To read part nineteen of day twelve, click here.

“Yep, those are the bear boxes. We’ll get to camp soon.”

Two minutes later we were at the box and Katie was doing something complicated to open it. I took off my pack and pulled out my food sack, bowl and spoon, and toiletries. I dropped them in the bin and put my pack back on, ready to get to our campsite. We still had to put up the tarp!

Once every one had put all of their stuff in, we continued hiking. Through some clearings, over a rickety bridge, and past a couple of platforms.

“I wish we were sleeping in a platform. Those are the nicest platforms I’ve seen on this whole trip! They have roofs, and one side!”

“Yeah, that would be pretty awesome!”

Katie stopped in front of one of the platforms. “You guys want to sleep in a platform? Here’s the rules: no shoes on it, and no packs if they don’t fit. Got it?”

“You mean we actually get to sleep on a platform?” I could hear the excitement in my crew’s voices. This was the best campsite ever! Everyone raced to the platform, wanting to get the best spots staked out. Specifically, the spots that weren’t wet.

I kicked off my boots and shoved them under the platform in a spot where there was a chance I’d be able to reach them again. The ground under the platform was a hill, and I needed to be able to reach my boots from the platform.

There was a small opening in between Rebecca and Maggie, so I snagged it. It wasn’t wet, and it was in the middle so there was little chance of me getting wet. There was a wall behind my head too, so I didn’t have to worry about pushing my pack off.

I spread out all my stuff and realized I needed to go to the bathroom. I groaned and looked over the edge for my boots. A bunch of the other girls decided to come with me, so we all went down the hill behind the platform. We split up, taking turns watching out for the guys. A couple of them had left the platform too, and we didn’t want them finding us.

When we got back to the platform, everyone got into their sleeping bags and we talked for a couple of minutes. It wasn’t the first time we had all slept together, but it was the first time we’d talked like this before going to bed. It was really interesting. 😀

As we were talking, a horrible stench filled the platform. The girls all started complaining, while the guys remained silent.

“Oh my gosh, what is that?”
“What IS that?!?”
“That STINKS!”

I laughed as I realized what it was. “Um, we had beans for lunch. I’ll bet someone here is farting.”

The guys started cracking up and after a minute, the girls did too. Eventually everyone started saying goodnight, going completely into their sleeping bags to escape the smell.

That day was probably the worst day of the trip, in my opinion. It started out horribly, on that really steep hill, and it didn’t get much better. The best part of the day was eating dinner on top of the mountain. I gotta admit, that was one of the best parts of the trip. But the rest of the day was so bad.

Thankfully, the next day was better.

Click here to read the first part of Day Thirteen.

*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.*

To read part eighteen of day twelve, click here.

A couple of minutes after we started hiking, I was glad I’d put on my windbreaker. It started raining, and we couldn’t see five minutes after that. We took a quick break so everyone could grab their headlamps and then we kept going.

It was probably the fastest hiking we had done the entire trip, and it was going down these “steps” made of huge rocks. Not only was I getting worn out, I was freaking out the entire time, sure I was going to slip or twist my ankle again.

…God, please don’t let me hurt myself, please don’t let me hurt myself. Please God?…

I guess God heard my prayers, because I didn’t get hurt the rest of the night!

A half an hour I asked Katie how much longer we had until we hit camp.

“Oh, maybe a quarter mile?”

Ten minutes after that, I asked again.

“Um… quarter mile?”

I groaned and kept hiking.

Twenty minutes after that, we started walking through clearings. There was one that looked like a fire pit area, and several that looked like good campsites. Unfortunately, none of them were our campsites.

As we were hiking Jen explained what was going to happen.

“Okay everyone, listen. We’re going to come to our bear box in a minute. Everything that has anything to do with food must go into the bin, as well as things like toothbrushes and toothpaste. If you had hot chocolate, the mug that had hot chocolate in it needs to be put in there too.”

I started a mental list of all the things I needed to get in there. My toiletries, my food sack, my bowl and spoon. I couldn’t think of anything else that was in my pack.

Ahead of us were a couple of rectangular shapes that I could barely make out.

“Katie? Are those the bear boxes? Does that mean we’re close to camp?” I was so tired I was going to fall asleep on my feet if we didn’t get to camp quickly.

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part seventeen of day twelve, click here.

I looked behind me, where Rebecca was pointing. She was right – it was a massive cloud, and it looked like it could turn into a thunderstorm. And it was definitely heading right for us.

So… apparently the top of a mountain isn’t where you want to be during a thunderstorm.

“Everyone, finish your dinner as quickly as you can and pack up. We need to get out of here as soon as we possibly can. Understand? We need to get away from here before that thunderstorm gets arrives. ”

As soon as Jen started speaking, everyone who was still eating started shoveling their food into their mouths at an alarming rate. I was done, so I cleaned out my bowl quickly and put it away. I packed up my backpack, which didn’t take too long.

“If you want hot chocolate, get it in your mug.”

I decided against the hot chocolate. I was pretty full, and I didn’t want to slow myself down when it came to getting off the mountain. A lot of the others had it though.

When I was done with the things I needed to do, I went to help clean the pots. As soon as we were done with the pots, we put them in someone’s pack.

I pulled out my windbreaker and headlamp. I wanted to my windbreaker in case it started raining, and I didn’t want to be caught in the dark without my headlamp. I’m not sure if it was just the clouds or if it was actually getting dark out, but I knew we were going to have trouble seeing soon.

“Packs on, everyone! Let’s go!”

All around me the crew was helping each other get the packs on. Luke helped me get mine on, and I helped him with his.

“Is anybody not ready?”

No one said anything, so Katie started walking. She and Jen had taken control again, and I was glad. I was ok with us being in charge during the day, but when it got dark? I’d much rather the professionals were in charge.

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part sixteen of day twelve, click here.

“We’re getting M&M’s?!? CHOCOLATE!”

“Get your bowls, everyone. Sarah Margaret’s going to split them up evenly.”

I grinned and ran to get my bowl, setting it down on the rocks Sarah Margaret was kneeling by. We were all watching as she counted out everyone’s M&M’s.

“Okay, there’s not enough to go another round. Who’ll give up one?”

I picked up my bowl. “I’m fine, thank you, Sarah Margaret.”

She passed out the last round of M&M’s and everyone grabbed their bowls.

Some of the crew crammed a bunch in their mouths. Some of the crew ate them one at a time, chewing them up quickly. But most of us (including me) ate them one at a time, slowly sucking on them. We wanted to make them last as long as possible!

When I was done eating my M&M’s, we were all told to get together for a picture.

The Crew on the top of Table Rock Mountain

The Crew acting silly at the top of Table Rock Mountain

Right after we were done with the pictures, dinner was ready. I grabbed my mat and spoon, joining the circle quickly. I was hungry, and I wanted to eat!

They started serving the Mac and Cheese and I couldn’t believe how gooey it was.

“Is it supposed to be like that? Because I think that is the cheesiest Mac and Cheese I have ever seen.”

“It’s got more cheese strings than pizza”

“That looks amazing!”

“It almost makes me glad for that awful Cornbread Mac!”

Everyone was forced to pass the bowls around, unable to eat until everyone had theirs. We were all watching as the cooks got their food, knowing that as soon as they both had their food we could eat.

The moment we could, we all dug in. It was wonderful up there on that mountain top. The awful day was (almost) behind us, we had great food, the view was absolutely amazing, and we were happy.

“Wow – look at that massive cloud over there! It looks like a thunderstorm, and it looks like it’s heading straight at us.”

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part fifteen of day twelve, click here.

We had done it! We made it to the top! Everyone dropped their packs and we celebrated. We had climbed our final mountain!

View from Table Rock

View from Table Rock

When I say everyone dropped their packs, I meant it. They were everywhere. People were opening their packs to find things, and scattering everything else that had been in there.

See the gauze from the blisters on her feet?

Using Rebecca’s mirror to check for pimples

While we were waiting for dinner, a bunch of the crew decided to take naps. I went to sit with Luke, Bobby, and Bruce. They were the ones who I felt comfortable around – it was easy being friends with them. And all three of them helped me more than they will ever know. With Bobby it was just the encouragement. Bruce helped me on the river, and Luke kept me going when I was having trouble on the trail.

Talking at the summit of Table Rock

We were sitting there talking when Bobby made an odd comment.

“I think I want my hot chocolate now. Like, just the powder. Brett, there was a thing of Hot Chocolate powder when we were filling food sacks at resupply, right? They’ve got to let us eat it sometime, right?”

“Yeah, I think there was. Rebecca might know for a fact, but I’m pretty sure there was.”

Luke nodded his head.

“That actually sounds pretty good! I think I’ll do it too.”

“What? You’d actually eat it like that”

Luke, Bobby and I looked at Bruce like he had two heads.

“Are you kidding? It’s so good that way! I’m gonna go ask if I can.”

Luke and Bobby got up and came back a few moments later with their bowls full of powder. They poured a little bit of cold water in it so it was like a paste, and started eating it.

Luke, Bobby and Bruce

I laughed and went to check on dinner. The water was boiling and the cooks were were searching for the noodles. We were having Mac and Cheese, with extra cheese. We were going to use all the cheese we hadn’t used the night we had Cornbread Mac instead of Mac and Cheese.

“Hey guys, we get another treat.”

I looked over at Ben, who was standing near Katie. In his hands he was holding a bag, but because of the way he was holding it I couldn’t see what was inside. I had no idea what it was. I hadn’t seen anything else that might be a treat…

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part fourteen of day twelve, click here.

Whoever was in the front picked up the pace, and the rest of us matched it. We were so excited to almost be there!

“Hey, look! It’s another way to the top! Beat you there!”

One of the guys had found another trail leading up to the top. He jumped out of the line and started climbing up, one or two of the others following him.

Katie came up from behind us and called them down.

“You need to get back down here, right now. We need to stay on this trail.”

They came down, grumbling the whole way.

“We were almost there. I could see the top!”

“Can’t believe she made us come down. We were right there.”

Jen started speaking from behind us.

“Katie and I are going to join you now. Please stick to the trail.”

The talking stopped as we started off again. We were so close! I was pretty happy at the moment – we were almost to the top, and I hadn’t called a break in almost an hour. We’d stopped a couple of times, but not because of me! I wasn’t slowing the crew down.

Well, I thought that too soon. The trail changed again, and this time the rocks were even bigger. It didn’t slow me down too much, but the front of the line was definitely going faster than I was.

But it didn’t take long to get past those large rocks, and I caught back up quickly after that. I caught up just in time – a few seconds after I caught up, we reached the top!

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part thirteen of day twelve, click here.

Once everyone put their cameras back away, we started forward again. We could see that we were getting really close to the top, and we were all getting hungry!

The terrain changed from a slightly rocky trail to a trail that was made up entirely of rocks. It was made up of rock slabs the size of a sink – big enough for both feet to step on, but just barely.

“How’re you holding up, Brett?”

I looked behind me to see Bobby staring at me.

“Not too badly. I can’t wait to get to the top though. My calves are killing me!”

“Yeah, I think everyone is having that problem. These rocks are like stairs, so it’s like we’re climbing flight after flight of stairs.”

Well, I hadn’t thought about it like that, but he was right.

“That’s a good point. No wonder my calves hurt!”

The trail turned inland, so the top of the mountain was on our right. We weren’t hiking along a cliff anymore, but the trail was still very narrow. We were gaining altitude quickly, and I knew it wouldn’t be long till we reached the top.

“Look, guys! There’s the top!”

I looked all around, but I couldn’t see what Kayce was talking about.

“It’s up, guys. Look up to your right.”

I looked up and sure enough, he was right! We could see where the mountain ended, and where the blue sky began.

“We’re so close! C’mon guys, let’s do this!”

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part twelve of day twelve, click here.

Once we left the clearing, it wasn’t long before it started to get steep. Thankfully it leveled out pretty quickly after that, so it wasn’t a huge problem.

We were hiking at a pretty steady pace, which made me happy. We were still taking breaks, but it was more than twenty minutes between each break instead of the five minutes that it had been.

After an hour or so of the mostly level ground, it got really rocky and we started going up more. There were some huge boulders – bigger than me. I wasn’t having problems climbing over them though, which made me happy.

There were a lot of switchbacks, which was making it easier on all of us. We could tell that we were climbing quickly, but it didn’t feel like it. We were definitely up pretty high – my ears started popping not long after we hit the switchbacks.

I was hiking in the middle of the crew, glad to not be in the front. It was probably some of the easiest hiking we had done that whole day, and I was glad that there wasn’t any pressure on me. The entire day I had been the one holding everyone back, and actually keeping up was a great feeling.

“Oh my gosh you guys, I’m on the edge of a cliff!”

Everyone pushed forward, which probably wasn’t the best decision. 😀 The people in the front moved forward too, so they wouldn’t fall off the edge. We all started exclaiming about the view. It was absolutely gorgeous!

View from the trail on the way to Table Rock

The camera doesn’t do it justice. It was so much prettier than it looks in the pictures. I wish that I’d had a better camera. Someday I’m going to go back to Table Rock, and I’m going to take our good camera. Because it is so worth it.

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part eleven of day twelve, click here.

I looked around the semi-circle for Luke. I didn’t know what Jen and Katie wanted, but I knew that I should get over to them quickly. I found Luke and jogged over to him.

“Luke? Jen and Katie want to talk to us.”

He looked up at me in surprise but got to his feet, following me down the path.

“You needed us, Jen?”

Jen and Katie looked up from what they were doing.

“Would you guys like to eat dinner on the top of Table Rock? Talk it over with the crew and decide.”

Luke and I looked at each other and grinned. We could eat on top of the mountain? How cool was that?

“If you would like to eat up there, we need to have full baby seals before we get up there. You guys need to find a creek and fill everything. Okay?”

I nodded as Luke and I headed towards the crew. We told them what Jen and Katie had said, and as a crew we decided that it would be really cool, and we should totally do it.

A couple of the guys grabbed the water filtering gear and started poking around in the brush, trying to find the creek that was supposed to be near the clearing. We heard a shout a couple of minutes later and decided that meant they had found it.

While we were waiting for the water filtering crew, we pulled out the first aid kit to treat some blisters. There were several hot spots and a couple of new blisters, so it took us a while.

Eventually we were done. The first aid kit was put away, the water filtering kit was put away, and everyone was standing up, ready to go.

“C’mon, guys, let’s go eat dinner on top of the mountain!”

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part ten of day twelve, click here.

Half an hour after we left our eating place, we hit the trail we were supposed to be taking. By then the rain had slowed to a drizzle, and a bunch of us took off the ducky suit pants as soon as we got off the road.

We kept hiking, and for a while it wasn’t too bad. It was pretty level, and there was a decent trail. But then it started to go uphill, and I was starting to need breaks again.

Lets just say I was a mess. But there was nothing I could do about any of it, except take breaks when I needed to. Which was pretty often. Thankfully it wasn’t as steep as the beginning of the day, when I was having to take breaks (literally) every five minutes. But it was almost that bad.

It was probably about an hour after we had hit the hill, and it was finally starting to level out. Twenty minutes later, we could see a small clearing with several trails.

With a sigh of relief we stumbled into the clearing, dropped our packs and sat down.

“I can’t believe how tough this is. This is definitely the toughest day we’ve had yet.”

“Oh yeah, totally. This is the kind of stuff I had nightmares about while I was prepping for the trip.”

“Yeah, same here. I never imagined that they would actually make us do this though. Like, seriously? They should let us take an easier trail or bring a van.”

“Um, I don’t think there are any easier trails. We’re going straight up a mountain.”

“There might be another trail that’s not so steep though. Maybe on the other side? It could have a lot of switchbacks. That would make it not as steep.”

Jen called me from where she was sitting 50 feet away from the group.

“Brett? Can you and Luke come over here? We’d like to talk to you.”

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part nine of day twelve, click here.

“Um, was that thunder? Guys? Did anyone else hear that?”

I got up off of my pack and walked over to the parking lot we’d been eating next to. It was connected to a gravel road, and from there you could see the sky.

“Yeah, it probably was thunder. I think I’m going to get my ducky suit on. At least the top half.”

As I was pulling my ducky suit out of my pack, it started raining. I quickly abandoned my idea of only putting the top half on as the chilly rain hit my legs. Not only was it cold, it was falling heavily, hurting my skin when it hit.

The whole crew quickly pulled on their ducky suits as we got ready to go. We were going to be walking down the gravel road for a mile before we turned off onto a trail.

“So… Are you ready to do this?”

I was definitely ready. We would be going downhill on a gravel road for a mile – why wouldn’t I be ready? It was going to be the easiest thing we would do all day.

“Yep! Let’s go!”

I fell into the middle of the pack. With this kind of hiking I could do that. I wasn’t really worried about keeping up. The thing I was worried about the most was that I would trip on my ducky suit, which was always a possibility.

We were making really good time, marching along down the road. We had to stick as close to the edge as we could, so we wouldn’t get yelled at by Jen and Katie. But after a while you got the hang of it, and stopped stepping in the muddy ditch.

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part eight of day twelve, click here.

I was glad that Luke didn’t try and rub it in. That would have turned a bad situation worse.

“Is anybody not ready?”

When no one said anything, I headed down the trail. I was hungry, so I wanted to get to point C!

About a half an hour later, we arrived at the end of the trail.

“So, um… is this point C? Or is it not? Where are we?”

After a hasty consultation, it was decided that we were at point C. Everyone cheered – we were ready to eat! It had been a while since breakfast, and there hadn’t been enough of that.

“Ok, cooks, get ready! Who has the kitchen bag and the food? What are we having?”

Luke was giving orders again. The rest of the crew was not happy with him. I didn’t really care, even though I was supposed to be a LOD too. I was too overwhelmed with my own problems to help the rest of the crew.

The bags got pulled out as soon as we knew what we were eating. Everyone searched their bags for the things we were going to need – tortillas, the beans we had hydrated that morning, cheese, and salsa.

It wasn’t a meal that took much preparation. But it was really yummy! I was enjoying my new appetite – it meant I could actually enjoy some of the food we had, instead of freaking out because I wasn’t eating enough.

Jen and Katie came over to us to get their food, but then they moved over to their own spot 20 feet away. It was strange to see them and yet not be sitting with them. They’d been around for so long, and now they weren’t.

I didn’t talk to them, even though I wanted to. I wasn’t sure if that was allowed, and I didn’t want to break any rules. When I was done eating I packed up my bag again and sat down, waiting until everyone was ready to go again.

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*

To read part seven of day twelve, click here.

So, God was physically helping me? That was pretty amazing. I thanked him over and over, calling on him whenever I needed more help. And you know what? It worked.

For the next hour, I felt that hand on my backpack when I needed a little help, and eventually I stopped looking to make sure it wasn’t Luke. I didn’t want him hurting himself trying to help me. That was the last thing we needed.

I remember the relief we all felt when the trail started to even out. I don’t know if everyone was as happy about it as I was, but man, was I happy.

Once the trail evened out, we were making much better time. It was almost forty-five minutes between breaks now, and that was usually when someone needed to go to the bathroom.

It was almost time for lunch, and we were all getting hungry.

“Hey, does anyone know when we’re stopping and eating lunch? And what are we having?”

Luke announced “We’ll stop at point C and eat. Ok?”

“Ok, wait. Luke, you’re not in charge. Let’s look at the map and we’ll talk about when we’ll stop for lunch. Ok? Is everyone ok with that?”

There was lots of mumbling and whispering at this point.

Luke clearly wasn’t happy with everyone, but he was going to have mutiny on his hands if he didn’t do something.

“Fine. Here, take the maps. Let’s all sit down, waste more time, and discuss where we’re eating lunch.

After a half an hour of discussion, it was decided that yes, point C was the best spot to stop and eat lunch.

Click here to read the next part of Day Twelve.

*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.*