse of the elk on the canyon trail. Assuring Steven he'd be gone no more than ten minutes, R. E. posted the four-and-a-half-foot boy as lookout in a level expanse of snow that flowed seamlessly over the meadow and across the lake, telling him to stand there and to shout if he saw something. With that, R. E. was on his way, stepping storklike through the drifted snow, rifle slung on his back. For some moments Steven watched as his father disappeared while silence settled around him like a transparent bell. In the stillness he became aware of the sound of his breathing. Whenever he moved the cold clustered around him like invisible bees. The light off the snow flooded his eyes. His boots creaked on the new snow with a squeaky sound. Minutes passed. And then without warning, turning again, he found himself staring at a five-point buck at no more than twenty paces, poised atop a slight knoll, as if it had bloomed there or as if the air had opened and it had stepped through, coming into view so quietly and matter-of-factly that its presence seemed both totally expected and yet as strange as if a mountain had taken a step closer to him. The buck was huge, particularly seen from the boy's lower vantage. Vapor puffed from its nostrils. The animal dropped its wonderfully encumbered head and snorted. Sober curiosity and wild excitement warred within Steven while he and the buck stood measuring each other. Finally Steven shouted for his father.Mishler, William is the author of 'Measure of Endurance The Unlikely Triumph of Steven Sharp', published 2003 under ISBN 9780375411335 and ISBN 037541133X.