To read part four of day eight, click here.

Hanni stopped a few feet after the trail split.

“Go ahead and put the tools down, the business end facing that rock there. Then everyone needs to pick a tool to use. We need one or two loppers, one McLeod, a pick ax, and a couple of the other tools. So go ahead, pick your tools. You can always switch around later.”

I ended up with the McLeod. (Here’s some pictures and a description of a McLeod.) I was going to use it for three things:

• Using the rake to spread the dirt
• Using the sharp part to cut any roots in the way
• Using the flat part to flatten the dirt and push it down

I don’t remember who had what tool. I just remember that I had the McLeod most of the day, and that Hanni had a pick ax most of the day. We worked next to each other, Hanni breaking up the dirt for me to manipulate.

While we worked, we talked. I don’t even remember everything we talked about, but we talked about a lot of things. We talked about how I was homeschooled and had my own family business. We talked about how she loved doing her job.

We worked for about four hours, until 12. That was when we called for a lunch break.

Everyone gathered at the split in the trail to grab our eating things and water bottles. We were going to eat near where the Elephants had been working, on a rock slab near a waterfall.

The trail that the Elephants had been working on was wet, the ground slippery and muddy. I was grateful for my own dry work area as I tried to navigate through the Elephants territory. There was this one rock you had to cross that was especially treacherous – it was so wide that you had to step on it, and if you stepped on it you were going to slip.

I slipped the first time I walked on it, one of the guys behind me grabbing my arm so I wouldn’t land on my butt. I thanked him and kept walking, glad that I hadn’t slipped.

Rebecca was pointing out the parts of the trail that she had worked on and I tried to keep from laughing. We each had our own little part that we were particularly proud of. Mine was a little spot in the trail where it dipped so that the water could run off. I had made that little spot look so pretty….

Click here to read the next part of Day Eight.

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