Journal:
I slept well and, having decided there was no rush
to leave early after a long day yesterday and a
short day in prospect, had set the alarm for 7am.
I managed to set off the smoke alarm while toasting
my now mould-free bread but it didn't seem to
attract any attention and I knocked the alarm off
the ceiling with my trekking pole and removed the
battery (all replaced before I left).
I departed the Tavern around 8:30am, having to climb
over a wire fence to get out because the entrance
gate had been locked. The roofers were at work
(they were from Albury, my final destination, and
were driving back this afternoon to spend the
weekend at home.....they suggested last night that I
jump in the back of their ute (pickup) and give the
walking a miss), but none of the tavern personnel
were about.
It was yet another beautiful morning and I'm
starting to suspect I'm going to pay a price for all
of this good weather later in the trip. I
retraced my steps through the hamlet of Wee Jasper
and followed a H&H sign that directed me past the
town dump where a couple of guys were at work.
They were the last people I saw all day, apart from
a couple of cars in the distance on a road I
crossed.
Once past the dump I began the climb to a ridge in
the Wee Jasper Nature Reserve that was described in
the trail guide as hard, but I didn't find it too
bad. It was just a steady climb on a dusty,
and occasionally rocky, foot trail in the cool
morning air with the sun shining on my back (not
that I could feel it because of my pack). The
forest was eucalypt and scrubby bushes (sclerophyll)
and pleasing to the eye, but very dry. The
ridge provided good views back to the Goodradigbee
Valley I had hiked along yesterday and Wee Jasper
and, in the other direction, the forested peak of Mt
Wee Jasper (1121m) that I would shortly be climbing.
At the highest point on the ridge, where I had good
mobile phone coverage, I took an early break to
check my email and post my diary. The air was
still and the temperature just right. It would
have been easy to stretch out and read a book or
have a nap. However, even though I had a short
distance for the day, I knew I would be slow because
of the steady climbs and descents and couldn't
afford to loiter for too long.
I descended along the foot trail to the next valley
which was farmland at its base and followed the H&H
markers across some fields, over a minor road, and
then up the lower slopes of Mt Wee Jasper. The
climb was steady, slow and sweaty as the day warmed,
but not too bad. At the lower elevations it
was scrubby and dry eucalypt forest again, but
higher up the forest became greener, the undergrowth
primarily ferns, and the trail often grassy as it
climbed through the higher sub-alpine valleys.
Eventually I reached the summit of Mt Wee Jasper,
but was disappointed to find that the forest
obscured most of the views. There were a
couple of benches there and I sat and had my lunch
in the grassy clearing. Soon I was joined by a
dark-coloured wallaby with a joey that occasionally
stuck its head out of her pouch and sampled the
vegetation. I was surprised how unafraid it
seemed because there would have been few visitors to
this peak. I checked the log book there and
hikers only came through every week or so.
Anyway, it was nice to sit and eat and observe the
wallaby hopping around and grazing just a couple of
metres away.
After lunch, the trail descended steadily through a
mix of silent eucalypt forest and pine plantations
and around 3:30pm I reached the Log Bridge Creek
Campsite in a narrow valley and quickly set up camp.
By 4pm the sun had gone and the temperature dropped
quickly. The adjacent stream has very cold and
slightly murky water, though it should be fine to
drink at this elevation. I washed myself and
some clothes and updated my diary before eating
dinner. I toyed with the idea of lighting a
fire, but in the end couldn't be bothered.
It's very cosy in my sleeping bag and I'll head
there after dinner and listen to the Geelong vs
Essendon AFL game on my radio.