I gestured toward the cave entrance and said, "Remember the story of the crow and the pitcher? We may not have handholds, but we can raise our starting point bit by bit."
"See all those pebbles on the cave floor? We can gather rocks and mud, pile them against the wall, and once it's high enough, we can climb out."
"We have these mushrooms to stave off hunger for now, so our strength should hold up."
Kayla responded cheerfully, "Alright, let's get started!"
My idea was simple, but putting it into action proved challenging.
Gathering enough rocks to build even a small, twenty-inch mound took over an hour.
Then, there was the issue of weight. Together, Kayla and I weighed almost 300 pounds. The moment we stepped onto the small mound, it crumbled beneath us.
We abandoned the small mound
