Getting back on trail came with an additional difficulty: the Lionshead closure meant that roads that were used in the past to get back on were now unusable. Instead, we had to find someone willing to drive us along a dirt road all the way to Ollalie Lake, which was just after the closure. Lavalamp had found such a person, a local shuttler by the name of Uberducky. Him and a friend (both of whom turned out to be elderly men) picked us up in the morning. Uberducky told us the road at the end was in such bad condition he could only take us as far as 5 miles out from Ollalie. This would just be a bummer, if it didn’t turn out that the road was simply fine those last 5 miles. Slightly jealous, we saw other hikers pass by with rides that went all the way.
At the campsite that evening, it was time to celebrate a semi-special occasion: Fitz’ half birthday! As she didn’t get to celebrate her real birthday on trail, the next best thing was a six month celebration. I surprised her with a bunch of goodies, a birthday card that I’d cut in half, a Bible leaflet so that she could work on her Bible quotes (and save her soul in the process), a beer and a poop-themed temporary tattoo, what a feast! We sat on the bridge across the creek at camp and consumed it all.
Before dinner we all took a gummy and I tripped hard. At some point Lavalamp took my water bladder to fill it up, which I then completely forgot and frantically started looking for. A bit later I saw that a tree had fallen on Lavalamp’s tent and let out a little surprised shout, much to Half and Half’s alarm. A few seconds after I saw the tree was actually lying in front of his tent, a safe distance from it.
I had the best sleep ever that night. So much that I didn’t hear Merlin and Marble arrive.