The party continued to head east along the road until they reckoned they were a short distance from the Last Bridge. Because most of the party would most likely be executed if they past by the Last Bridge, the group headed north. After many hours of heading North-East the party reached a river, they guessed it was another tributary of the Mitheithel. It was easy to ford, the party now turned almost due east. Only a short time passed before another tributary was found, this too was easy to ford. The group they came upon what could only be the Mitheithel.

The company were about a day and a half from the road when they finally reached a quite stretch on the river. It was decided that this was likely to be the best spot to try and cross the river within a reasonable distance. Unfortunately there was little wood on the west bank, Eonan reckoned that if he stripped off most of the gear he would be able to swim the stream with one of his horses. He would be able to draw a rope across the river. Using this rope Dar, would be able to cross. The two of them would then build a raft on which the rest of the party and all the gear could be drawn across. This seemed like a good plan. The party had 100 feet of hemp rope and 2 50 foot lengths of superior rope. With the river being about 150 feet across, 200 feet of rope would be needed to run a line across. This left no rope with which to build the raft.

The party spent many hours arguing about different ways to build the raft, run lines across the river and so on. However eventually all conceded the only way to cross was to go back to Bree to fetch more rope. Eonan was given the task, as he could ride light, hence making the trip in the minimum amount of time. It was decided that he should purchase rope, twine, nails, a wood axe, various equipment for Dwalin and 4 weeks of food. The rest of the group settled in to wait for an estimated 6 days. The plains and empty land on the west bank of the Mitheithel provided little cover from the north wind. The only consolation was that the hunting was good.

Surprisingly Eonan returned on time. He unfortunately had been unable to buy twine or superior rope. Also for some reason he had only purchased trail rations, leaving the party now with little variety in their diet. The task of actually crossing the river now began in earnest. Eonan took most of the gear of his horse, leaving only the axes, nails, dry clothes wrapped in tarp and some food. He then tied a 50 foot length of superior rope onto the 400ft length of hemp rope he had purchased. The hemp was secured to a stake driven into the bank, the superior rope was tied around his waist. He then using his horse for support swam the river. On the other side he first changed into the dry clothes and then tied the other end of the hemp to a tree. This left a secure line of hemp running across the river and 50 feet of superior rope to build the raft.

Once Dar estimated that Eonan's old clothes had dried he crossed the river using the hemp line to pull himself across. After putting on the clothes available dry clothing himself and Eonan started work on the raft. Eonan felled any small straight trees could find and Dar worked on stripping and cleaning them. Night fell with the party still split on different sides of the river.

In the morning the raft was finished. The final arrangement was that on each bank there was a secure mooring: on the east a tree, on the west the stake. From each of these moorings 200 feet of hemp rope connected to the raft. It was decided to test the raft by transporting all the equipment across. The equipment was brought across in three runs. The raft seemed secure, however the mooring stake on the west bank was beginning to come loose. Eonan cut another small tree down which Dar fashioned into a larger stake. This was sent over on the raft. It took almost 3 hours of Dwalin and Lars to position this stake and to carefully remove to original. Then Lars crossed over on the raft. Eonan returned to the west bank so that he could swim over with his pack horse. Dwalin was transported across the river. It was decided not to leave the raft in place, as it would only last a short while in the strong current. Eonan cut free the west mooring, then swam back to the east bank with his horse. The rest of the party pulled the raft up on the east bank, in case it would ever be needed again. The exhausted party then settled down to rest for the night. (Day 30)