Day 10: Whites River Hut to Dead Horse Gap 36.6kms, 12 hours 15 mins, 58k steps, 1,428m ascent, 0 snakes, 0 through hikers

After a not great night’s sleep,  I was up and on the track by 7am with a goal of reaching Dead Horse Gap today. It’s 35km over mountainous and slow terrain,  so I wanted to start early. I saw no sign of the other camper – they seemed still asleep when I left.

I love, love,  love the Rolling Ground. I think it’s my favourite part of this walk.  It’s stark and open and barren.  The ground is tough to walk on. It’s spongy and marshy, and there’s no track and no even ground. It feels wild and seldom frequented. Today is the first day I’ve thought hiking boots would be better than tail runners. My feet were moving around a lot in my runners.  Your ankles get a big work out on this terrain too!

The morning was very slow going,  having to navigate to make sure I was heading in the right direction. I found it difficult to stay on track and often found myself drifting down hills and having to climb back up again. Or ending up walking in plants that were difficult to walk through instead of up on the more grassy areas.

I met a group of six ladies out hiking for a few days. Apparently, they were busted yesterday walking through the off track area that’s closed for feral pig shooting. I helicopter flew close to them and gave them the hairy eyeball. Oops.

I made my way to Stephen Consett pass and found the faint foot track.  There were crickets everywhere!   The first mountain you climb is Mt Tate, followed by Mt David (another example of losing the track and going too low,  so having to climb back up the steep side of the mountain,  definitely not the official route), Mt Andersen and Mt Anton.  It always amazes me that Mt Anton has the remnants of fences from sheep grazing days. Imagine installing those!

When I got to the Main Range Walking Track, I was sure I could make it to Dead Horse Gap tonight and therefore to a shower and bed!  The challenge and benefit of the Main Range Walking Track is that it’s mostly made of stones or metal walking track, both of which are hard under foot,  especially for feet that have just crossed the Rolling Ground and climbed several mountains, but there is no navigation required and you can just walk at a good pace.  By now, I know what it feels like to keep going with sore feet and achy backpack shoulders,  and I can push on.

There’s not as much snow left as when I last did this track. Last time, I had to walk through a couple of snow drifts,  but this time none. Last time, there were a lot of watery marshy areas on the Rolling Ground, this time many were dried up. 

Jubble met me near the chairlift with a very delicious powerade after having walked up the track from Dead Horse Gap to escort me back down.  The track down was very challenging. First it went steeply up,  then 4km down and after 32km, I was already done. Every step down hurt my feet and ankles and it was the slowest 4km I’ve done in a while!  But it’s so beautiful with all the snow gums and I was still able to appreciate that through the pain!

The shower was fantastic,  the pub dinner less so and the bed oh so comfy!