In 2014, William and I (Aaron) were working at a data center in San Diego. We became friends as we discovered that we had a mutual interest in heavy metal music, photography, technology, camping, and philosophy. Hence, we unofficially started Camp Philosophy and planned our first camping trip. It was held at the Palomar Mountain Observatory Campground in northern San Diego County, CA. There was about 6-7 of us who attended that trip, one friend named Jessie (who also worked at the data center), 2 of William’s friends, and Austin (my friend and ex-quasi roommate who still attends most of our trips today). One night, everyone was sitting around the campfire after dinner and Billy (William) decided to break out the bottle of whiskey. He began pouring glasses for everyone and before we knew it we were all drunk (to one degree or another) and having a grand old time “philosophizing under the influence” and sharing stories, while enjoying the campfire warmth.
As the drunkenness intensified, along with the irrationality of arguments, ridiculous rants, and joke making, Billy suddenly got up saying he had to take a leak. For a few moments, nobody seemed to notice how drunk Billy really was, except me. This got me worried because Billy was about to walk away from the campfire light and into the pitch black darkness in order to search for the bathroom. Unfortunately for him, the bathrooms were located clear across the other side of the campground and I was not confident he would make it. Some other campers began to question him about this but he protested saying, “No, I’m just going to go right over here.” pointing to the edge of camp. The problem was, that part of our campsite was directly adjacent to a steep cliff that went into a ravine that went about 50 feet down. It was at this moment that I was immediately concerned. Yes I was drunk, but not too drunk to take action. Without anyone else’s knowledge, I got up out of my chair with the intention of following Billy into the darkness to make sure he did not fall into that ravine. Welp, that’s exactly what nearly happened!
As Billy stumbled his way to the edge of the ravine, I followed closely behind him. He didn’t know I was there but just as he was about to start doing his business, he nearly passed out and began falling headfirst into the ravine. Just as this happened, I snapped into action and grabbed him by the back of his collar, pulling him back away from the ledge. “Watch out brother! I got you brother!, I said. Naturally, he was startled but he got his balance back, finished watering the forest lawn, and came back to camp with no incident.
He wound up passing out in his one man tent soon after. In the morning, we asked him if he remembered nearly falling into the ravine. He did not, but, to this day we are all very glad William did not fall to his death that night. “Damn it Billy!”
