On one particular hot day, Jayna and I decided to go swimming at Buttermilk Falls. We dressed for swimming, drove, and parked at the lot near the entrance of the trail to get to the area we always go, "Rock #2." It seemed like we had been walking forever, wondering if we missed our rock we turned around and started heading back; I was in front. We joked about falling. The trail is very narrow, maybe 3 feet wide, an indentation on the side of the steep cliff with nothing but hard rocks and shallow water below to break your fall. We were walking and laughing nonchalantly, when suddenly my mouth dropped to my sandals. Walking straight towards us was a black bear. So what did we do? We ran behind a tree, as if the tree would have saved us from being chewed up and mangled to death. When I turned around the bear had disappeared. After this escapade neither of us felt like swimming so we hightailed it back to the car, taking an alternate route so not to meet up with Mr. Bear again. Nonetheless, we both promised each other never under ANY circumstance to return to Buttermilk Falls… The date was June 9th, 2000, we had just graduated from Shittown High School. After taking millions of pictures and exchanging just as many hugs and tears, a few of my alumnus friends and I decided to have a midnight bonfire at Buttermilk Falls. "OH NO" was the glance Jayna and I exchanged. After much coaxing and persuading that Mr. Bear wouldn’t eat us we agreed to join in on the fun. The 7 of us squished into Alicia’s car for the ride to Buttermilk and once she pulled in the parking lot, Jayna and I coaxed her into driving right up to the bonfire. Once we finally got the fire roaring, with all of our excess college catalogs, the fun began. Since Jayna and I were still afraid of meeting up with Mr. Bear the car radio was turned on loudly and the doors were open making light. The radio and light were running on battery…not gasoline. Hours later we decided to pack up and go home, it was late and we were tired. While we started to burn our garbage, Alicia went to start the car. It wouldn’t start. Another girl smacked her head and said, "You IDIOT, the radio and lights wore down the battery." Anxious, we went back to the fire to wait, about 20 minutes later Alicia tried again and the car started, but her blondness came out with the thought, ‘I’ll give it another 20 minutes so it doesn’t break down on the way home.’ Twenty minutes later the car would not start, nor would it after 40 minutes, an hour, 3 hours or 5 hours. That night, we camped out under the stars, in the morning none of us were too congenial, but what more can be expected when there’s no restroom, heat, or beds. At sunrise, covered in sticky marshmallow that was a magnet for dirt, we walked back to Kittanning and 10 minutes from my house Alicia’s mom drove past. Boy, was she mad!

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Number of times someone fell: damn rocks