To read part four of day thirteen, click here.

I started to wonder when we’d turn off onto the trail we were supposed to go on. Would it be the trail we’d hiked on the day before?

There was a boy following me – one of Colter’s crewmates. If I slowed down, he slowed down. If I sped up, so did he. I wondered if he was just being shy.

Looking ahead, I could see a van. Standing by it was a lady in an Outward Bound t-shirt, and there was a sign pointing to the right. “PCE this way” it said. I got up to the van and told the lady my name. She checked me off the list and pointed to the baby seal that was hanging on the van. “Go ahead and get a drink” she said, so I opened it up and caught the water in my mouth.

The boy came up to the lady. He answered her inquiring look with “Alex?” and peered over her shoulder as she tried to find him. “Yep, that’s me” he announced when she pointed to something on the sheet.

I moved aside so he could get water and waited for him there. I wanted to talk to one of Colter’s crewmates, and this seemed like a good opportunity.

The lady pointed towards a trail to my right. I headed that way, grinning when the clearing behind the van came into view. It was the clearing we had eaten lunch in the day before! We weren’t going on the trail we had traveled the day before, but we were going on a trail that traveled next to it.

I slowed down as soon as I was out of the lady’s sight. I wanted to wait for Alex to catch up so I could talk to him. I could hear him stomping through the forest behind me, and eventually caught up to me.

“So, you said your name is Alex?”

“Yeah, it is. You’re Colter’s sister, aren’t you?”

“Yep, that’s me! So – how did Colter do on his course? Was he a big wimp the whole time?”

*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.*