Airborne

Airborne
By: Lonica

​It was my forth trip up to Crawford Falls and definitely the hottest one.  As I made my way down the ropes on the side of the cliff I could feel sweat dripping down my forehead into my eyebrows. I knew that I couldn't wipe the sweat off because my hands were coated with light brown dust.  The closer I got to the bottom of the ropes, the louder the raging rapids got.

​Once I reached the bottom I gave my muscles a break.  I walked over to the river and cleansed my hands and my all-ready-wet face with crystal clear mountain water. I looked up to see where the delighting sound was coming from, and there I saw it.  A gorgeous glistening waterfall.  I could follow each droplet with my eyes as it travelled 40 feet freely through the air.  The water sparkled as it reflected the sun beams.  After being so dehydrated during my hike all I wanted to do was stand right below it and slurp up the whole waterfall.  My two brothers seemed more excited about leaping from rock to rock across the shallow river. 

​As my mom, brothers, and I hiked along the path on the left of the river we came across many smaller waterfalls but nothing like the one at the end of the path.  It was incredible, I was speechless.  When I looked 70 feet up to the top of the fall it seemed as though the sun was sitting on top of it, so I couldn't stare for too long.  With my eyes closed all I could smell was the fresh moist moss that covered the all rocks that were about the water.  Small drops of water hit me like bullets as the water fall pounded against the deep pond below it.  When I put my hands against the moss, it was so damp that it spilled through my fingers.  My brothers were getting bored so we made our way back to the ropes.  This time we didn't hike beside the bank, we decided to trek down in the shallow rocky water, except for my mom that took the safe way down and stayed on the path. 

​On our way through the clear as glass water, we came upon some deep spots that we couldn't even see or feel the bottom so we had to swim and some very jagged rocky areas that we had to be super carful in.  The left side of the river seemed smoother so that's the side that my brothers and I drifted towards.  As we made our way down, the river that was left in front of us seemed to suddenly end.  Not until we got closer did we realize that what was in front of us was the 40 foot waterfall that we first saw when we came down the ropes.  We didn't really seem worry about it so we just kept moving along through the chilly water. 

​Since we were going through the stream on the left side which was a straight up wall of mountain, we had to get to the other side.  Expect we were having so much fun on the water adventure that we didn't think about crossing until we were right in front of the drop.  The rapids were so strong that we had to get out of the water before we got swept away and brought to our own death.  Right before the fall there were two giant dry rocks so we thought that they would be our best chance to get across, luckily they weren't covered in slippery moss. 

​My oldest brother was leading us all the way down through the river so he crossed first and then in no time at all my next brother was already on the other side as well.  The rock they jumped from and soon I would be jumping from, was only one foot away from a deadly fall.  I knew there would be no other way to get across but I had to build up some nerve before I could do it.  I could feel my heart beat pound through my temples.  Since my brothers are quite taller than I am, their stride didn't even have to leave the rock, but I was shorter and would have to travel through the air.  My brothers went across with what seemed to by full confidence so I thought I would be fine.  As I leaped off the stone and stretched to reach the other side the river seemed as if it grew wider and wider so that I couldn't get to it.  My bravery was reassured as my foot hit the solid base on the right side of the river. 

​To this day I don't know why I did it.  One slip and my life would float down the river.  All I can think of is the surface where the waterfall hit. I knew it was hard as rock because that is literally what it was. I am so thankful that I took that extra second to build up some nerve because if I didn't have enough then I don't think I would have made it across.  Which means I wouldn't be alive today to tell this tale.