WIWAB - Part 6 - Nettles and firewood

"Need help getting up there?"

"Nah. Don't think so.", I said. I looked from river level up the 6' to the clearing where our camp was. I eyed the steps he'd kicked into the near vertical bank. Taking a big breath I started scrambling up -- slipping, sliding back, kicking dirt down, on hands-and-knees sometimes. Eventually I stood on top. I was grinning.

He joined me. "Good job. Let's find some wood." he said and disappeared into the taller-than-head-high weeds to our left. I followed. "Oh, man, look in the shorter stuff over there. These nettles are nasty.", he called back to me from up ahead. Just then one of the stalks snapped back as he brushed by it. A broad, seemingly soft leaf slapped my face.

"Yeow.", the sound popped out of me before I could stop it. It was like I'd been scraped with a piece of hot sandpaper. I backed out of the weeds.

"You OK?"

"Yeah."

"Don't rub it."

"OK," I said rubbing my cheek with the back of my hand. Immediately my face hurt even more and the back of my hand started burning.

He came out of the nettles dragging a large dead branch. "Here's a good start." I ran to help him pull it towards the clearing near the car.

"Got hit by the nettles, eh?" he asked looking at my red cheek. "Burns like heck, doesn't it? Never mind. It'll stop in a while. Just stay out of them from now on. And don't rub it." I snuck a glance at the back of my hand. It was red too.

"Why don't cha look over there?" He pointed with his chin to the other side of the car.

I didn't see any nettles there and walked into the knee-high grass growing in the sun between the trees. I picked up sticks as I walked. I heard wood snapping behind me and he came out of the tall weeds dragging another big branch. I went a bit further, found some larger sticks and added them to the ones already in my arms. I walked to where he'd dropped the branches and put down my load. "Good kindling." he said nodding at my sticks.

"One more log ought to do it. Come on." We walked through the sun where I'd just been and into the gloom under the canopy of leaves. A whole dead tree, nearly 6" across lay on the ground -- broken off at the stump. He bent to pick up the thick end and grunted. "Little help here please." I wrapped my arms around it and we started dragging it toward the car. It's branches kept catching on the thick weeds behind us. After a few steps, he said, "Whoa, take five." and dropped it. It was too big for me to hold on my own and I dropped it as well. "We'll come back for it if we need it."

He walked to where I'd laid our gear earlier in the clearing. He picked up the hand saw and started attacking the branches he'd dragged over. "Grab me a beer out of the cooler," he said. I pulled off the white Styrofoam lid, pushed the bucket of worms to one side, and reached through the ice to a can. I got a cola for myself, put the lid back, and carried the cans to where he was still sawing away. He took the beer from me and dragged it across his forehead. "We'll probably wish we had some of this heat tonight." He pulled the pop-top from the can and dropped it inside. He took a big swallow and then went back to sawing. "I'll cut 'em; you stack 'em," he said. After a while we had a nice pile.

"Good enough for now. You getting hungry?" I was always hungry. I nodded. "Well, let's fish for a bit, run the lines once and then head into town for a 'burger." I nodded again.