Love on a Mountaintop

The road was every bit as rough as I remembered: granite boulders, sandstone, steep, deep ruts, narrow. I was in my new Jeep Wrangler, the first off-road trek I'd made with it. What a perfect place, the old Anthony Lakes lookout. I'd been there once before with my parents, probably twenty years earlier, when I was a teenager with much more important things on my mind than a mountain trek with parents and my brother, like girls.

My parents were still around, but my older brother, he'd gotten multiple sclerosis not long after we'd come up here and was totally disabled in a wheelchair. Tom had been the athletic one in school; he still holds three records in track at our high school: High jump (6'8"), high and low hurdles. He had the broad-jump record until an Olympics-caliber kid broke it three years ago.

Tom talks and talks about how much he loved this mountain. He'd wanted me to come up here and bring him pictures, but until I bought the Jeep, there was no way.

My divorce was finalized six months, nine days ago, January 2nd. I've always been a country boy, JoAnn was the exact opposite ─ city, through and through. We stuck it out together for seven years. The beginning was terrific, the girl was drop-dead gorgeous, but after the first couple of years, our different personalities started injecting more and more into our relationship, and the memories just weren't a strong enough glue.

Hence, the Jeep. It had been a sore spot for a long time, I wanted one and JoAnn wasn't about to let me spend 'one dime' on such a waste. She was probably right, but still... A much bigger point of contention was kids, I wanted and she didn't, adamantly didn't want as a matter of fact. That had been the final straw.

It was seven miles up the road. A looong seven miles! Once I finally reached the summit, I could look down on Anthony Lake on the other side. The ridge was the top of the Anthony Ski area. The top of the ski lift was about a hundred yards off to the left. I wished I'd learned to ski, imagining what the view must be like from here in winter. The elevation at this summit is 8,408 feet. The side of the mountain I'd just come up is part of the John Day River drainage, mostly wilderness area, and the opposite side of the ridge is the Baker Valley far below. What an incredible view in any direction!

The reason for the trip was pictures for Tom. He'd been asking for a long time, and now that I had the Jeep... I'd taken several on the way up and more from the top. But my real destination was to the right, up the ridge and the granite stone peaks another thousand feet higher. There used to be a fire lookout, long abandoned and gone now. I faintly remembered that there were still some old wooden beams from the lookout and was anxious to see if there was anything still there.

I followed the road another quarter mile around the ridge to the base of the trail where it started climbing. I was a little disappointed that there was a four-wheeler at the road's end. I was hoping for seclusion on this hike.

I'd waited until evening because I knew the sunset would be spectacular. I was wearing my photo vest with both a wide-angle and telephoto lenses, tripod, headlamp in case it got dark, binoculars, and lots of water. It was late July, hot. Even so, there were still snowdrifts on the granite bluffs below the peaks above.

JoAnn would never have come up here with me. Not that we could have, without the Jeep, but mountains were toxic to her. I think she was allergic to clean air. I could say that I wondered why we ever married, but I knew. Like I said, she was so fuckin' gorgeous and a young man's, probably even an old man's, brain sort of malfunctions around a girl like JoAnn. I guess the real mystery was why she married me? I think I'm fairly good-looking, and I guess she saw me as a 'project'. Whatever, it didn't work. The last six months have been so much more pleasant.

I took off hiking. The first part of the trail was straight and steep, lots of old, windblown bristlecone pines with the big irregular branches. It's hard to believe the hardiness of trees to survive the wintery climate these must endure. The trees were absolutely gorgeous.

And the air up there! Oh my God, it smelled so clean and good. I could see what seemed like hundreds of miles, every direction.

The trail flattened out a little and Crawfish Lake came into view down in the little valley on my right. Way back when we were kids, we'd even walked into it once. That would be a hike for another day, Tom would enjoy those pictures, too.

I'm a reasonably fit, thirty-two-year-old, but the thin air and the beautiful view necessitated lots of stops. The sun was low in the sky and the colors of the mountains were so vivid, perfect for pictures. I only wished Tom could have been here with me. He loved the outdoors before his MS.

Near the old lookout, the trail began to switchback back and forth over and over again up a rocky, near-vertical slope. I had to stop several times to catch my breath and just enjoy the view and snap pictures. Places along the trail were literally hands-and-feet crawling.

Then it leveled out again, passing through two vertical granite pillars, a natural framing for pictures. I remember how we'd stopped here and stood between them taking portraits of each other, the mountain in the background. It almost made me cry, remembering Tom proudly standing between the pillars so long ago, before that damned MS hit him.

On the other side, a new vista opened up. Down in the valley above Crawfish Lake, there's a huge meadow, a meandering little creek through it ─ and this evening, full of elk. I got out my binoculars to look at them and was transfixed. The calves were running, playing, their mommas patiently eating. Scattered through the herd were several bulls, some small ─ spikes, and some with big racks.

I could have stayed and watched forever, but my goal was the old lookout. From here on, a slip could be deadly. The trail pretty much ended and just turned into climbing up and over giant granite boulders. Around one more bend, six mountain goats were walking across what looked like a several-hundred-foot-high, vertical cliff. I scanned them with the binoculars and it looked like there was a little trail, maybe a few inches wide. The elk were still going to be there, but these, I couldn't pass over the picture. I put on my 400mm telephoto and began snapping, probably two dozen pictures. Bless digital!

With the excitement from the goats, I hadn't noticed, but there was a person, a girl, presumably the owner of the four-wheeler sitting on top of the peak. I couldn't help but stop and snap her picture sitting on top of that granite boulder.

I became alarmed as I climbed closer to her, realizing that she was sitting there, crying. I climbed up beside her and asked, "You okay?"

She looked over at me, the tears streaming down her cheeks, wiped them with the back of her hands, and nodded, "Uhuh, I guess."

She was nice-looking, not beautiful like JoAnn, but not many women were. Easy on the eyes, probably late thirties, maybe forty, but I'm a crappy judge of age. Funny how a guy's first thoughts about a woman are her appearance and her age. I felt kind of guilty that they had even crossed my mind when she was obviously suffering.

"Want to talk about it?" I asked her.

She stared off in the distance. The meadow with the elk was our view from the perch on that rock. "I... used to come up here with my husband. He loved this place more than any other..."

I knew there was more she wanted to say, so just sat quietly waiting. She wiped her cheeks again, the tears had seemed to slow. "He died... two years ago... leukemia." Her breath caught, another little sob, "This is my first time back... since."

Ahh shit! I had no idea what to say. I thought I'd had it rough with the divorce. All I knew to do, and had no idea if it was right or not with a complete stranger, was to put my arm around her and hold her. I guess it was, she put her head on my shoulder and just cried.

After several minutes sitting like that, this strange woman crying on my shoulder, she gradually got control of herself, looked up at me with her tear-stained eyes, and said with a half-hearted smile on her face, "Thank you... guess I needed that."

She smiled, this time a beautiful smile, "My name's Stacy."

I told her my name, Jason, Jase to my friends, "You can call me Jase if you want."

Then she started talking, told me about her husband, Alex, or Lex, "As in Lex Luthor of Superman fame," how he'd gotten sick and it was so fast that before she'd even had time to come to grips with him being sick, he was gone. Two kids, a girl, twelve and a boy, sixteen. I could tell the pride in her voice when she talked about her two kids.

I told her about JoAnn, our divorce, how happy we'd been in the beginning and how it had gradually declined.

We sat, watching the elk in the meadow below and the setting sun. We could barely see the elk with our naked eyes, the babies running and playing, so I loaned her my binoculars. "Wouldn't it be wonderful to be so free?" she said.

The sun was starting to set, but I had my headlamp, so wasn't too worried. The full moon was already out, stars would be shining brightly, and it wouldn't be overly dark anyway.

"Lex and I... always talked about making love on this mountain... we would have someday, too... if he hadn't..." She smiled, "I was always afraid... you know, you just don't do things like that. I just... couldn't."

She looked into my eyes, maybe seeing what I was trying to hide, that I wanted her, leaned toward me and kissed me. Her lips were soft, tongue probing mine apart and exploring. Her hand went behind my neck, pulling, our kiss deepening into something I had no right to feel, or especially to expect. Somehow, the granite we were sitting on didn't seem nearly so hard as it had a few minutes earlier.

She pulled away, her hand still holding the back of my neck, trembling, "Jase... please.... I want... make love to me."

My mind nearly exploded. I wanted to so badly, yet... "Here? Now?"

She nodded, biting her lip, "Especially here and now," she said, "Lex would want it... I want it. Even if it's only this once, we never see each other again." She looked deep into my eyes, her voice barely audible, "Please."

She had on a short-sleeved shirt, nothing special, certainly not sexy, yet I couldn't recall being turned on like I was that moment since... I didn't even know when. My fingers were shaking as I reached for the top button of her shirt. She looked down, a smile on her face, watching as I undid that button, then another... and another.

I spread her blouse apart, and she let me push it off her arms. She had on a beige sports bra, obviously comfortable for a hike like this. I put my fingers underneath the bottom, feeling her soft skin for the first time, "You sure?" I asked her.

She nodded, and I pressed upward, feeling the edge of her breasts, pushing the stretchy material upward, watching, slowly revealing her breasts, bottom half of her areolas, her nipples. She looked straight at me, holding her arms up for me to slide it up and off.

Then I marveled at her, topless in the wilderness, a whole lot more than 'easy on the eyes', but with tears falling from her eyes.

She must have seen the concern on my face, "No, I'm happy. Lex and I... we never had the courage. Wanted to, but... I know he's looking down now, thinking 'you go girl!'," with a smile on her face.

Then she gripped the back of my head and pulled my mouth to her nipple, letting out a loud groan as I sucked her breast into my mouth.

The sun was going down, the yellow and orange glow of the sunset vivid on the far horizon underneath the sparse clouds. We were alone on top of the beautiful world.

I groaned, my erection pressing against my denim shorts. We kissed, Stacy working loose the buttons of my shirt as I had hers.

A few minutes later, we were both naked on the mountaintop. The boulder we'd been sitting on was sloping a little, and Stacy leaned back on it. The rock was hard, but I don't think either of us noticed. My heart was pounding as I lay down beside her and we kissed, caressing a nipple between my thumb and forefinger.

I was nearly beyond my endurance, Stacy moaning into my mouth. "Now... please," she pleaded.

I rolled over, trying to be careful to hold my weight off her due to the hardness of our 'bed'. I wished we'd had a jacket or anything to spread underneath her. Stacy spread her legs apart, I scooted up and she held my cock at her entrance.

I pushed, watching her face. I'm not big, pretty average, I imagine, but she was tight, hadn't had a man for the two years since her husband's death. "Ohh, go slow."

I pulled back, pushed into her a little more, felt her hands on my back, fingernails scratching, "Mmm, mmm, so good, little more."

Her pussy was wet, I felt her slickness and heat, she felt so good. I leaned down and kissed her again, pressing a little further inside her. This was more than just sex, it was an emotional awakening, I think for both of us. She was my first since probably a year before the divorce and I know I was hers for longer than that.

A moment later, I was fully inside her. Stacy was breathing deep, my heart was pounding, enjoying like I couldn't even remember. Even when JoAnn and I had had sex the last years, it was just... I guess it was expected, not like this.

I pulled out and pressed back into her. Her hips responded, pushing up onto me, "Ahh, God," she groaned.

Okay, I'll admit that I've masturbated, relieving myself periodically, not long ago, in fact. Otherwise, the way she felt and the emotional connection I was feeling, I'd no doubt have exploded inside her within the first few seconds.

Stacy's fingernails were digging into my back, she was groaning, and I captured her lips once more with mine, as I was pressed deep inside her. She kissed back just as hard until I pulled out and thrust into her once more. Her lips tensed, and I felt her bite down, another muffled moan escaping both of us.

Another thrust and I felt her body begin to tense and shudder, her pussy squeezing me. It was too much, the orgasm bursting through me. Our bodies arched together, my cock pushing hard inside her, and I heard moaning noises from both our mouths.

God, it was good, like I said, unlike anything I'd experienced for so long, maybe ever. I couldn't remember it ever being like this with JoAnn. Maybe because of where we were, but I think it was much more who, not where.

"That was incredible!" Stacy said after she caught her breath, wrapping her arms around my neck, pulling me to her. I was already lost, in love.

By then it was twilight, a time I'd never imagined still being on top of the mountain, no doubt Stacy hadn't, either. It was more beautiful than I could have imagined. We dressed and I set up my tripod to get pictures for Tom. Stacy watched, and I explained to her about my brother, how he'd loved the mountain when we were there, and I was there for him. These pictures were a treat that I never would have expected, not quite like the other 'treat', but pretty awesome, nonetheless. He'll enjoy them.

We spent another half-hour, then in the nearly full dark, the moon and stars shining brightly, decided we needed to get off the mountain. I strapped the headlight on and carefully took a few steps, then turned and helped Stacy. That's how we worked our way down those first treacherous yards, me going first, then turning to light the path for her, holding her hand to help.

The location with the two pillars on each side of the trail was especially beautiful, with the moon between them, so I had to set up the tripod again and get the picture, then another with the silhouette of Stacy, then both of us.

The hardest was back down that near-vertical switchbacked trail. We had to do a lot of sitting and scooting in the dark. Once down off that section, we could walk side-by-side the rest of the way.

Once back to our vehicles, the thought went through me how disappointed I'd been when I saw the four-wheeler. Amazing, how that had changed. I even forgot to look for the old lookout lumber.

It had gotten much chillier than earlier in the day. Our elevation was 8,400 feet and the nights get cold. I suggested to Stacy, "Want to leave it? We can come back and get it tomorrow."

I don't know if she realized what I was actually suggesting. I didn't want to lose her. I was camped down on the river and hoping for company in my little tent.

"You sure? It's a long way up here."

I nodded, "Too cold for you to ride it down tonight."

She relented, climbing in the other side of the Jeep.

On our way down, I asked her where she was camped.

"The campground at Anthony, have a little tent there."

I was quiet for a few minutes, nervous about asking her, scared shitless, to be honest. I'd never asked a woman to spend the night with me before. I didn't even remember how it had happened with JoAnn. I finally got up the courage, "You want..."

"Yes!" she answered before I even got the question out.

All I had was an oversized, singlehttps://dealspotr.com/@chhncellar

sleeping bag, but it was more than we needed.

By the next morning, there wasn't a doubt in my mind. I had found my lifetime soulmate, a gift from my brother. If he hadn't asked for the pictures, I'd never have been on that mountain.

I even knew a beautiful meadow just down the river from my camp right alongside a gorgeous Aspen grove that would make a wonderful place for a wedding. And my best man was already decided.

Love on a Mountaintop

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