To read part nine of day three, click here.

We were hiking down the trail that we had come by. It was not far to the intersection where we had taken a break to decide which way to go – probably not even a 1/4 mile.

We were all laughing, having fun. We were hiking without our packs on, and it was an amazing feeling! We were free!

It probably helped that we were hiking up a trail we had just been on – we knew exactly what we had been feeling when we hiked that with our packs, so doing it without them…

We got to the intersection and took the path that we had not been on before. As we turned I took a look at the sign – our campsite was .2 miles from the intersection. There was a place called Shanty Springs where we were heading – that was a 1 mile from the intersection. And back the way we had came earlier that afternoon was the summit.

I was glad that we were not going to have to go all the way to Shanty Springs – Jen had said the creek was not too far off the intersection. Pack or not, I did not want to walk over a mile just to get water. Not to mention the mile back carrying the water!

The trail started out mostly level, grassy, and over all very enjoyable to walk on. After that it started getting a little rocky, but not too bad. I was just careful about where I put my foot. I did not want to twist it again, without a pack on! At least if I had my pack on I had an excuse, right? 😀

I was in the middle of the group, laughing and talking with Ben and Kayce. It was the first time I had heard Kayce say more then five words in a sentence, and it made me happy. He was starting to come out of his shell, and we were all having fun! We were talking about books we had read, movies we had seen. For a while we were talking about Lord Of The Rings, and then the talk turned to Narnia. Ben and I had both read the books, but Kayce hadn’t. Ben and I told him that he really should read them, and listed all seven books in order for him.

While we were talking about the movies, Jen stopped walking and turned to face us. She told us to come look at this, pointing to the rocks beneath her feet. We came up and looked where she was pointing.

There was an arrow drawn on the rock, pointing back up to where our campsite was. And underneath the arrow were the words, “To Narnia”.

Ben, Kayce and I just kind of looked at each other. I think Kayce summed it up nicely when he said “Wow”.

We kept walking. And walked some more. And then we were at the creek! Or at least, what should have been the creek, and was now just a ditch. Jen said that there should be more water further down, so we kept walking. It was not like we could just give up – we needed the water!

Soon the rocks started to get bigger, until they were bigger then me. We were climbing over rocks that were bigger then me, bigger then Ben and Kayce… They were some pretty big rocks. I was really worried about my ankle. It was hurting already, and we still had to get back up to our campsite! Plus, the big rocks were at angles that would make it really easy to twist my ankle if I slipped even the tiniest bit.

Thankfully God kept me safe getting through there, and we were back on the smaller rocks. Yes, it would still be pretty easy to twist my ankle, but I had more control over it. At least, that is what I thought. (I just realized that sentence makes it sound like I twisted my ankle again. I didn’t. :))

We kept walking. More spots where there should have been water, completely dry or just damp. More walking. A little pool of water, but since it was not running we decided not to use it. Even more walking. A mostly steady trickle running off some rocks.

Jen told us that we might have to use that, but she was going to run ahead and see if there was anything else. We waited for a few minutes, and she was back with good news. The spring was right up ahead!

We started walking again. It turns out that “right ahead” for Jen was not “right ahead” for us. 😀 But after a switchback or two, (where the trail takes a big turn so you are headed back the way you came, but further down hill) we could hear the trickle of water! Let me tell you this – it was a beautiful sound.

We headed for the spring, a tube sticking out of the side of the hill. I stared in disbelief at the sign standing next to the tube.

Guess what it said?

“Shanty Springs”

Yes, we had walked over a mile to get water. And we still had a mile to get back to camp, going up those massive rocks, carrying 4 baby seals full of water.

Did I mention that it was getting dark quickly, and our headlamps were back at camp?

Click here to read the next part of Day Three.

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here.*