It was Maejo, and while the 4th U-turn would have been better, we were signed from the 2nd, weaving our way to a secluded runsite beneath the temple steps. Finding the runsite was hard enough, but what kind of a run had Kwazi put together? It started pleasantly enough following the trail along the bottom of the hills into Praphat’s farmland. At this point, I was beginning to think the hill was a decoy and that we would be sticking to the flatter land somehow?
A very difficult check in Praphat’s farm had us all over the place, gradually further away from the check and from the hill. Finally Pussy Whisperer found it (I think), but it took a while for me to figure out where he was, and longer to get all the way back to the circle. When I did, there was nobody around. Finally I found paper into a ditch and then straight up the steep cliff. WTF?! I caught a glimpse of Square Rooter way up the hill ahead of me, and tried to press on up. But I was on my own, and this was a devilishly steep hill. Rather than going straight up, I tried to veer left and right to lessen the incline, like S bends on the road to Pai. I was making progress and got about halfway up before pausing. I recalled scouting this hill previously and deciding not to put hashers through it. I hung onto a tree, sat down for a moment and realised just how severe the slope was – I was barely able to cling on! I wasn’t sure if it would be easier to continue to the trail that I knew was at the top, or slither my way back down. As I was on my own, I opted to slide back down the hill and retrace my steps.
I didn’t see any other hashers, even though some were left out very late into darkness… ABB had to be rescued by LungLaa, but everyone survived…