what started as a normal hike turned into an adventure. my dad, brother, and i set out to climb a small mountain. 3.6 miles to the top, then we'd take a gondola back down. simple enough. we lost the trail on the way up, and our stubbornness had us hiking through thick brush up to our chests on overgrown ski trails. at some point, we couldn't turn around. i tried walking downhill for just a few steps and fell right away. so up we went, wearing only shorts to protect from ticks and thorns and who-knows-what. after a memorable few hours, we reached the top and laid eyes upon the gondola, our savior. it wasn't moving. it was 5:08 pm. it closed at 5. we didn't know. not about to retrace our steps, we headed down a vacant mountain biking trail, which of course you aren't supposed to do. it worked for us. i ran through the berms and jumps, visualizing a blissful ride. at some point we made it to a pro line trail, the highest difficulty. we slid down a sheer rock face and tried to imagine...