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.*