I got it. You were getting your Valley groove back. Me too. (Not sure I ever really had it, actually!) But I had managed to get here first, two minutes before the next party, not entirely by accident. And, yes, that was my rope flaked there. Because I wanted it.
I wanted this easy, popular route. I wanted Jam Crack (say it with sort of a mysterious whisper: Jam Crack).
When I rapped back down to the ground, three parties of men had arrived nearly at the same time and were lining up. You stopped chastising a dude for having cams that were too shiny and new to look at me and declare, "You didn't want to do the second pitch."
Instead of yelling, "Yes, I did, but not for you!" like I wanted, I smiled and said, "Oh yeah, we want to go do Sunnyside Bench."
You laughed at my preposterous idea. "Sunnyside Bench. It's wet! Ha! It's so wet! You should go do--Munginella."
"The problem with Munginella is..."
"The lieback?" you assumed.
"...the crowds."
"Well, it's high season in the Valley! What do you expect?!"
I didn't know what to say. You were the one who had suggested Munginella, not me. I didn't want to do Munginella, because I wanted to avoid the crowds.
Corinne, my partner, coiled the rope and I racked the gear. I slipped on my sandals (I had forgotten my approach shoes by the door when we left Sonora earlier that morning, d'oh!) and we politely said goodbye and traversed the base of the wall to Sunnyside Bench.
And yes, the first pitch was wet, as expected, but easy, and the route afterward was dry and free of crowds. We found the walkoff without incident and made it back home to the Bay Area before sunset.
Hope you sent, too, Jam Crack Guy!