To read part nine of day eleven, click here.

As soon as we could, we got out of there. No one was in a great mood, but no one was in a really bad mood either. We weren’t happy about the rain – it meant that we were getting soaked. And it was a freezing rain too, the kind that chills you to the bone. Everyone put on their ducky suit bottoms pretty quickly. 😀

We were hiking along, slowly but surely, until we were forced to stop.

Lightning drill.

I will never forget Lightning drill. The thunder was coming at 18 seconds, then 16 seconds, and then it stopped for a moment. And then all of a sudden it was at 11 seconds.

“Everyone, get into Lightning drill position! Set your backpack down on the trail and sit down on it, feet up on your pack. Spread out on the trail too. Got it?”

We had to get into Lightning drill, and we couldn’t even be close enough to talk to each other? Really?

We sat there for a half an hour. I know, because I kept looking at my watch. It was ridiculously boring, sitting there in the rain. We couldn’t talk to each other – the rain was too loud. We couldn’t turn our heads, because then rain would drip down our necks. We could only sit there, in the rain.

Eventually, we were able to start hiking again. But it had been raining so hard for so long, the trail was a mess. There was water running down the trail, two or three inches deep. Our boots were all soaked through, and there wasn’t anything we could do about it.

I didn’t need to take too many breaks during that section of the hike, which was really good. I always felt so bad when everyone had to stop because of me. And I really don’t think there was anything I could have done about it. I was doing the best I could, but it just wasn’t enough.

Click here to read the next part of Day Eleven.

*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.*