After Dark

Chapter 2 - Waterfall

The hike to the waterfall looked a lot closer than it actually was. By the time they got out there even in the cooling early august air the heat of the day was enough to make Dipper and Mabel sweat as the sun beat down upon his head and her freckled nose. She had worn a rainbow-colored straw sunhat that actually complimented her outfit rather than making her look childish. Somehow she had pulled it off skillfully. Dipper had his pines hat and a pair of aviators. The sound of the waterfall that had been a soft buzz amidst the sounds of the trees and the birds as it mingled with the forest sounds now came to the foreground. It was a thundering roar that made all but shouting audible when talking with each other. Wendy showed the way around the backside of the waterfall. First, they had to climb a long switchback that made a natural stairway up the cliff face.

As the walkway straightened out it appeared to lead into the back of the falls. It was a jagged rocky cliff face that had come to a slanting gravel-laden path that zig-zagged upward. The rocky crag of a path was leading to a large open-faced stone that provided a perfunctory archway of a tunnel entrance. Beyond that, the cliff face was open revealing the hundreds of thousands of gallons of water pouring over into the lake one hundred and fifty feet below them. It was a sheer cliff face with a somewhat narrow ledge of a few feet. Fortunately, it looked solid and the footing looked safe. Even though the path was obvious and a fair way away from the water Wendy warned them loudly using her hands to point and demonstrate. "Watch your footing. You don't want to fall into the rapids. You would not survive the fall and even if you did the water would pull you under fast." Dipper paid close attention are he placed his feet and his hands. He kept a watchful eye out on Mabel as she hugged the walls a little closer. Pacifica seemed to be faring a little easier albeit cautiously as well.

Mabel stayed close to Wendy instinctively grabbing onto a strap on her backpack and holding onto it. Pacifica was close behind her and Dipper brought up the flank with a large survival pack slung over both his shoulders as well as securely fixed around his waist with a secondary strap. he had a very large orange rescue rappelling rope coil around his shoulder. It was a fully synthetic polymer rope that looked to be at least a hundred and fifty feet long. As they made it to the center of the falls the walls widened out into a gaping and jagged maw that curved upward into pitch black of the rocky cliff face. Dipper watched as Mabel's eyes grew wide and the hair on her neck stood up. He could visibly see her pulse rapidly quicken by the vein on her neck.

Dipper took her hand comfortingly and she smiled at him as if to communicate just how grateful she was. Wendy led the way descending the gradual slope. The bright blue-white of the LED flashlight lit the way down the widening corridor as it descended. The white light gave a white tint to gray shale transfiguring it to platinum and a white tint to the moss rendering it silvery mint green.

The cave opened up to a large natural stone corridor with stalactites that grew slowly downward from the constant dripping and calcification from the high ceiling. The sound of dripping water was soft and ubiquitous as it was serenaded by the now softer sound of the churning falls behind them. Wendy led the way stepping carefully over rivers that had been rutted through the stone by running water.

Dipper powered up the Go-Pro headset and spoke into the mic, "Testing connection testing one, two, three." Ford answered over the earpiece, "Loud and clear Dipper. Release the geo-mapping drone and proceed with caution once an area is mapped and a secure path is determined." Dipper nodded out of habit forgetting Ford was not in front of him. "Confirmed and proceeding forward."

The drone was automated as it scanned the tunnel its infrared light scanning like a red circle all around it as it proceeded to scan the walls of the caves from back to front before stopping at a specific location. Dipper looked at the screen of the paired tablet he had pulled out of his backpack. It had a cobalt blue heavy-duty frame around the outside that already showed signs of active use as the blue was chipped or scratched in gouges in no way having any effect on the metal other than cosmetic changes. The screen showed a top-down map of the tunnel that Dipper could rotate in all directions by touching the screen or pinching to zoom in. A counter read: