The Rock

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It was a summer day, school was out, and neither Megan nor I had to work that day. Jerry had been itching to hang out, so he came over. Payday had come and gone and it was time to re-up. Megan and I each took the opportunity, then sat around with Jerry trying to figure out, what next?

Then, brilliance! Beautiful day, brand new sacks, and the mountains only moments away. Jerry decided we needed to learn to roll a joint and that the canyon was a good place for that. We headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon to "The Pipe."

Jerry said he knew of the perfect place. Megan and I followed him blindly over the big water pipe, into the brush, until he came to this massive rock. "This is it," he stated proudly. Megan and I looked at this monstrous rock in front of us, then at each other, then at Jerry. "Great. Now what?" We asked sarcastically. Jerry circled the rock a few times, deep in thought, then used a neighboring tree to monkey his way up on top of the rock. "What are you waiting for?! Come on!"

I looked down at my flip-flops and thought, "Fuck." Megan tried to mimic Jerry's monkey-moves to get up the rock. She fumbled around clumsily and Jerry told her to just try to run. So she tried again, using the tree to get up as far as she could, then "running" up the rock. Jerry grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

My turn.

I decided the only way I was getting up that rock was without the shoes. I took them off and tucked them away underneath some brush. Hesitantly, I maneuvered around the tree, mimicking both Jerry and Megan's moves. The rock was hot from the midday sun and I wasn't entirely thrilled about putting the soles of my feet to the heat. I placed one foot on. I could feel my foot heating up and the moisture gathering from the heat. I had to move fast. I reached my hand up as far as it could go. Jerry laid on his stomach and reached down towards me. I only needed to"run" up the rock about 2 additional feet to reach his hand. With my foot slipping on the rock, I repositioned, took a deep breath and lunged up and forward. I screamed impulsively as my feet slipped on the rock while I tried to gain inches. Jerry grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

The view was spectacular. We were aware of all who were walking past using the popular trail, but they remained oblivious to our position. We sat in a small circle, whipped out the papers and the fresh new sacks we had purchased not long before, and the lesson began. Mostly, we laughed and smoked and talked and smoked. After smoking nearly an entire sack and an indeterminate amount of time later, we decided we should probably head down.

We all crab-walked along the sharp edge of the rock, trying to scout a good way down. "How do we get down, genius?" I asked Jerry sarcastically. He laughed in his high pitched giggling laugh and stammered a bit. "Usually there's a rope. But I don't see a rope." We all laughed uncontrollably while we searched for an escape route. Jumping was out of the question. The drop was borderline too far. It was possible-- for those with shoes. There was no way in hell I was going to even attempt a jump in bare feet. One of us laughed and announced, "I have to pee."

Jerry's face was contorted with thought. He turned, lowered himself to his stomach and inched down until he was holding the ledge and stretched all the way down. His feet stretched out for a branch on the tree we had used to climb up and caught it. He bounced a bit on the branch to make sure it was secure then looked at Megan and me. "Climb down." We both laughed at how ridiculous it seemed to use Jerry as a human ladder, but, it was our best option.

We took turns climbing down Jerry to the safety of the tree, and then further to the ground. "Wow, that's a big rock," we laughed.

Jerry swung his feet away from the tree and kind of ran/fell backwards off the rock until his feet hit the ground.

"Perfect," he announced triumphantly. "Let's go home."

We laughed amongst ourselves as we shimmied over the big pipe over the river and towards the car. It was late afternoon and time to find some food.