The Rocky Mountain

          A long, long, long, long time ago, actually two years ago, some people from my church and I went on a hiking trip in Rapid City. We were really tired after hiking up this big hill, so we set up camp at this campground. My friend, Jared, and I got bored and went exploring around this campground.

          We saw this small rocky mountain that was about four stories high. The only way to the top was to climb up this one tree and jump onto a little ledge just below the top of the mountain. We climbed the tree and jumped onto the ledge and then climbed onto the top of the mountain. It was an awesome view, and we took a whole bunch of pictures of the scenery. We were so high up that if we fell off the top of the mountain we would die. We were ready to get down, but there was just one problem, we didn’t know how to get back down.

          Jared was able to get his feet down onto the ledge, but I wasn’t able to, so I had to find another way down. If I tried jumping down, I would probably have had too much momentum, and I would have fallen off. After trying to find another way down, I decided there was only one way. I would have to jump onto a branch of the tree that we used to get up there with and swing down onto the ledge.

          After carefully planning how to jump onto that branch, I finally got the courage to jump. I grabbed the branch with all my might, knowing if I missed the branch I would fall to my death. Now that I was holding onto the branch, I would have to jump down onto the ledge. I was ready to jump down when I heard the branch breaking. I had to jump quickly before the branch broke. I jumped onto the ledge and fell backwards, but I held onto the ledge before I could fall. I was inches away from falling to my death. I guess I am lucky to be here today.

          We climbed back down to the ground and went back to our campsite. I had a big

gash in my right leg from when I jumped and grabbed the branch of the tree. I had not

even noticed it since I was still shaken up from all the stuff that had happened. It was

bleeding pretty well and it took one day to completely stop bleeding. I still have the scar

to prove the gash that I got from the tree. That was one of my most memorable trips.