“Come closer. You need to stay where I am standing and calm yourself.” His back was on a rock while his legs were pushing the huge rock. He held my hand and pulled me closer. I didn’t know how high we were and where he was standing but when he pulled me closer, I saw. We were on the edge of a cliff. I could see the endless canyon now. “Trust me, I won’t let you fall.” He was holding my waist while one of his legs were doing the bar job so I won’t fall.

I was frozen; blinded by this beautiful scene and frightened by the height. I knew I had this issue with heights, but I knew what I was getting myself into. I came here because of this feeling.

“Wondrous varieties.”

“Glad you liked it.” I looked at him. Because of the long trek, his cheeks were red and it made him look like a little boy when he smiled. I didn’t realize I said it out loud.

“Do you think you can do this?” He was looking at me like I was some kind of book he was trying to read.

I took a deep breath. “If I say no, would that change anything?”

He looked at the canyon, I couldn't see his expression. “Well, we drove all the way here and walked like, what?, 7 miles, so I don’t think you have a choice here.” He turned his head towards me with a grin on his lips. “Except, if you want to stay here for the night and wait for us to come pick you up tomorrow.”

“Let’s get going.” I walked towards to where our group was getting ready. I had no problem staying and waiting for them here but I had to keep going. If I gave up now I knew that I would regret it the minute I left.

Canyoning is about teamwork. You have to trust the person who is holding your rope just in case you lose your balance so they can hold you still with quick grip. But that is my problem; I don’t trust people I don’t trust the rope that is holding me.

We climbed down 25 cliffs and I was at my limits but then I heard the heavenly words echoing through the canyon. “We are here!” Our guide said with excitement. “We are going to camp here for tonight.”

Before I turned the corner I looked around for my brother. He was one of the last people coming from behind. From afar, I can see that he was exhausted. If it was some other time he would have been enthusiastic, but I forced him to come, and he did, even though he was sick. One of the million reasons why I love him; he would stop time just for me, for his annoying little sister. When our eyes met I gave him a big smile. “How are you holding up?”

He stopped right next to me and adjusted his backpack. “Despite all of your efforts, I am still alive.”

I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t let go the rope on purpose. There was a freaking frog right under my foot!” While he was climbing down, I was the one who was holding his rope from below. When I let go of the rope by accident, he clung to the wall while cursing me.

“Sure it was.”

“Anyways, you had your revenge by eating my sandwich.”

“Yes, it actually did taste like what I would imagine revenge would taste like; cucumbers and cheddar.”

We turned the corner to an open valley. I didn’t realize that I was walking really fast because when I saw the valley my steps got slower. I wasn’t expecting this; clear sky, a lush field surrounded by mounts. There was an abandoned stone house in the middle of the valley. I saw everyone was walking that way even some of them were already unpacked their stuff and setting up their tents.

My brother and I joined the rest of the group. We didn’t have a tent so we just put down our sleeping bags. “I should go help the others.”

“Let me come with you.” I pulled out a sweater from my bag and put it on.

He pointed his finger at something behind me. “You are beong summoned for something else.”

I turned my head and saw someone up on the hill waving in our direction. "Hey! Come up here!” Brunette’s voice echoed in the valley.

I climbed the steps made by mother nature. When I was on the top I heard Blond and Brunette’s laugh. “Hey girls, what are you doing here?”

They turned to my direction. “See it with your eyes.” Both of their faces were red from walking, but mine was probably worse.

I walked right next to them and looked around. We weren’t that high but you can still see behind the mounts. “It looks so different from up here.”

“Yeah, can you imagine, we walked all the way up here?” Brunette pointed down to where we came from. “We have to go down. You are so lucky that you guys don’t have to deal with this tent bullshit.”

“I hope I will be still thinking the same way later on.” I gave a small laugh.

When they left I sat down with my legs stretched in front of me. I was alone and can hardly hear the voices coming from the camp. I took a deep breath of this purest air and closed my eyes for a second. When I was in this peaceful zone I couldn't stop thinking about all of the stupid shit going on in this world. All we need to do is give ourselves some me time and then we can see every bad thing we do is irresponsible. We are supposed to be the guardians of nature, not the destroyers. We used to live in these woods, this was our home. But now, we became guests. We built iron for luxury but, this is the real luxury. This is the heaven we forgot. There is so much beauty in these pathless woods and a society without judgment. I accept mother nature as my savior, not the men who are so blind to see the endless sky.