This was what I felt when I was out solo backpacking this Fall, and the boulder I was standing on decided to take a little trip down the hillside, about 40 meters' drop. It was rather like that scene in The Two Towers, where Sam takes a tumble outsige the Black Gate. The rock was the size of a Volkswagen. I managed to stay on top of it, by dashing around the uppermost surface, and leaping off before it crushed me.
I got to the bottom of the hill, filled the water bottles in the stream, purified the water, and hiked carefully back up to the campsite.
And then the shaking started. Rum tastes good in Gatorade.
I've downplayed the story to everyone in RL. But that's probably the closest I've come to dying. One tiny miscalculation at that moment, a twist of bad luck, a little less balance or forgetting to tap into the surfing experiences of my youth? I would have been under that rock.
And no one would have even missed me for three days.
I feel more than "a little bit more alive." I feel The next morning, I was petting the rattlesnake coiled around my campstove. *grin* That wasn't really dangerous, merely a calculated risk.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2003-12-01 05:48 pm (UTC)This was what I felt when I was out solo backpacking this Fall, and the boulder I was standing on decided to take a little trip down the hillside, about 40 meters' drop. It was rather like that scene in The Two Towers, where Sam takes a tumble outsige the Black Gate. The rock was the size of a Volkswagen. I managed to stay on top of it, by dashing around the uppermost surface, and leaping off before it crushed me.
I got to the bottom of the hill, filled the water bottles in the stream, purified the water, and hiked carefully back up to the campsite.
And then the shaking started. Rum tastes good in Gatorade.
I've downplayed the story to everyone in RL. But that's probably the closest I've come to dying. One tiny miscalculation at that moment, a twist of bad luck, a little less balance or forgetting to tap into the surfing experiences of my youth? I would have been under that rock.
And no one would have even missed me for three days.
I feel more than "a little bit more alive." I feel The next morning, I was petting the rattlesnake coiled around my campstove. *grin* That wasn't really dangerous, merely a calculated risk.
Thanks for the reminder. :-)