To read part two of day eight, click here.

Instead of turning left, which would have brought us to our campsite, we stayed to the right. The trail became steep, the ground under our feet getting muddier and muddier the farther we walked.

The air was still chilly and I was glad I had brought my sweatshirt. We stopped near the pickup truck at the top pf the hill and I pulled my sweatshirt out of my bag, putting it on quickly while we got into a semi-circle around the truck.

There were piles of tools on the ground, with piles of safety equipment all around them. A woman and the man Jen had spoken with earlier were pulling the last of the stuff out of the car, and it wasn’t long before they finished.

“Hello, I’m Hanni and this is Jamie. We are with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, and we’d like to thank you for coming out to help us today. We do have a couple of rules.

The first rule: You must always wear your safety equipment. That includes your hard hat, gloves, and safety glasses.

The second rule: You are responsible for the tools you carry in there. You can switch them around while we are working, but at the end of the day you need to carry out everything you carried in. Almost like Leave No Trace, which I’m sure you are familiar with by now.

And the last rule: Safety is everything. Make sure you are keeping yourself safe, and make sure you are keeping everyone around you safe. “

She paused, looking at Katie. “Is it possible to meet everyone? In a circle, the way you do it?”

I was getting tired of circles. But I didn’t say anything, and I circled up with everyone. Everyone introduced themselves, saying their name, where they were from, and what they would like to be when they grew up.

“Everyone needs to grab a couple of tools. If some of you stronger guys want to grab the heaver ones, those would be the mcleod and the big loppers. Some of the lighter ones are the small loppers and hoes.”

I grabbed the two things Jamie had said were the lightest – the small loppers, and the hoe. I joined the line of people who were waiting to get a hard hat, eye wear and gloves. By the time I got to the box of glasses, most of the smaller ones had already been grabbed.

After a couple of minutes I was able find a pair that didn’t fall off my head if I moved it. I grabbed a hard hat and a pair of gloves, moving out of the way so everyone else could get their own gear.

I grabbed my stuff sack and put it back on, putting the hat on my head and grabbing the tools I had to carry. I was ready to go!

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.*