By the morning, the river had receded and gone back to the level where it was the day before. We decided to walk along the edge of the river and see if we could find someone or something to eat.

When I looked at my compass, I realized we were now walking southeast.

“Layla, how come the river is going southeast now? I don’t get it.” “I don’t know Robby, but I don’t see that it has a lot of options with walls of rock like this surrounding it.”

Just a bit farther down the river we found our canoe stuck in a swirling area of water. We turned it over and put it back in the river.

By now we were exiting the steep canyon area and there was ground all around the river that was pretty flat. It was like the river was cutting through a really flat, wide valley. We still couldn’t see anyone from our group, but we knew from the map that we were headed in the right direction. Just then, we heard Pinky and Nina cheering.

They were waving and jumping up and down. Then, further off, we heard Mike and the girls and Tomo all shouting to each other that we were okay. At that exact moment, a helicopter came flying overhead and it looked like the pilot was waving to us, also.

Nina and Mike had called in the local police to look for us. But meanwhile, Nina, Mike, and the other campers had divided up and spread themselves up and down the various legs of the river so that they wouldn’t miss us if we came floating by. They were really excited to see us. And man did Nina and Mike look relieved. Layla immediately told them all that I had saved her life and that if it hadn’t been for me she would definitely be dead.

Tomo and Seth and Pinky each slapped me on the back and shook my hand. The girls gave Layla and me hugs and kisses. I bet I was grinning from ear to ear. All eight of us spent the entire rest of the day trading stories about what each boat went through during the flash flood and how everyone got through the night.