Jason vs. The Angeles National Forest: Part III

I felt lucky. I had just escaped would could have been my rocky grave...or the rocky ground in which I paralyzed myself. Either way, there was a rocky area I didn't want to be in, and I almost fell into it.

After reaching the other side of the cliff, me and Victor took a moment to reflect on what just happened. I was so tired now. Not only physically, but mentally as well. This was like an episode of Man vs. Wild. An episode where Bear Grylls gets amnesia. Me and Victor didn't really know what to do.

After my great idea of crossing the steep mountain, I had another brilliant idea. On this side of the mountain, the way down wasn't steep at all. It did have soft dirt though. Climbing down is a lot harder than climbing up, so my great idea number two, was to slide down the hill.

I went first. I started to pick up speed as I slid down. A lot of dirt and dust went into the air. I couldn't slow down very easily. Yes, I was making great time getting to the bottom, but I was losing control. It was also become steeper. I cut my arm on something that left a scar on my arm for a good 6 years. I knew I had to stop or I would probably injure myself more. I saw a small tree and was able to hang onto a branch, since the tree was angled the same way as the side of the mountain.

It didn't take long for the debris to settle. I told Victor to slide down toward the tree. Now I don't know what happened next exactly. I believe that maybe I cleared all the soft dirt and debris that slowed me down. Whatever the reason, Victor came down like a bat out of hell. He was literally bouncing and coming toward me almost twice as fast.

He smacked into me pretty hard. It winded both of us, but we had to move on. We reached the bottom area and came up upon another cliff. A very small one. Maybe 10 feet. Victor jumped down with no problems. He was given the nickname Spider-Man for a reason. I was nervous about jumping down. My legs at this point felt like Jell-O. I took a leap of faith and landed on my feet, my legs gave way. Suddenly pain covered my body. I landed my tailbone onto a rock. Its a sensation I never want to feel again.

I was so out of it at that point. Tired and dehydrated. It hurt to walk and my arm was bleeding. I actually drank from some dirty pond, just because I felt like I couldn't go on without water. We kept walking on. We were battered and bruised, like Rihanna after a date with Chris Brown. The sun was getting lower. We now started to recognize the area we were in. Success.

We walked toward where our friend parked his car, hoping he was still there. And there he was, drinking a Super Big Gulp and laughing his ass off. Me and Victor were covered in dirt, from head to toe. We were lost in that forest for nearly four hours. Four hours that I will never forget.

Jason vs. The Angeles National Forest: Part II

My legs were giving up and now Victor was eating the dirt I was leaving behind. Since time was an issue I said we should start going sideways, which he agreed on. So we climb sideways and saw a flat area that looked like a dried up river bed. Finally, we had a solid, flat ground to walk on.

Thinking that this was going lead us to safety we walked along it. The river bend became more of a trench after awhile. Almost like in a movie, we noticed the trench ended up towards the horizon. We both knew what this meant but kept going forward anyway. When we got towards the end, it was plain and clear.

If water was present, me and Victor would have been standing at the edge of a waterfall. The drop was close to vertical. I would guess about 40 to 50 ft. Nothing but rocks and dead brush below. Just around the riverbend my ass. Fuck you Pocahontas.

The sun was being a bitch as well. We were stuck. From this vantage point we could literally see where we had to go. Me and Victor were like Lewis & Clark.

We now had the map of this place in our head, but we just didn't know how to get to the other side of this mountain. If we went back up the river, we'd lose time going the wrong way. I took the stupid initiative and climbed up the side of the trench.

I'm pretty sure I confused Victor when I started to climb the side the near verticle cliff. There was dry brush to hang on to. I was tired, hungry and knew it was going to get dark soon. We had to do something. Victor followed me, still questioning my actions. I should have questioned myself, but I knew if we got on the other side of this cliff, we would be well on our way out of this place. Victor knew that too and followed me.

So me and Victor were straddling this cliff, carefully planting out feet and holding on to dead brush. I honestly said a prayer. Its funny how one thinks in dangerous situations. I felt the need to tell a joke to Victor. I told him that this was like Indiana Jones. In the movie, he holds on to a vine to save himself from falling, and smiles thinking he's escaped death. Suddenly the vine snaps a bit and he goes down. The smile goes away. I began to reinact that scene as a joke.

I think God didn't appreciate my humor. As I said that, just like in the movie, the bush I was holding on to ripped out from its roots. Oh, the irony. I started to slide down. Victor reached out to try and grab me, but luckily I had caught onto another bush on the way down. I could hear the rocks crashing below me. What a moment.

We kept going and finally reached the other side of that cliff. It was less steep on this side. Knowing that I could have fallen to my death, I became desperate to get out of there. (TO BE CONCLUDED)

Jason vs. The Angeles National Forest: Part I

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)