Thinking Spot
Some people might wonder how a person ends up on a ledgy cliff top with a complete stranger in the middle of the night…
It all begins with a comment that gets taken the wrong way. The night prior to this event, I was standing at Crusty’s mentioning to my good friend Bridget that I was going to cruise up, pre-dawn, to the top of the Thinking Spot to catch the sunrise. She gave me proper directions for finding the trail, and that was that. I didn’t hang around much longer because I had to wake up at 4:30, and I had to shower before bed.
I was getting out of the shower when my phone beeped. “What time are you going to sit on that rock?” My phone number had been given out when I was getting the invite to go hiking with a group of people, no I didn’t hand out my phone number for this.
“Leaving at 4:30.” I thought the time would deter any possible tag alongs.
“Nice, could I come along?”
I had to think about this cause I wanted to watch the sunrise alone and I was in a contemplative mood, not in the mood to sit alone in the woods with a stranger. Maybe I should not reply and say that I fell asleep and didn’t get the message? I’ve pulled that one before and it works every time. Then I thought it might be better to have someone else along incase of emergency: animal encounter, lost in the woods, accidental falling down a rock face. Then it occurred to me that maybe this person that I don’t know might try to do something weird… hmm. I decided I could probably take him, or at least out run him. “Sure, meet at the HUB at 4:30. Be prompt or I will go without you.”
Hours later I was sitting in Iggy the Element in front of the HUB. I had about 10 minutes and contemplated going in to make myself a latte, but Roby showed up early. Apparently he took my threat of leaving without him seriously. “I could drive,” he said and being that he had a Subaru, I didn’t decline. I pictured full rallying to the trailhead. Subaru plus dirt roads without traffic screams nothing else in my mind. Clearly, in Roby’s mind, this set up screamed drive 25 miles per hour and not a bit faster. At this rate we’d never get to the top in time. I knew I should not have allowed this person to come along.
Luckily enough, Bridget’s directions were spot on. Even her defining yet vague phrase of “the trail is directly across the road from an enormous log pile” (which in Idaho could be anywhere) was correct and easy to spot. We parked, grabbed our bags, and headed up the trail. It was short, very short…so despite my worrying on time, we had more than enough time once we hit the top. I walked along a ridge that was kind of shaped like a dorsal fin. In the low light it was fun but kind of tricky. The air on both sides dropped steeply to black nothingness, and it almost felt like I was moving through a dream. My intention was to find climbing anchors and peek down at the routes, but I couldn’t see enough to draw a conclusion so I turned around and toed my way back to the main area. This is where things began to go awry.
“It’s kind of cold up here,” Roby mentioned.
“Yeah it is,” he had a point that I couldn’t dispute. We both threw on more layers.
We kindly offered each other snacks that we had packed. “What are you in school for,” Roby asked me?
“Nursing, well almost. I’m still doing my prerequisites.” After being asked why I chose nursing, I told him that I wanted to help people, make enough money to live comfortably, and only work 3 days a week.
“So you don’t really like to work, do you?” This question baffled me because at that point in time we had already deduced that I was working two jobs while this Roby character wasn’t working at all. “That’s because I am going back to school and wanted some time off,” was his reply.
“Yes, well…I plan on working and having time off at the same time and not having to quit my job to be able to do other things.”
“Are weekends not good enough for you?”
“No, I don’t believe in weekend warrioring as a life long goal. Most things I want to do require at least 3 days.”
“Weekends are just fine by me.”
“That’s great for you.” Obviously things weren’t easy peasy.
“What are we doing up here so early?”
“You know, you didn’t have to come along. In fact, I didn’t even invite you. You invited yourself.” Tact and patience are two things I do not have at 5 AM while sitting on a cliff with an asshole. There was, undoubtedly, a long and awkward silence.
“Oh god, now clouds are rolling in,” Roby pointed out.
“Yep, I noticed.”
“We aren’t even going to be able to see the sunrise if this keeps up!”
I had enough of this joker and said, “you know, the sun probably wont even rise today. We should just get the f--- out of here.” I began packing up my stuff and Roby did the same. One more stupid comment from this guy and I was about to flip my shit. We got to the car and drove back to town.
Don’t think this could get worse? Well it does.
About 5 minutes from town the most brilliant oranges, pinks and yellows started appearing in the sky. Clouds always make sunrise and sunset more beautiful. I figured this would happen when we were on the cliff, but I really could not stand to be around Roby for another minute.
“Are you kidding!?” I looked at Roby because I couldn’t tell what his problem was. “We missed it!”
Being that I didn’t realize how this would all pan out I started laughing at him. “Oh yeah, we are TOTALLY missing it.”
This is where it gets ugly… Roby asks, “You are kind of a Barney, aren’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh you’ve never heard the term? A Barney is a pers….” I disrupted him because I had heard the term and I was pissed. “I know what it is, I am saying excuse me at your accusation that I don’t know what I am doing. To be honest with you, I didn’t want to be on that cliff with you any longer. You’re insane, condescending, and a horrible choice of a person to hang out with in the wee hours of the morning. I planned on being alone this morning. Then you asked to come along. I tried to be nice to you because you had never done anything like ‘wake up to see the sunrise from a cliff’ before and it was a mistake. I’d rather miss the sunrise and go about my day – alone - than spend another second with you.” “Wow. Tell it like it is huh?”
“Yeah, I’ll tell it like it is…” by now we were back at the HUB and I was grabbing my bag… “you have shitty taste in music.”
After throwing my bag into Iggy, I walked into the HUB. Bridget was working and asked if I had gone to the Thinking Spot. “Uh, yeah… kind of.”
“Who was that who dropped you off? Was that the weird guy from Crusty’s”
“Yeah, unfortunately.” I told her the story.
“You made it clear that you wanted to go there alone and be contemplative.”
“I know it.”
Sunrise from the cliff didn’t exactly work out. Actually, it didn’t work out at all. If you want to do something alone, keep it to yourself. If for some reason you let your plan out and someone you don’t know or don’t like overhears, ignore their questioning. In the event that you get random text messages regarding these endeavors, delete them without answering or answer back in another language. A good “Que?” almost always works. Your last option is to kindly turn down anyone who wants to come along. There will be no animal attacks, no lost in the woods incidents, and most certainly no tripping and falling off a cliff.
I was getting out of the shower when my phone beeped. “What time are you going to sit on that rock?” My phone number had been given out when I was getting the invite to go hiking with a group of people, no I didn’t hand out my phone number for this.
“Leaving at 4:30.” I thought the time would deter any possible tag alongs.
“Nice, could I come along?”
I had to think about this cause I wanted to watch the sunrise alone and I was in a contemplative mood, not in the mood to sit alone in the woods with a stranger. Maybe I should not reply and say that I fell asleep and didn’t get the message? I’ve pulled that one before and it works every time. Then I thought it might be better to have someone else along incase of emergency: animal encounter, lost in the woods, accidental falling down a rock face. Then it occurred to me that maybe this person that I don’t know might try to do something weird… hmm. I decided I could probably take him, or at least out run him. “Sure, meet at the HUB at 4:30. Be prompt or I will go without you.”
Hours later I was sitting in Iggy the Element in front of the HUB. I had about 10 minutes and contemplated going in to make myself a latte, but Roby showed up early. Apparently he took my threat of leaving without him seriously. “I could drive,” he said and being that he had a Subaru, I didn’t decline. I pictured full rallying to the trailhead. Subaru plus dirt roads without traffic screams nothing else in my mind. Clearly, in Roby’s mind, this set up screamed drive 25 miles per hour and not a bit faster. At this rate we’d never get to the top in time. I knew I should not have allowed this person to come along.
Luckily enough, Bridget’s directions were spot on. Even her defining yet vague phrase of “the trail is directly across the road from an enormous log pile” (which in Idaho could be anywhere) was correct and easy to spot. We parked, grabbed our bags, and headed up the trail. It was short, very short…so despite my worrying on time, we had more than enough time once we hit the top. I walked along a ridge that was kind of shaped like a dorsal fin. In the low light it was fun but kind of tricky. The air on both sides dropped steeply to black nothingness, and it almost felt like I was moving through a dream. My intention was to find climbing anchors and peek down at the routes, but I couldn’t see enough to draw a conclusion so I turned around and toed my way back to the main area. This is where things began to go awry.
“Yeah it is,” he had a point that I couldn’t dispute. We both threw on more layers.
We kindly offered each other snacks that we had packed. “What are you in school for,” Roby asked me?
“Nursing, well almost. I’m still doing my prerequisites.” After being asked why I chose nursing, I told him that I wanted to help people, make enough money to live comfortably, and only work 3 days a week.
“So you don’t really like to work, do you?” This question baffled me because at that point in time we had already deduced that I was working two jobs while this Roby character wasn’t working at all. “That’s because I am going back to school and wanted some time off,” was his reply.
“Yes, well…I plan on working and having time off at the same time and not having to quit my job to be able to do other things.”
“Are weekends not good enough for you?”
“No, I don’t believe in weekend warrioring as a life long goal. Most things I want to do require at least 3 days.”
“Weekends are just fine by me.”
“That’s great for you.” Obviously things weren’t easy peasy.
“What are we doing up here so early?”
“You know, you didn’t have to come along. In fact, I didn’t even invite you. You invited yourself.” Tact and patience are two things I do not have at 5 AM while sitting on a cliff with an asshole. There was, undoubtedly, a long and awkward silence.
“Oh god, now clouds are rolling in,” Roby pointed out.
“Yep, I noticed.”
“We aren’t even going to be able to see the sunrise if this keeps up!”
I had enough of this joker and said, “you know, the sun probably wont even rise today. We should just get the f--- out of here.” I began packing up my stuff and Roby did the same. One more stupid comment from this guy and I was about to flip my shit. We got to the car and drove back to town.
Don’t think this could get worse? Well it does.
About 5 minutes from town the most brilliant oranges, pinks and yellows started appearing in the sky. Clouds always make sunrise and sunset more beautiful. I figured this would happen when we were on the cliff, but I really could not stand to be around Roby for another minute.
“Are you kidding!?” I looked at Roby because I couldn’t tell what his problem was. “We missed it!”
Being that I didn’t realize how this would all pan out I started laughing at him. “Oh yeah, we are TOTALLY missing it.”
This is where it gets ugly… Roby asks, “You are kind of a Barney, aren’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh you’ve never heard the term? A Barney is a pers….” I disrupted him because I had heard the term and I was pissed. “I know what it is, I am saying excuse me at your accusation that I don’t know what I am doing. To be honest with you, I didn’t want to be on that cliff with you any longer. You’re insane, condescending, and a horrible choice of a person to hang out with in the wee hours of the morning. I planned on being alone this morning. Then you asked to come along. I tried to be nice to you because you had never done anything like ‘wake up to see the sunrise from a cliff’ before and it was a mistake. I’d rather miss the sunrise and go about my day – alone - than spend another second with you.” “Wow. Tell it like it is huh?”
“Yeah, I’ll tell it like it is…” by now we were back at the HUB and I was grabbing my bag… “you have shitty taste in music.”
After throwing my bag into Iggy, I walked into the HUB. Bridget was working and asked if I had gone to the Thinking Spot. “Uh, yeah… kind of.”
“Who was that who dropped you off? Was that the weird guy from Crusty’s”
“Yeah, unfortunately.” I told her the story.
“You made it clear that you wanted to go there alone and be contemplative.”
“I know it.”
Sunrise from the cliff didn’t exactly work out. Actually, it didn’t work out at all. If you want to do something alone, keep it to yourself. If for some reason you let your plan out and someone you don’t know or don’t like overhears, ignore their questioning. In the event that you get random text messages regarding these endeavors, delete them without answering or answer back in another language. A good “Que?” almost always works. Your last option is to kindly turn down anyone who wants to come along. There will be no animal attacks, no lost in the woods incidents, and most certainly no tripping and falling off a cliff.
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