To read part thirteen of day nine, click here.

“I think so. I’m terrified, but I’m not physically hurt. Actually, I’m going to be really sore tomorrow. My knees and my butt hit the rock pretty hard multiple times. But I’ll be ok.”

Sarah Margaret came over, a look of relief on her face.

“I thought you were going to fall into the river! Are you ok??”

“I’m pretty sure I am. I’ll be really sore tomorrow, but I’m ok.”

I stood up and started inching my way towards the crossing. It wasn’t far – even at the slow speed I was going at, I managed to make it in two or three minutes.

Standing at the crossing the fear came back. It was dark, so I couldn’t see the river very well. What I could see was that it was pretty wide, and it was coming almost to my crewmates’ waists. Which meant it would be well over my waist.

“It’s your turn, Brett. Unfasten your hip strap and chest strap, please.”

As I started unclipping things, Jen gave me a smile and put a hand on my shoulder.

“You are ok, right? That slip looked nasty.”

“I’m ok. I’ll be better once this river is behind us.”

“Everyone will be better when this river is behind us. Camp is right on the other side – it won’t be long until we can fall asleep. All right, off you go.”

I was back to being terrified. But I knew that the sooner I got onto the other side, the better.

The crossing wasn’t that bad. I think I slipped once or twice, but didn’t get too wet. Well, I still got wet over my waist. But that’s just because the water was that high.

When everyone was on the other side of the river, we got into a circle.

“Ok, everyone, get your tarps up and get to bed! Maggie and Brett, you need to go with Jen and get the bear hang set up. Everyone else, make sure all of your food items are in your food sacks and they are brought to Jen, Maggie and Brett.”

I groaned under my breath. I had completely forgotten that I was on Bear Hang. That meant I wouldn’t get to bed for another half hour, at least.

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.*