Between a rock and a hard place on the Ho Chi Minh Trail (California)

On a hike in San Diego circa May 2023 I ran into a pickle. Ahead of me lay a sloped sandstone ledge about a foot wide with a dropoff maybe 12 feet down into a rockbed. I saw nothing to hold on to if I started to fall. I'd already been sliding and now the risk to continue forward felt maybe too great...