To read part ten of day eleven, click here.

An hour or so after we started hiking again, I could hear the sound of rushing water. It’s not a sound you forget, especially if you are terrified of it.

It wasn’t as loud as it had been the other night, and I prayed that we wouldn’t have to cross it. Maybe it was just running along the trail, and we wouldn’t need to do anything with it.

I started reasoning with myself, trying to not panic as the noise got louder, and louder. It was ridiculous, my fear of the water, and yet it was so real.

As we hiked along, the sound got even louder, and soon I realized that I wasn’t hearing just a creek. That was a waterfall I was hearing. I was starting to feel better about it, thinking that the trail wouldn’t go right next to a waterfall.

Well, I was feeling better until I saw what we were going to have to do.

On our right was a waterfall coming down the mountain, splashing a few feet away from where we were crossing the creek. Yes, we were having to cross it. It looked like it would have been a cute little creek the day before, but the heavy rain had made it overflow its banks.

The creek overflowing its banks was enough to make me nervous. It was rushing along very quickly, and I knew that if I lost my step it would sweep me down stream. There was a problem with that though. Five or six feet downstream was another waterfall, dropping over ten feet down the mountain.

One of the only good things at this time was that the rain had slowed down a bit, making it easier to hear everyone.

“You’re going to be fine. I’ll go right behind you if you want, so you don’t get swept downstream. Do you want me to do that?”

I think the look on my face answered Sarah Margaret. When it was my turn to go she walked right behind me, balancing me every time I threatened to fall over.

“Thanks, Sarah Margaret. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you guys.”

“Nah, you’d do just fine without us. C’mon – let’s get ready to go again. We still have a lot of hiking to do today!”

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.*