After being lost for several hours we were able to retrace our steps and find our way back the correct path. The forest was beautiful around this time. The mid-morning sun was shining softly through the leafy canopy and the cool air was calm and clear.

Presently I began to sing the Ants Go Marching. The tune is rousing and with most the group joining in we hiked at such a pace that we partially made up for the lost time. In this way we discovered singing to be an excellent way to past the time on the long hikes we made each day. Though from then on we mostly stuck to pop culture songs.

Soon the trail lead us down into the steep valley we had looked into the night before. On our way down we could see the outpost we were headed to. Most of our food had been eaten and we were due to to get a refill at the outpost.

As we traveled along the valley floor a conversation began in our group that soon turned into an argument. The argument was pretty juvenile, but it got quit heated towards the end. We were trying to decide what was better for steak, BBQ sauce or steak sauce. Many cases were made for both sauces but we could not come to and agreement.

In the midst of this war of words and taste bud opinions Rex shouted that there was a bear on the trail up ahead. Because of our argument no one was paying that much attention to the surroundings, so that by the time anyone noticed the beast we were nearly on top of it.

Luckily the bear kept it's distance and we were able to get a close up look at him (I'm assuming the bear was male........... also I assumed his name was Paul[I don't know why he just looked like a Paul]).

At the outpost we got our food (and toilet paper) and took our mid-day rest. Here we also collectively bought a nice friz-bee. It was big, flexible, and with the touch of a button could light up for an interesting night game.

I sent a postcard home from here telling my parents of my adventures so far. I was careful to mention how I hit more clay-pigeons than Rex the day before.

You know some times in life you can get caught up in the little things. You can get so caught up that you don't notice the big things. We were so focused on our discussion of steak flavoring that we almost walked into a bear. I doubt that this would have had many real dangerous consequences, but it makes for a good analogy if you imagine Paul eating our faces off.