Originally written in 2023
Four waterfalls.
Ten hours of hiking.
Twenty-six kilometres.
And that’s not counting the extra kilometres from taking the wrong turn and getting lost — which happened more than once. 
One thing I love about group hiking is that it’s such a healthy way to socialise.
You meet people who enjoy the same slightly questionable idea of fun — walking for ten hours through the rainforest just to find another waterfall. 
Some are people you’ve hiked with before. Others you’ve only just met.
You may not really be friends, but for those hours together, you rely on each other. You wait for someone who has fallen behind. You help each other through difficult sections. You check that everyone is okay.
There’s an almost instant camaraderie.
And somewhere between getting lost, scrambling through the rainforest and wondering how much farther there is to go, strangers stop feeling quite so much like strangers.
Not to mention, every now and then you get rewarded with something like this.
Stories Along the Way 