The Cliff

The Cliff

Last year my dad’s side of the family decided that our last-minute, unplanned family vacation was going to be a road trip. We went road tripping to several national parks that are in the United States. One of my favorite national parks is Yellowstone, so I was super excited when I heard we were going there. Once we got there my family, as usual, decided to go hiking. I can enjoy hiking when it’s in moderation, and there is something that you can actually see. However, now I have an actual reason as to why I can say I don’t like hiking. It all happened on a seemingly normal hike.

“Hey did you grab the water bottles?” My dad asked me.

“Yep, they’re in the backpack.” I said and gestured to the soft blue backpack that I had to carry since Jacob, my step brother, had carried it on the last hike.

We started out on the second hike of the day, it was only about a mile round trip, and we would have scenic view at random intervals while hiking. The path was close to the edge of a cliff and we saw amazing views. I had not worn the correct clothing for hiking, I had on leggings and no pockets, so I had to put my phone in the backpack.

Once we got to the top of the cliff, we looked around and saw the beautiful trees in the distance and the river flowing to our right. It was the river that we had heard while hiking, but could not see until we arrived at the top of the hill. I sat down, exhausted, sat down the backpack, and got out my water bottle to drink. Of course, once got out my bottle, everyone else asked for theirs.

The view was amazing, but the wind was awful. To make it worse, the cliff that we were on had a bunch of sand and dust, so whenever there was a huge burst of wind, we all got sand in our eyes. I could sense that the wind was about to pick up immensely, with a huge gust, so I crouched down and covered my eyes. I wasn’t even thinking about the backpack that now had nothing weighing it down, except for my small phone.

“Well there goes the backpack.” My dad said with only slight annoyance, but mostly he said it casually. I, on the other hand, naturally start freaking out. After all, my phone has just flown off the side of a cliff where there is a river at the bottom.

Immediately, my mind goes into overdrive. First, I go into disbelief; there’s no way that my phone just fell off the side of a cliff, that just doesn’t happen. Then, when I realized that, yes, that did just happen, I go into hysterics.

“What?!” I scream at my dad. “My phone was in there!” I was shrieking, full-on panic settling in.

I repeat again and again that, “My phone was in there!”, because I didn’t believe that he was fully comprehending what just happened.

How was I going to explain to Mom that my phone that she paid hundreds for just fell of the cliff? How was I going to text her? What even happens when your phone falls off the cliff? How could this happen to me?

Jacob (step brother) says out of nowhere, “Wait, I see it!”

Relief floods me, but I am still desperate to get my phone, so I start frantically asking, “Where? Where is it?”

Jacob points to a ledge that is about 10 feet below the top of the cliff. I yell, “I’m going to get it!” and I start getting ready to climb down the cliff.

“Wait!” My dad yells.

“Why?” I ask, completely baffled as to why I could not just climb down the cliff. It had plenty of rocks that looked like I could put my weight on.

“Because that’s shale.” My dad said. “It breaks easily. We’re going to have to find another way around.” As an afterthought he mumbled, “And we’re going to spend all day trying to get it.”

That last part made me determined to just find out how to get the backpack and be done with it. I said to my dad hurriedly, “I’m going up there to look for another way down.” I pointed to a place further up that gave you a better view of our surroundings.

Once I arrived at the better vantage point I immediately spotted a path that would allow me to walk down and get close to my backpack. I shouted to my dad that I found a spot and I was going to head down, then I took off.

I had to run through a downward slope that slowly curved and allowed me to get to where the backpack was lying precariously. The backpack was now in sight, but it wasn’t just an easy slope anymore; I had to walk carefully on the ledge of the cliff, then reach and grab the backpack. Once I grabbed the backpack I was finally able to breath a sigh of relief as I headed back up the hill and reunited with my family.