As she trudged along behind Jason, Anna was very conscious of the sheer drop-off to her right. "What was I thinking to agree to this?" she thought to herself. Jason's supreme indifference to the precariousness of the narrow ledge was evident in his loose shoulders and easy-going stride. Anna could feel the ache in her back from keeping her spine straight. She was focused on taking deliberate breaths - in and out - and keeping her eyes strictly trained on Jason's backpack up ahead. It was all she could do to appear enthusiastic whenever Jason would pause and point out some natural wonder across the canyon.
So far they had been hiking for 3 days. The beginning of the trail involved some hiking, but nothing that Anna hadn't encountered in her previous camping trips and day hikes. For this vacation, Jason wanted to take her to his favorite vacation retreat. Jason was part spider-monkey, and had spent years clambering over cliffs and up mountains with little more than a backpack and a hunk of rope. Perhaps she should have taken that expertise into consideration when Jason assured her that this was not a difficult hike.
Anna felt her foot skid on a pebble and quickly looked down. It was just a loose piece of gravel, and the path still looked as solid as it had before. Another deep breath, and she continued on with barely a hitch in her stride. Up ahead, Anna could see a patch of sunlight. As they followed the meandering cliff path, Anna was able to look up. She started smiling. The sun was almost overhead, which meant that they were close to the end of this wretched cliff path. Jason had promised they would be past this path and back on a flat plain by lunchtime. After that, it was just a few more hours to the campsite to spend the rest of their vacation.
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