In which Wallaby heads home (part 2)

While I was travelling in Sydney, I'd been expecting the city to feel like home. I was surprised when it didn't particularly feel like a homecoming.

I was even more surprised when being in my tent in the woods did feel like home. Apparently I'm now most at home when homeless.

Air mattress update:

It turns out my air mattress is still leaking, but slowly enough that I was able to get lots of good rest. I did wake up needing to reinflate it twice. I think I may be forced to replace it, but for now it still works.

(I know. Boring story. Most of hiking is about minutiae, really.)

Day 2

Day 2 opened with a beautiful sunrise over Pigeon House (I think) in the distance.

Sunrise over Pigeon House

[Ed Note: I have confirmed the Pigeon House sighting.]

I sat and quietly watched the sun come up for a bit and then broke camp, had breakfast, replenished my water, and headed off for the day's hike. Originally, I didn't think a 10-15km hike would be that bad, but after the trail yesterday I was now a lot more concerned about the clock. If today's trail was as challenging, I was going to be in trouble.

In the end, the hike was considerably friendlier (though still a good trek). And the rewards were well worth the effort: The Nibellung Pass and the deep, dark, lush vegetation was amazing.

A little more work than
your typical stroll

Hard to believe what can grow
in the dark

Lush green. It was too dark to really
get good pictures in the depths.

From the dark wet valleys, I'd come up to what felt like dry ridges, but was really the Monolith Valley corridor between Mount Cole and the Seven Pinnacles. It was truly spectacular. Unfortunately my camera seems to have had enough of my adventures so the photos aren't coming out as well as I'd have liked.

Monolith Valley

A quick shower to cool down

I had planned to walk around Mount Cole and climb over through a small ravine between Mounts Cole and Owen, but as I approached the entry point to the ravine, the clock started ticking in my head. The access looked passable, but I couldn't tell from below how technical it would be, and I knew if I was going to retrace my steps I needed to do so right away. I'm not usually one to take the easy way, but hiking alone in an unfamiliar area, and knowing that the last 7k of trail was going to be challenging, I decided not to risk the climb.

Besides, I'd enjoyed the Seven Pinnacles and the Nibellung pass so much that I was happy to experience it again.

Final verdict: It felt really good to be back on a trail again. I really wish I could have made it a three day hike though, especially after reading this report.

GPS trail info: Cooyoyo - Mount Cole - The Castle, The Castle - Long Gully Campground

In which Wallaby heads home (part 1)

After months of being off the trail, and recently seeing both Trout and Foggy start their PCT journeys, I've been absolutely itching to get back into the woods. Conveniently, I've also found myself in Australia visiting friends again for three weeks. This meant time for a little bit of a bushwalk in NSW for possibly the last time.

Me, showing off

Years ago a fellow Sydney Bushwalkers Club member (also Canadian) had told me that the Castle Track and around through the Monolith Valley was one of the best hikes he'd ever done here. It had always been on my list to try and get to it, so I figured this was as good a chance as was ever likely to come along. Sadly, Pouch has retired to my parents' basement, so I sewed the proof of my hiker credentials onto my smaller pack, borrowed a friend's mum's car, and set out for Morton National Park and the Budawangs.

Things I was about to try out:

1. no cook hiking: with only a 32L pack, space is at a premium so instead of bringing a stove and fuel, I thought I'd save some real estate and try eating only cold food.
2. the patch on my mattress: Near the end of the AT, my mattress had sprung a slow leak. A few weeks ago I patched it, but still hadn't had time to test it out.

Originally I'd planned for three days, but heavy rains on the first day forced me to shorten the trek to two days. The goal was to drive the 4 hours to the trailhead, and then make my way 7km to the Cooyoyo Creek camping area, possibly summitting The Castle on the way. The next day, I'd hike out through the Monolith Valley, past the Seven Pinnacles, circle around Mount Cole and cross through between Cole and Mount Owen, then make my way back along the Castle Track to the car. This would be around 15-20km.

Day 1

For day 1, I figured 7km was no more than 2.5 hours of hiking, so this should be easy.

I was wrong. 

The Castle Track, while not particularly difficult, is slow going. It's a long steady uphill with narrow track, tonnes of roots and rocks to scramble over, and lots of false tracks to lead a wallaby astray. It took me a solid 4 hours to get to the campground - partly because it was slow going, and partly because I'd assumed it would be faster so I wasn't pushing it. By the time I got there, I was worried about getting up to The Castle and back before dark. I knew there were some more treacherous climbs, and am not a fan of descending rock scrambles in the dark.

There were, however, some nice rewards along the way.

I think that's Pigeon House in the distance, but it's not on my map, so I can't be sure.

Sometimes nature tells you its time to take a shower.

Near camp, I met a group of hikers who were planning to go watch the sunset from the Castle. This seemed like a brilliant idea. We could go up without packs, and the track back to the campground was easy to follow, so hiking in the dark wouldn't be so bad.

Wrong again. It turns out that trying to summit The Castle from the east side requires a very steep, difficult rock climb without ropes. I'm not the most agile of climbers, but one of the girls was obviously very strong (and she recognized my AT patch!). When she decided it wasn't safe, we all abandoned the cause and headed back to camp. If time permitted, I figured I'd attempt it again from the west side on my way back the next day.

One of the things that I'd thought after hiking the AT was that cooking meals was unnecessary for the most part. You never go more than 4 days without hitting town, so you can get hot meals pretty regularly. Going a few days without one didn't seem like it would be that difficult (at least during the warmer months). In cold weather, or for longer sections (say the 100 Mile Wilderness), it might be tougher. But for a quick two day hike in warmer temperatures, I really didn't miss a hot meal at all.

... in which Wallaby proves that thru-hiking the AT does not require skill.

It was now about 6pm, and dark (it's autumn here). With a lot of hours to kill, a fire seemed in order - and it would have been. Except that I had forgotten to buy a lighter. And I hadn't brought my flint. And I only had one, broken, storm match left in my emergency kit.

So it's 6pm in the dark, and I have exactly one chance at making a fire after a heavy rainfall. People think that if you've done a lot of hiking like the AT, you must be skilled. This is not true. AT thru-hikers are merely persistent. On the AT, you rarely make fires, or do anything that actually requires a learned skill. I met many, many thru-hikers who didn't know any knots, or how to make a fire, or how to navigate/trap food/find water/etc... We are not survivalists.

So here I am with only one match and wet fire making materials. Suffice to say that the light breeze rapidly did away with the small flicker of a flame that I was able to make.

So now it's 6pm, dark, and I have no chance of making a fire. I supposed this meant it was time to go test the mattress.

(Part 2 to follow)