To read part eight of day four, click here.

Just as we had finished putting lunch away, our help arrived. Our “CD” (course director) Josh had come, with another instructor named Shelby.

Jen, Katie, Josh and Shelby went down the trail to talk. The crew all sat around, quietly talking. Some of the others were trying to decide what they were talking about, and the rest of us were with Ben trying to make him feel better. It wasn’t really working, but it gave us something to do.

The instructors came back, and we all gathered near Ben. They asked who had Ben, Luke and Bobby’s rain gear. It looked like it was going to rain, and they needed all of the students to have their ducky suits.

Jordan and I raised our hands. Jen said that was great – Shelby and Katie were going to take Sarah Margaret, Maggie, Tullia, Rebecca and Kayce down to the bottom of the mountain. She said that Jordan, Bruce and I would stay with them. Bruce to switch out with Luke and Bobby, and me and Jordan because we had the rain gear.

The crewmates who were supposed to go down the mountain headed off. It was only the second time we had really been separated, (the other time was the water run) and I felt lost without all of my crew. I did not know how long it was going to take to get back together, and I did not know how long we would be together after we got to the bottom. We all thought Ben was going to have to go to the hospital.

I watched the rest of our crew out of sight while Luke and Bobby were helping Ben up. Just as their heads disappeared around a switchback, Ben started moving forward. Luke and Bobby would take a step forward and Ben would hop forward a step, so he was back in between them. Repeat that, over and over and over and over….

I had Ben’s water bottle in my hand, and I knew I was going to drink out of it if I was not careful. So I pulled mine out of my pack and put Ben’s in the water bottle pocket. I clipped mine onto my chest strap… and realized that I only had about a 1/2 of a bottle left.

You can see Ben’s chest strap in this picture – the guy with the white shirt.

My other water bottle was empty. I hoped that we would get down to the bottom soon – I was going to get really thirsty.

Click here to read the next part of Day Four.

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here. Thanks to NCOBS for letting me use their photos.*