To read part two of day two, click here.

As the creek came into view, I felt like cheering. I was so hungry! We got to the edge of the water and people started dropping their packs, only to hear that we were going on a bit longer to find a good spot to eat. We groaned, but put our packs back on. We walked up the trail a bit and then cut straight up the hill to a little open spot. It was on a ridiculous slant, but it was mostly open and it was close to the water.

While the cooks started getting the food out, (we were having burritos!! :D) Luke and I took the water filtration bags, empty water bottles, and dromedaries (we also called them baby seals or droms) down to the creek. He and I were on Water Management that day, so we had to filter water when we could.

To filter water you had to fill up the filters with water from a creek. They strained out anything that might be in the water. Then you added bleach to the water. 1 drop for a bottle, three for a small baby seal, and five for the large baby seal.

We had to get down the creek – there were a couple of trees down across the creek that made it hard. And we had to get in the water but not get our boots wet, so that made it harder too. We managed to do it without slipping, (which was pretty amazing…) and we made it to where there was a little waterfall (a couple of inches), so we could fill up the bags easily.

When you had filled the filter bags with water you had to hang them up somewhere because it was gravity that made the whole thing work. So you hung it up high and let the water come through the clear, plastic hose into whatever you were filling up.

Once we had water filtering into the baby seals we went up the trail to where we were eating. We passed our bowls and got our food. It was so good! We got a tortilla, salsa, beans and lots of cheese. Actually, on this trip we got cheese at least once a day, if not twice. It became a crew joke, how much cheese we were eating. 😀

When we were done eating, Luke and I went back down to the water. We finished filling up the baby seals and water bottles, and we were ready to move down the trail again.

I don’t really remember what happened then. I remember there was a lot more hiking…

A couple hours later we came to another creek. Kayce helped Luke with filtering water while I got a “hot spot” (possible blister) on my foot taken care of. I actually felt sorry for Rebecca, who had the first aid kit in her backpack. We had to get it out to treat blisters so many times! It seems like we were taking it out at every break those first couple of days…

We were still at the creek filtering water (I was done treating my blister by then) when all of a sudden a man came running down the trail ahead of us, barely slowed down to cross the creek and started running back where we had come from. I thought that he was insane – who would want to go running on a trail where he could hurt himself anywhere? I can tell you that I would never do that! I don’t have a problem with people who do, but I just think that is is asking for a hurt ankle or leg or something. 🙂

Then some of the guys found some crayfish upstream, so they spent some time trying to catch them. Luke abandoned me to go join in the chase, and Kayce came back and helped me finish filtering the water.

It was pretty funny watching Bruce, Bobby, and Luke chase that crayfish all around the creek… They did not actually catch it, but they certainly tried! 😀

Click here for the next part of Day Two.

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here.*