Bailey’s Estes Park Excitement by Linda McQuinn Carlblom Page B

later.” Mrs. Chang dropped a kiss on Bailey’s nose and left.
    â€œLet’s download the pictures we took to send the other girls before we chat with them,” Kate suggested. “Then they’ll have them to look at while we talk.”
    Bailey and Kate each downloaded their photos and then logged into the CCG Web site chat room.
    Bailey:
Hi! Anybody there?

McKenzie:
I’m here
.
Sydney:
Me, too
.
    Kate:
Hang on. I’ll call the others to get them to log on
.
    Elizabeth:
I’m here now
.
    Alex:
Me, too
.
    Bailey:
We found something weird on the hike we went on this morning
.
    Elizabeth:
What was it?
    Kate:
We don’t know. But we’re hoping some of you might help us figure it out. We sent you some pictures of it
.
    Bailey:
We hiked up a trail and found this weird, huge indentation in the ground. It was about the size of a bathtub. It had what looked like elk hair and tracks around it and it smelled awful. Sydney, we were hoping you could tell us if the tracks look like they belong to an elk. You’ll see them in the pictures, too
.
    Sydney:
I’ll look and see. And I bet I know what that indentation was, too
.
    Kate:
What?
    Sydney:
Hang on. I’ll look at the picture to be sure. There it is. Yep. Was there any water nearby?
    Bailey:
Yeah, we saw a scummy pond with grass growing in it a few feet away
.
    Sydney:
It was probably an elk wallow. And those are definitely elk tracks in the picture. My uncle hunts elk and he told me about them. Usually the male elk, the bulls, roll in wallows to cover their bodies with the scent of urine and droppings so they’ll attract the female elk
.
    Elizabeth:
Gross! What nasty cologne!
    Sydney:
You think that’s bad? The female elk then roll in the wallow to get the same scent on them and let the bull know they’re interested
.
    Alex:
I’d rather pass notes
.
    Sydney:
One thing’s for sure. If you have wallows, you have elk
.
    Bailey:
Anyway, back to the hike. We caught Justin and Joe shooting airsoft guns at some empty pop cans. We sent you a few shots of that, too, no pun intended! Just look at the pictures. They’re a little blurry. The noise from the gun scared Biscuit to death!
    Kate:
Yeah, he flew out of my arms and ran at them, barking his head off
.
    Bailey:
Justin, or should I say Oscar the Grouch
,
was so scared he aimed his gun right at poor little Biscuit and shot!
    McKenzie:
Oh no! Is he okay?
    Kate:
Yeah, he wasn’t hurt. Apparently our wonder dog is faster than a speeding bullet or else Oscar the Grouch is a lousy shot. Biscuit must have just been freaked out over the sound of the gun because he ran into the woods and I ran after him
.
    Bailey:
And I stayed to give those boys a piece of my mind!
    Sydney:
LOL. Careful. You might need that piece of your mind later
.
    Elizabeth:
Guess you forgot the Bible says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
    Bailey giggled.
    Bailey:
Guess I did
.
    Kate:
I found Biscuit after calling for him awhile. But then I realized I had wandered off the path and didn’t know how to get back
.
    Bailey:
In the meantime, I had gone to find Kate and Biscuit and I realized I was lost, too. But I asked God to help me. Then He gave me the idea to call Kate on her cell
.
    Kate:
Boy, was I glad to hear from her. We remembered what Sydney taught us about using the position of the sun to figure out what direction we needed to go
.
    Sydney:
Wow! I’m impressed!
    Kate:
So when we got back together, we used my dad’s mini-GPS I had in my pocket to find the trail so we could get back to the town
.
    Sydney:
Wait a minute. Back up. What do you mean “caught” the boys shooting their airsoft gun at the pop cans? They weren’t really doing anything wrong
.
    Bailey:
No, but they sure acted like they got caught at something
.
    Kate:
They were defensive and angry
.
    Elizabeth:
Maybe they didn’t like being spied on
.
    Kate:
Or maybe