>be me, 12 at the time, trailblazing and climbing in the Black Hills with my brother of 16
>climbing around on cliffs to each ledge, like a massive staircase, it was
>see a natural dome, go to scramble up it
>as I'm bolting up that thing on all fours, i look back at my brother to see if he's catching up
>he's right behind me all of the sudden, which is good because...
>he noticed that it was only a half-dome, with a cliff on the other end
>caught me by my collar just short of throwing myself off that thing like a retard
>be me, throughout all of my adolescence.
>spend a lot of time on road trips in Moab desert
>love to free climb and boulder. was especially reckless
>would get riff raffed all of the fucking time
>let instinct take over when no solutions are clear
>mind goes blank, primal senses take control, somehow get out of every one unscathed
>some of those tricks I pulled were fucking mind-blowing
>quick to discover apparently excellent natural climbing abilities
How am I not dead. Moab should have killed me.
>another time when I was 12, same trip as the Black Hills
>out in the woods somewhere near Colorado Springs
>took a friend's dog with. She was a huge, super chill Leonberger named Shadow
>loved to get lost (still do), just disappear for 4-8 hours at a time until I find my way back
>somewhere in the woods, after about 3 hours of hiking, Shadow starts getting tense and taking a guarded position before me
>eventually hear grumbling, thought it was from her, but it was not
>realize that there is a black bear ~40 feet away
>Shadow realizes that I now see it, too, and leads me a safe route away because she is awesome
>I miss Shadow :(
I have a few more. They're mostly from my adolescents, since I was equally as adventurous, but much more reckless than I am today. Nowadays, I coulda pulled off much crazier shit without worry. But that sense of danger was so exhilarating as a kid. Damn.
