**STRESS CAMP DAY #4**

The final day was upon us. as i said, we went to bed at about 6:30. so, add 8 hours for sleeping and you have us getting up at about 3:30 in the AM. the kids had no idea about this, of course. all they knew was that it would still be dark when i woke them up. i figured we had about 6 hours of hiking ahead of us, plus an hour for silly stuff- snacks, breakfast, broken limbs-which would get us to the station at 10:30, and seeing as how we were supposed to be in between 9 and 11, i figure that was about perfect.

The only problem was that at what turned out to be 2:15 in the bloomin' morning, some animal started screeching so close to the hut that i could have sworn it was inside it. you could have set your clock by this animal- it would screech like every 60 seconds, which, once it wakes you up, is just enough time to hope that maybe it finally left this time, then it would screech again. loud. i sleep kinda light in the woods, so i'll wake up just before i'm being mauled by a bear instead of as i'm being mauled, so i thought that i was the only one awake, but the kids started whispering to eachother, so i figured i'd get us moving in a few minutes. then one of the guys sat up real quick and said really loudly "alright everyone, ryan's outside blowing his whislte to get us up, so let's get going!". there was a short silence, and i was like "dude, i'm over here. that's not me..." i think he was a little overzealous to get home. since there was now no doubt that everyone was awake, i decided that we may as well get going, even though it was an hour earlier than i had planned. turns out that it took longer than i thought it would (i know, i really need to get better at knowing how long it will take us to go distances. the 6 hours that i guessed was already including a bunch of extra time, though- i thought it would only take us like 4. live and learn...), so i think God woke us up early so we'd have time.

There's really not much to say about hiking the last bit, other than it was still raining and quite cold. i had been pretty skimpy on the snacks, but since it was the last day, i gave out a bunch of them. we didn't eat breakfast until after the sun was up, so it was probably about 6. probably the hardest part of any hike for me is the very end; it's not that i don't like hiking, or enjoy being in the woods, but if we're going to be done, i just want to be done. it's something i should probably work on, cuz i get really impatient and keep looking for civilization. when i could finally see roofs through the trees i expected the kids to go nuts. after all, i was in the back, so they could probably see more than i could. they were so intent on hiking, though, that nobody even noticed. finally i called to the to stop and look up. then they went nuts.

We got to the train station at about 8:30, and sat around in shock until our train came 25 minutes later. We went 3 stops to the station the camp is at, and had one last hike to get home. it's only about a 10 minute walk, but the little pedestrian-trail we're on has this one last bit that is incredibly steep. it's really slippery and has like 5 switchbacks, and is pretty much the absolute last thing you want to do after 4 days of hiking. but the end is in sight, so nobody complains.

When the groups finally make it home, we have to spend about an hour cleaning up our gear- wiping down the rain sheets and the ground sheets, giving back the sleeping bags and backpacks and first aid kids and all that. crossing the line into camp was wierd for me. for 4 days i had been responsible for these kids' health and well-being: spiritually, phyisically, mentally, and emotionally. they had relied on me to teach them how to build a fire, how to put up the rain fly's, how to read the maps. but once we made it home and they saw their classmates, it was like i didn't even exist anymore. it's not like i'm a socialite and i get my sense of worth from their attention, it was just a really sudden shift from being somebody to being nobody. i totally understand; they wanted to share stories and stuff. it was just kinda funny that it happened so drastically and completely. of course, it got better after a while, and now when i come on campus and i see my former teammates, we have this understanding, this shared experience that can never really be fully understood by anyone else, even you guys, who have faithfully slogged through these entries. so it was totally worth it.

Coming back was totally like culture shock. people would ask me how it was and i just told them to ask me in a few days. i walked home in a daze (my car battery had mysteriously been emptied of it's power while i was away), and went to bed at 6:30pm. i woke up 12 hours later, and went to mister donuts. and life slowly resumed its' pace.

**edit**
I thought it might be fun to make a collage of our maps, so here they are. the days are marked in red or blue, depending on the day. i wish i could get it bigger, but i can't. so just squint really hard.