Hiking Trip
If you could call it that
It was a long way down. Brian tossed a rock over the edge and counted the seconds as it plummeted toward the white water rushing through the gorge. One, two, three . . .
The stone, tumbling end over end, vanished from sight, its pale surface blending into the background of the rapids. He had no idea how long it fell. All he knew, really, was the drop was too long and steep to climb down, which was a shame because his Rolex was down there somewhere. Probably he shouldn’t have worn it on this little expedition, but he thought once he reached the waterfall downstream he might get a selfie standing in front of the thundering chute, and that watch would have looked fantastic, gleaming gold against the gray and white background.
Of course, his cell phone was down there, too, so he couldn’t have taken a selfie even if he did still have the watch. That was the trouble with the great outdoors: too many things could go wrong. Like when the strap of his backpack got tangled with the band of his Rolex when he was trying to slip the pack off to get out some snacks, snacks which were now down in the flume along with watch, cell phone, and backpack. And everything in the backpack. Like his water bottle.
There was only one thing to do. He would have to turn back. Thank goodness the parking lot was only three hundred feet away. At least it had been a short trip!
