The trail crosses Fish Creek again here. Amidst facetious shouts of "Get the rope!", a tradition ever since Barry became a member of the group, Phil and Scott survey the crossing and determine that it can easily be done barefooted. Barry, the anti-Mike, is quite prepared and has aquasocks, which he begins to put on. As Phil and Scott enter the water, they quickly realize that it is going to be more difficult that they had thought. The water is only knee deep, but the bottom is made up of a melange of smooth and slippery rocks ranging in size from golf balls to beachballs or larger. About halfway across, Scott plants his right foot and takes a step with his left- but the right foot slips forward a dozen inches or so before stopping as it hits one of the larger rocks. With balance already made precarious by the backpack, he falls forward onto his hands in the creek, submerging his boots in the process, which he had been unwisely carrying instead of having tossed them over to the far side. The water actually feels refreshing as it soaks his torso, but fortunately it is not deep enough for the pack to become wet. Back on his feet, he continues across the river. Phil also struggles with the footing, but manages to make it across without biting the big one. Barry makes it look easy with his aquasocks.

Reaching the other side, Phil says (jokingly?) "I think I broke my toe", but he is apparently fine. Scott sits down on a fallen log and wrings his boots and socks out. He notices some pain in his toe area on his right foot and discovers under the caked on dirt a small patch of missing skin from the underside of the toe next to the big toe. He squirts some water on the toe to clean off the dirt, revealing a ghostly white section on the top of the toe around the first joint from the foot. It is this that is causing the pain. It appears that it is actually Scott who has suffered a broken toe.

The group assesses the options. Scott knows the trail options and mileage the best and believes that they are currently about 15 miles away from the car via the shortest route back. All routes involve a substantial altitude gain over one or more passes, and it is evident that they can probably not make it all the way back today. The decision is made to proceed down the Cascade Valley and decide which way to go at each subsequent junction. As they begin walking, Scott finds the pain substantial but not unbearable. Still, he catches himself occasionally letting out a faint inadvertent sigh of pain as he steps off of the right foot. Several times early on he seriously considers stopping, but after 15 minutes or so the pain begins to subside and after about a half hour it becomes simply a discomfort, and his attention again turns to the omnipresent mosquitos and now to the light rain which has just started falling.