Insurmountable Odds

The sun burned into the sweat soaked tee shirt that she had worn for the last three days.  Looking at the rock face she knew that it wasn't impossible to climb but her hands were already raw from the climb yesterday without gloves.  There was no choice, to escape this valley and death by dehydration, she needed to climb to the top of this cliff and keep moving in the eastwardly direction.  She didn't have to look in her backpack to know that she had precious little water and food left and in a desert that spelt trouble.  Ignoring the objections from her hands and trying hard not to think about the hot rock surface before her she moved toward the cliff face with a renewed determination.

Southwest, Arizona