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Australian Alps Walking Track - 2011 Diary Dave's Website AAWT 2011 Overview Schedule Pictures Map Diary
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Day 08 Date: Tuesday, 22 March 2011 Kilometres: 18.7 Total kilometers: 172.3 AAWT Animals: birds People: one hiker and a group of Outdoor Ed trainees Weather: Mostly overcast, some fog and rain Campsite: Camp Creek Camp location: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=-37.11974,+146.64914 Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/byrnesinoz/AAWT2011Day0822March?authkey=Gv1sRgCKnYk_6-87igWA
I got up at 7am when it got light and hoped for a better day. The weather looked OK. The early walking was along an old firetrail made boggy in places by cows. What are they doing here! I didn't bother climbing King Billy 1 or 2, given there were other, higher, mountains coming up shortly. I made good time along the trail through the visually pleasant alpine forest - gnarly snow gums, tussocky grass and saplings. After a while I left the firetrail to head east towards Mt Magdala and was pleased to find the foot trail was easier to follow than yesterday. It was like a freeway by comparison, though still quite hard walking. The views from the grassy top of Mt Magdala (1725m) were fantastic as promised by the guide book, with mountains rolling off in all directions. On the way up the next mountain, Big Hill, I met a guy day-hiking from a nearby hut and we chatted for about 15 minutes. The subject of water came up and I mentioned that I needed to make Camp Creek tonight or would be a bit short. He immediately offered to give me the litre he was carrying, but I politely declined. How nice was that? On top of the grassy Mt Howitt (1738m) I had lunch enjoying the stupendous views and spread out my tent and sleeping bag to dry in the sun and wind. After lunch I had to negotiate the aptly-named Crosscut Saw (up and down, up and down, you get the picture) where I was often on a very narrow ridge with very steep drop-offs on both sides. The constant climbing and descending was slow and tiring but the views were great. This was the start of a declared Wilderness Area. Then followed the also aptly-named Mt Buggery (1605m) and the descent to the also aptly-named Horrible Gap. Hard work! There followed a very challenging ascent of Mt Speculation (1668m). In some places it involved virtual rock-climbing with the heavy pack that had the heart pumping with a combination of work and fear. It had been raining so the rocks were slick. Then the fog closed in and I couldn't see anything from the top anyway, though I could smell wood smoke from somewhere. Half a kilometre later, I came across a group of about six Outdoor Ed diploma students (including instructor) on their expedition - only 3 days into their 7-day hike and they had already had two drop out! I had a brief chat and continued on another kilometre to Camp Creek where I could get water, arriving at 6:30pm. The rain held off until I had almost completed dinner then came bucketing down for 45 minutes. Everything got a bit damp - it was very sudden and dark at the time - but nothing too bad. I finished eating dinner in the tent. Happy with the day, but conscious that I had been averaging 2kph for much of the day with another hard day coming up tomorrow. In bed by 9pm. |
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