To read part six of day nine, click here.

While we were taking a break, I went to the bathroom too. When I got back, this is what my crewmates looked like:

The rest of my crew with charcoal on their faces

I laughed at them and put my pack back on. The hiking had gotten a lot easier, and eventually the trail turned to a gravel road. It was very different, walking on gravel.

We were running out of water rather quickly, so we decided to stop at the next creek and filter water. After some talking, we also decided that we would eat dinner there. It was getting late, (it was probably 6 or 7) and everyone was hungry. It was getting dark too, and we wanted to cook and clean in the daylight.

The next creek wasn’t far – twenty minutes later, we could see it. It didn’t look like much, and I wondered if it would be enough to filter water. Everyone started pulling out their water bottles and dumping them, and I realized that we had to filter water there. Even if it took over an hour because there wasn’t much water in the creek. Because we were almost completely out of water.

I didn’t have anything to do, so I decided to wash my arms and legs. I went downstream of the water filtering and started scrubbing my legs. I couldn’t take my boots off, because it wasn’t allowed, but I could still wash my legs.

Bruce was doing the water filtering, so we were talking about how the girls hadn’t complained as much since the talk in the car the night before.

“I’m surprised that they stopped so quickly. I just hope they don’t start up again.”

I started rubbing my knees, kneeling down in the water and watching the dirt float away, down the stream.

“Bruce, I feel SO nasty. I’m so gross!”

“We all feel nasty, Brett. That’s what happens when you go camping.”

“Ok, but look at it this way. My family makes soap for a living. I have to be clean, or it looks bad. I haven’t been this dirty in years.”

The look he gave me was absolutely hysterical. It was a couple of different looks actually. There was a thoughtful look, an incredulous look, and then a different kind of thoughtful look.

“I guess you have a point there. I never thought of that.”

He grinned at me before bending down to switch out the water bottle he was filling. I washed off my arms and headed back up to the clearing where dinner was being made. There were a bunch of water bottles sitting on the ground there – Bruce’s partner hadn’t brought them down. I grabbed them and brought them down to him, so he could fill them up.

Click here to read the next part of Day Nine.

*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.*