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It’s theI’ve ever seen

I’lance around the cliff, and that awe shifts into wariness The ground we’re standing on is little more than a balcony that stretches around the side of thesubstantial No creek Certainly no easy path down into the valley below that Lennon pro until it disappears into the canopy

"Hoe get down froood He walks around the cliff, heading past a lonely pine tree, and scopes out our landscape Maybe the path into the valley is hidden But even so, we are really far up

"Shit," Lennon mumbles

"What?" I ask

When his eyesway"

17

There are feorse words to hear right now All I want to know is (A) Horong way" are we, and (B) hoe get back on track?

Lennon whips out his phone to study the book he’s saved His eyes flick over the screen, and then he whiot turned around so up I just"

"Where are we?"

"We’re at the eastern exit We need to be south, which is lower in elevation A lot lower"

Do not panic

"Is there a map of the cave?" I ask

"If there were ahere, would we?"

Jeez No need to get snippy I’lance back at the dark, spiderwebbed exit "I’et it"

"I don’t think we have to," he says, flipping to another screen to reread a passage "This cliff goes all the way around to the exit we should have used It’s just"

"Just what?"

He takes his compass out of his pocket "It’s roundabout The other exit was a straight shot to the path in the valley It’s about a mile down from here to the northern exit, as a crow flies But that’saround this cliff Then another , what?"

"Two hours A little longer It won’t be an easy descent It’s not an actual trail" Lennon looks down at lance around the cliff How could a place that’s so beautifuldark on the mountain wall, severalMaybe we are in the right place That could be the southern exit there

But as I hobble toward it, and Lennon shines his headlamp inside, I lose hope It’s another cave entrance, yes, but not to the network of tunnels ere just hiking It’s just a big, wide single cave As though nature used a melon baller and scooped out a hole in the side of the ining us waking up so family of bears