Journal:
I slept well
on a very cold night and forced myself to get up in
the freezing pre-dawn gloom at 6:30am, knowing that
I had a big day ahead. Because the morning's
are so cold, I usually put back on pretty much all
of the clothes I was wearing the night before while
I go about packing up the tent and having breakfast.
Then, the last thing I do before I start hiking is
put on yesterday's hiking gear and pack away the
extra clothing. It adds time, but makes life
more bearable. While I packed up, dawn broke
and the hues of Paddy's River Dam seemed to change
every few minutes. It was magically still,
with the occasional kookaburra call and something,
maybe a fish, disturbing the lake's surface now and
then to create a small circular ripple. I was
told later it was a great trout fishing spot.
Soon after 8:30am I began hiking through the
tussocky alpine forest on a superb morning.
The going on the well-defined single-track was easy,
the scenery magic and I anticipated a lovely day.
I did finally see three or four brumbies when we all
startled each other around this time, but they
quickly galloped away through the trees and over a
ridge. It continued like this for the first
hour and a half and I became confident that I would
reach the Henry Angel Trackhead in good time to
hitch a lift into Tumbarumba and have an early mark.
After a short break, the track began to follow an
old water sluice that had once carried water from
Paddy's River Dam to Tumbarumba to generate
hydroelectricity for the town.
It was now just barely a path following the contours
around the side of a mountain and the going became
much harder. It was soft underfoot and
overgrown and I frequently stumbled on hidden rocks
and roots. I got "up close and personal" with
hundreds of tree ferns in the many ravines the trail
crossed, often having to bull-doze my way through
the vegetation, thankful that it hadn't been
raining. In many places large trees had fallen
across the trail necessitating some careful
clambering. It took the best part of three
tiring hours to traverse this section and, although
it was exhausting, I did take time to appreciate the
lovely country and the efforts of Hume & Hovell's
party in finding a route through this country.
Lower down the track passed by
the remnants
of an old timber mill and many gold mining
enterprises, mostly reclaimed by the bush.
It's amazing how quickly nature reasserts itself.
Eventually, the track reached a private pine
plantation and then followed forestry roads and
firebreaks to grazing country and more old gold mine
workings. By this time my legs and feet were
tired and I was very glad to see the Henry Angel
Trackhead Campsite come into view. There were
quite a few RVs and other car-based campers staying
there.
I passed
through the Campsite and set myself up in a
hitch-hiking position on the Tooma Road at 4:30pm in
the gathering dusk. After 20 minutes not a
single vehicle had passed going my way and I decided
to begin walking towards Tumbarumba, 8km away, in
the hope of getting a mobile phone signal and
possibly calling someone in town (the motel or
taxi.....but the town's probably too small).
Anyway, after walking about one kilometre, two cars
passed and the second, a young couple in a pickup
towing a boat, stopped and picked me up. They
had had an unsuccessful day's fishing on a nearby
lake, but said this was unusual. The guy said
that one of his casual jobs was clearing the Hume &
Hovell trail of brush and treefalls with a chainsaw
and that he would be back up there after the winter.
They dropped me at the motel I had earlier booked in
town and I decided, given the relatively late hour,
the washing I needed to do, and the longish next
section of trail, that I would stay two nights and
have tomorrow off. I showered and walked into
town to get some take-out dinner before having a
quiet night in the hotel, looking forward to a
sleep-in in the morning.