Day 13: Whites River Hut to somewhere on the Main Range 10/12/19

Today was my most favourite and most stressful day. I headed off at 8 and easily found the track leading up to The Rolling Ground. It was pretty easy to follow for quite some time. I climbed quickly away from the hut.

Then all of a sudden there was no trail! At first I kept checking my GPS and app trying to stay on the exact right path. Then I realised it didn’t actually matter (there was no path!), as long as I was pointing in the right direction. What did matter more was aiming for ground that was easier to walk on. I learnt that when a couple of guys walked past in the distance and called out to see if I was ok. I’d stopped for morning tea (putting my feet and backpack right on an ants nest – I only realised when my whole boots, legs and pack were swarming with ants) and was right in the middle of all these bushes. They by contrast were walking on grass, much easier. So I changed course to where they’d been walking – thank you random hikers! I have to say, easier is relative. It’s still pretty tough going walking on that spongy, springy grass!

The country is so beautiful up there. I need a bigger word for beautiful! And all of a sudden a random buttercup meadow.

I love the name The Rolling Ground and I loved walking through there. The ground was super spongy and the walking was quite challenging, a bit like walking on sand. There is so much water in the ground everywhere from the melting snow.

The wind was insane. The forecast said 26mph and I didn’t know what that felt like before today. OMG. At times it pushed me off course and tried to rip my backpack from me (a few days ago I would have let it, but I think I’m in the backpack groove now. My shoulders didn’t complain once today). It was great climbing mountains because it gave an opportunity to walk around the summit on the other side away from the wind and get a small reprieve.

I stopped for lunch out of the wind at Stephen Consett Pass with 100 of my closest fly friends. I could look all the way down the valley to Guthega Pondage from there.

I found a footpad to lead me in the right direction. Previous travellers had also kindly left some cairns placed along the track for which I was hugely grateful.

I climbed up and over Mt Tate, hauling myself right up the side of that 2068m high mountain. Tough but absolutely exhilarating!  I went around Mt Andersen and almost to the top of Mt Anton. Very bizarrely, there are remnants of fences going right up the side of Mt Anton!

From Mt Anton the path was easy to follow and l didn’t need to refer to my GPS.

At some point l came across a tiger snake. In fact, I was about two paces away from stepping on it! It didn’t move. I certainly did!

The small path soon turned into a management trail and I was close to the Main Range. It was easy but pretty boring walking. Nice path though.

And then came the stress. Finding a place to camp for the night. The wind felt like a gale from the NW meaning the campsite off the west side of the Main Range David told me about yesterday wasn’t an option. I had to find something off the east side of the ridge. By 5pm still nothing. I was tired and hungry and trying to work out what I’d do if l couldn’t find somewhere. I was excruciatingly close to Thredbo and Jub, but too far to get there. I’d run out of water so collected some snow just in case.

All of a sudden I found it! The perfect spot. It was just down off the east side somewhere near Muellers Pass, relatively sheltered, with water not far away. Stress over. I set up my tent, inhaled some split pea soup for dinner and sitting there realised just how lovely a spot it was.

So lovely in fact that two more groups joined me!

In the end I’d walked 20kms. Big day in that terrain. And I’d proven to myself that l can walk off track, even if I do need to rely on technology to do so and I can find a place to set up my tent. Who knows, maybe I’ll do a course on bush navigating old school.