To read part eleven of day nine, click here.

Luke gave me a little push from behind, trying to get me moving again.

“Dora, I’m going to have to call a red light if you don’t start walking. Do you want me to do that? I don’t want to, but if you don’t start walking I’m going to have to.”

It worked. I started walking slowly down the trail, panicking more and more the farther I walked. I was so terrified of that water, and I couldn’t do anything about it.

The funny thing was, the closer we were to the crossing the less scared I was. It  was strange, knowing that I was getting closer but not being as scared.

Soon enough we were walking right alongside the river. If I went two inches to my left I would fall off the trail into the river. I started slowing down and Luke bumped into me, reminding me that I had to keep going.

Right ahead of us was a big pile of rocks that we were going to have to climb over before we could cross the river. They were huge rocks, bigger than I was. I hated climbing over big rocks. I always slipped and fell, and that was not fun. At all.

I was able to get over some of the smaller rocks easily enough. But then they got bigger and it got harder and harder. I think Luke gave my pack a push once or twice, and it didn’t even help. I was thinking about taking my pack off to get up a really big rock when he shoved as hard as he could, giving me the chance to grab the rhododendron that was on top of the rock.

With the push from behind and the rhody (our nickname for it) bush to grab onto, I was able to get on top of the rock. I stood up, letting go of the bush to adjust my pack.

Before I could figure out what was happening and how to stop myself, my feet were slipping down the rock, and I was heading straight for the river.

Click here to read the next part of Day Nine.

*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.*