Day one. I remember getting off the plane in the Colorado airport, walking around trying to find the group of people I was supposed to meet, being told “make sure you get one last meal”, driving for hours until we got to a long narrow road that lead to a big opening with lots of trees and a mountains behind it. I got out of the van and someone called us over to a large circle of rocks and we were told to stand in a large circle, they then gave us a speech about what we were going to do and what our experience throughout the trip was going to be like. We were then split into groups. My group had ten kids in it all around the same age. We then hiked up a hill to a large cabin and our group leaders brought us into a room. We all sat on the floor and unpacked our bags taking out anything they said we didn’t really need. During that time being issued gear and being told the rules and what we were going to do on the trip, after that we all hiked to a spot and set up our first camp, then went back to the cabin to have one last big meal for the next eight days.
Day two. was the first day in team building exercises, they showed us more about what we needed to pack for different occasions and had us bring a daypack on today's trip. The trip for today was hiking out to a ropes course and building team bonding, and it really worked. We did all kinds of exercises that “forced” us to talk and do things you wouldn’t normally do having known people for only one day, but by the end of the day we were all best friends.
Day three. We got into a van early in the morning and drove all the way out to a huge rock wall. Today we were rock climbing and then starting our first real day in the woods. We did rock climbing for a bit then my group broke away from everyone else and we hung out in a shaded area to eat lunch and talk. After rock climbing we got back on the vans and we were driven to the trailhead, we were about to start our first hike. It was hot that day, very hot, I can remember waiting for our gear to arrive in another truck and everyone lying down underneath cars to keep out of the sun. The hike was the worst thing ever, we carried eighty to ninety pound packs up a steep rocky hill until we reached a flat area where we set up camp for the night.
Day four. That morning we took down camp and went back out.  We walked up the whole hill and reached a large marsh area where we found a shaded secluded area to set up camp right at the base of a mountain that we would summit the next day. I remember the best times of the trip were when we had free time and you would go out with people and walk around the camp area talking about home and what you missed, exploring what was near us in the woods.
Day five. We woke up at three o’clock in the morning, packed a few things and started our walk to the mountain. We reached the base of the mountain and started our ascent. It was a long way up; I remember the hike as happening in four stages, the first stage of the hike happened at a low altitude underneath the treeline, this was the longest part of the hike and lasted for probably and hour and a half, we climbed over fallen trees and stumbled through roots in the dark having only our headlamps as a source of vision. In the second stage of the hike, we came just above the treeline and could see the city lights way off in the distance. This was the scariest part of the hike for me, we would climb across large rock faces made of falling gravel over seemingly endless pits of darkness, while you were climbing large pieces of rock would fall away beneath you, and you would need to hold yourself close to the side of the mountain in order not to fall. The third stage of the hike was the final climb to the top of the mountain. We climbed over huge boulders and past snow on the ground, the peak of the mountain was in sight and the sun was starting to rise. My group wanted to make it to the top of the mountain to see the sunrise and their was only a little bit of mountain left to climb. Once we made it to the top we set up sleeping bags and sat in them to watch the sun come over the horizon. We put our mark on the mountain and collected some rocks and started our way down. Stage four was getting down. We had two options, come back the way we went up or slide all the way down the side. We chose to slide down. This was probably the most dangerous part, the whole time we were slowly making our way down trying our best not to slide the whole way and break something, and every once in a while on the way down you would come to a flat part that looked like the bottom of the mountain, but there would be just another hill to climb down. Finally at the bottom one group member lead us all back to base camp. Once we got to base camp we were sent to our own private areas to participate in a “Solo” which is twenty four hours all alone I which you get to reflect and think about the trip and how it affected you. This is when I went a little crazy but I think it might be best if I don’t get into that too much.
Day six. We didn’t do much on day six, we packed up camp and started to hike back to the trailhead we started at. Once back at the trailhead we met a man named “Johnny big stick” who became a legend in our group. We went back out on the trail and hiked to another campsite. this was the last time we were in the woods before we went all the way back to the cabin at home, right where we started, there was a lot of talk about what we would do when we got home and people were getting excited for the long hike home.
Day seven. Last day out on the trail, we packed everything up and set out, we hiked from the break of dawn till noon just to get all the way back to camp. We walked eight miles in four hours, we were the first group back to base. That night we set up camp one last time as a team and later everyone went to the big cabin to have a last meal together, it was a sad night because we knew we would never get to see each other all together again, there was a bonfire with s'mores and then everyone went to bed.
Day eight. We woke up packed camp and went to the cabin one last time. We gave our gear back and cleaned everything up. Our group leaders called us over one last time to say one more thing to us, which I won’t repeat. Then we all hugged goodbye and boarded the busses that would take us to the airport. At the airport I met up with the members of my group that I could find and we went to all the restaurants we could, eating all the gross food we had been denied for days. We went through security and waited with each other until each person had to go to their gate to go home. Finally it was my turn to walk to the terminal, I hugged everyone goodbye and walked to the gate where I would take the long flight back home. That was my experience on Colorado outward bound and it’s something I won't soon forget.