Random Acts of Chocolate and Blue Cup Spring

The people of North Dakota are some of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. We have hiked, canoed and camped, meeting delightful folks who are friendly, warm and generous. Today we climbed to the state’s only naturally occurring waterfall. On paper the hike is said to be 2.2 miles from the trail head, but it HAD to be more than that. The ranger at Fort Ransom State Park warned us, “It’s no Niagara Falls!” But we were intrigued and everyone wanted to take the hike.
Kalista is amazingly able to keep up with us, often running much of the way for the first part of the hike, and dragging toward the end of our party later on. Karson, Kolton and Kane all set the pace as we go along the paths. The state park trails here are very well marked and kept up beautifully over shaded forests, hills, valleys, open meadows and fields.

After we had been walking for what felt like 3 miles toward the waterfall, we came across a group of 7 or 8 women and girls. We visited for a bit and exchanged pleasantries (I love the way they talk up here with their long “O’s”). They were walking back to the trail head and we passed each other and moved on toward our destinations. Several minutes later one of the ladies caught up with us and handed Ken a package of Hershey’s chocolate bars, “Enjoy these when you get to the waterfall! You’ll know what I mean when you get there.” Ken asked if she wanted us to just take 1 or 2 bars rather than the entire package of 6, but she firmly offered the whole thing, sending her best wishes with us as we hiked on.

“Man!” I said to Ken, “These people speak my language, chocolate is my mother tongue!”

“Are we almost there yet?” Kane, Kolton, Karson and Kalista each asked at different intervals. The kids were getting antsy to see the waterfall and were getting weary from the hike. They were also eager to eat that chocolate.

We began to hear the babbling sound of running water nearby and crossed a small wooden bridge that stood over some stones with water flowing over them. “If that’s the waterfall, I’m disappointed.” I murmured to Ken.

The boys were ahead of us as we approached a clearing and I heard a man’s voice asking “Do you have chocolate?” As we stepped into a clearing near a trickling muddy waterfall, a man stood with his two young sons. They were all dressed in camouflage and had a fire going in a pit next to a picnic table. On the table sat a box of graham crackers, a gooey bag of marshmallows and roasting sticks. All the fixings for s’mores, except the chocolate! How did they know? It was like providence.

As we visited with the man – Nathan was his name and his sons were Jonathan and Jackson, he explained that his wife was the woman who had handed us the chocolate, and had brought a mystery tour group to that site. He had set it up for them and gone over the hill with the little boys while the women found the fire, roasting sticks and s’mores ingredients waiting for them for a nice mid-hike snack.

After the mystery tour group had left, taking the chocolate with them, Nathan and the boys had come back down to the clearing and were playing and climbing around the creek. They weren’t expecting us, but welcomed us to their fire and offered the graham crackers and marshmallows for our refreshment. We ate s’mores – I think Kane had 3 or 4, and climbed up to the waterfall to wash our hands and faces. The kids saw snakes and chased frogs as the grownups chatted. Nathan told us about a nearby spring that his sons had named “Blue Cup Spring” for reasons we would soon find out.  It was just off the trail and he offered to show us on our way back.





 



Satisfied from our snack and with near empty water bottles, we set back off toward Blue Cup Spring and the trail head. After walking about 10 minutes on the main trail, Nathan took us off on a small branch of the path to a tree. Hanging from the tree on a hook was a bucket. Inside the bucket was a blue enamel cup. At the base of the tree gushed a spring over a reddish creek bed. We filled our water bottles from the spring drinking deeply, tasting the iron in the water. Then we found the main trail and headed back toward the trail head.

 

Nathan also showed us a shortcut, which greatly reduced the amount of walking time on the hike. This must have been the 2.2 mile trail we had originally thought we were taking. At one point on the way back, the shortcut took us across a field of thistles through which a narrow path wandered. Kalista was lagging behind, often stopping and rubbing her legs as the spines of the thistles poked and scratched her. So I crouched down and allowed her to climb up on my back, giving her a piggyback ride. As I stood to continue hiking, she exclaimed “Wow! There’s a whole field of these!” I had forgotten that her view as she walked on her little legs gave her a completely different perspective, and that from my back she could see things in a whole new way. I have to remember to pause and really look at the things around me and try to see them with that fresh perspective more often.
It was a day and experience that renewed my spirit and faith in humanity.