We spent last night under a sky filled with shooting stars. Having to leave the tent at night to empty your bladder felt like a trip to a very high definition planetarium.
The day started like every other: by fixing the weary hikers’ blistered feet. We broke camp, swallowed our breakfast and then took off for our next destination: Porcupine Creek. Our trip starts by a traverse of Rock Valley in which we took a few breaks to rest from the many short but steep hills that marked this section.
The lunch break is at Split Rock, in the shadow of – you guessed it – a rock with a big crack. Our nurse Naila then started a very fun and informative game of question and answers that allowed us to learn more about each other. The game simply consists of asking a question and listening to everyone’s response in turn. Subjects included the country we dream of visiting, the person with whom we’d like to spend a day, the Olympic sport we’d like to compete in, our dream pet, and many more.
We set-up camp after having walked some 9 kilometers. It’s the only place where we didn’t swim because the creek water was definitely too cold. It was quite painful just to wash our face and feet! Part of the group then started to make supper while another prepared a helicopter landing zone. That way, most of our gear will be flown out to Sunshine Village where we’ll finish the trek. We decided to make it so because tomorrow will be the longest and most difficult day of the entire trip. We’ll have to walk 13 kilometers and face more than 700 meters of elevation gain. Tents, sleeping bags, ground pads and cooking gear will fly out to allow us to hike with a light pack. We’ll also get-up at 5:30 to start the hike at 7:00 so we don’t finish too late. The only bad news seems to be the weather forecast: rain, rain and more rain…
After a week under clear blue skies except for 2 or 3 hours during our second day, it seems we’ll have to finish the trip under adverse conditions. We’re not worried though; theses teens have already shown they can handle far worst…