1999. It was a moderate day. Not too warm, not too cold. The kind of day that people in the East Coast cringe for in jealousy. Back when summer's meant nothing to do, most of the day was spent looking for something to do.
My partner in crime at that time was some what of a mentor to me. That probably wasn't a good thing in hindsight. If you know who I'm talking about, then you know why. Not that he's a horrible person. He's just crazy, but in a good way...I think. He and I had a mutual friend who told us about this forest are in Altadena that was pretty cool. Mind you, I was on the brink of turning 17, so this sounded like fun.
We get there and explore like young people do. After some walking and hiking we hit a rocky dead end. Sound minds would have returned, but our quest of finding something extraordinary conflicted common sense. We tried climbing this steep rock. None of us could get a good grip.
Beaten but not quite defeated, me and my partner in crime (we'll call him Victor...because thats his name) decided we were going to climb around from the other side, which required us to hike up the side of a steep mountain. The ground wasn't very solid as we got higher and a small rock avalanche happened underneath us. Thats how this all started. We couldn't get back down to our other friend without jumping down about 12 feet.
Victor tried to climb down a tree that was nearby, but the branch broke while he was on it and we thought he was going to fall. I'll never forget his face. Fear and excitement, like a newborn that just crapped itself. During that time Victor said he saw a trail up higher that was pretty close so he came up with the idea that we should start climbing up the steep side of the mountain. Best way to get down is to go up. Makes perfect sense.
So I followed him as the mountain got steeper and steeper. I was getting a bunch of dirt in my face and mouth. Suddenly we weren't really hiking as much as we were climbing. Victor kept assuring me that the trail was just up ahead. The minutes kept ticking by. We kept going higher and higher. We looked out towards the sun and realized that time was going to be an issue. We had no flashlights.
Our friend that was waiting for us below can't even see us anymore. We can barely hear him. We both took a break. It was becoming tiring. I then, took the lead, because the dirt in my mouth and face was becoming unbearable. I couldn't see that trail anymore. Whatever Victor thought was close, was distorted by perspective. We were close to nothing. (TO BE CONTINUED)
oh the suspense!
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