21 Jump Street (Tom Hanson)

Hiking

March 1990

Fuller wanted everyone at Jump Street to become acquainted with one another by suggesting that we all go on a precinct retreat together. We decided to hike the Fisher Falls Trail that's just a few minutes outside of the city. There's a waterfall at the end, which is supposed to be gorgeous.

We all drove to the dirt parking lot and met at the start of the trail, and we were supposed to walk together through the trail all the way to the waterfall. It's a couple of miles long, which is very doable for a couple dozen police officers.

I was walking alongside Tom on the dirt trail, surrounded by our coworkers. On one side of us we had a clearing of beautiful evergreen trees, moss, dirt, and logs which created a piney-woods aroma, and on the other we had a hill that cascaded down and revealed a lovely view of the tops of more fern and evergreen trees. It was a steep drop, so I was trying to avoid walking on that side of the trail.

The dirt was loose, and the random rocks didn't help. My foot slipped, but Tom caught my arm and got me back to my feet.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," I nervously chuckled. "It's slippery."

"And yet, you're the only one who has slipped," he remarked playfully.

I chuckled and we kept walking. Everyone was having little conversations around us, and we probably should have split off to talk to the other officers and get to know them, but we all had our own little cliques already.

I was admiring the impressive greenery when Tom said, "you're looking a little bored."

"Is it that noticeable?" I asked and kicked a small rock out of my way.

"Oh, oh, what's that?" He asked while pointing at a pile of poop just off the trail. "Did you do that? That was fast."

I laughed and bumped my shoulder into him. Looking at it, it didn't look like it belonged to a dog. "It was probably just from a mountain lion."

"How do you say that and stay so calm?"

"Are you afraid of mountain lions?" I chuckled. I looked up at him, squinting from the harsh sunlight.

Tom laughed and took the baseball cap off his head and put it on mine to shield my eyes from the sun. "I'm kind of afraid of getting eaten, so yes, I'd say I'm afraid of mountain lions, Michelle."

"You just gotta remember that they are more afraid of you than you are of them," I said while adjusting the bill of the cap. "Just stand up to them and don't turn your back."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. I don't know what nursery rhymes you grew up hearing but it wasn't, Jack and Jill went up the hill to get eaten by some mountain lions. I'm not going to square up to any of those things, I'm going to sprint down that hill and not turn back."

I laughed and asked, "you'd leave me?"

"Oh, I wouldn't even think about it. We should probably leave right now for your safety, okay? Because I'm so much faster than you, it's not even close. And, you have asthma."

"You wish you were faster than me," I shot back.

"Why don't you and I have a little race, eh? First one to..." his eyes darted around until he saw a landmark up ahead, "first one to the boulder wins."

I followed his gaze to see a giant rock next to the trail with a fallen mossy log leaning against it. I raised my eyebrows in agreement and asked, "wins what?"

"Gloating privileges... and choosing what's for dinner tonight," he said.

I smirked and squinted my eyes at him challengingly. "You're on."