There were massive thunderstorms and torrential rain last night. It was lovely being tucked up in a warm nest, but the loudness of the rain made it difficult to sleep. We woke up to a beautiful day with all the bird calls and a lovely wallaby in our campground. The creek was much higher after all the rain, and parts that were foot tracks yesterday were under water this morning. This is such a great campground (Native Dog Campground) and we’ve loved each time we’ve stayed.
There were lots of different experiences today. It started walking along a ridge on a foot track that eventually narrowed and descended down to Stony Creek. The water was high after all the rain last night, and I was feeling grateful the track was up high above the creek. Everything was wet, and by consequence, so was I. I’m getting used to hiking all day with wet feet.
I crossed the creek several times, with the highest level being top of thighs. There was one section I thought I had to cross, which looked deep and fast and pretty daunting. Luckily, I double-checked, and it was a much smaller creek joining that one that I needed to cross. Phew!
The first section had all been on foot tracks, and it then joined Limestone Creek Track, a 4WD track. After crossing the final creek, the vehicle track climbed steeply uphill. I remember this from last time. You can never quite capture the steepness of tracks in photos!
Off the 4WD track and back onto a foot track. And of course, another creek to cross, but this time with a very considerately fallen tree.
After walking through a valley for a while (hello daddy emu and four cute baby emus – sadly, no photo), the climb started. It was super steep, and the regrowth from the 2019/20 bushfire made it extremely challenging. I lost the track and had to full-blown bush bash to the top. I had to constantly check the direction to aim for, and it was so easy to drift off course. Very slow going and very difficult. But nothing I haven’t done before and this too shall pass. I arrived at the top to find a little tractor buggy thing that I assumed clears tracks (shame it hadn’t got to that one earlier!).
After crossing a road, the uphill continued, but this time with significantly less challenging regrowth. It didn’t matter that I lost the track – as long as I headed in the generally right direction, I was ok. At the top (the real top this time), I met Misery Trail. Turns out, Misery Trail, not so miserable. It was a 4WD rocky track, a bit hard under foot, but so easy to walk and no navigation required. After the slow progress so far today, it was really great to stride out.
At the point where the track leaves Misery Trail, I learned what that tractor buggy thing does. It had made a path straight down (up?) the side of a quite steep mountain. Bush walks do not normally go straight up/down steep mountains. They switch back and meander around. But this was literally straight down. No navigation required, no bush bashing through bushfire regrowth – I was happy to take it. It was pretty challenging to walk down, given the steepness.
At the bottom was brumby heaven. Short grass, swampy bits, very sloppy to walk in. I think they had re-routed part of this track – I seemed to be on the official route, but it didn’t line up with my GPS map. Then I was definitely no longer on the official route and instead found my way to the right point via several brumby trails – lucky some went where I wanted to go!
Much of the day’s walking had been slow, so it was nice to finally get to Buckwong Track and do a decent speed with no risk of losing the trail. After a long climb, I met Jubble at Mt Hope Road (always my favourite sight of each day seeing Jubbie waiting for me). I walked the last couple of kms without my backpack, and Jubble drove on to meet me at tomorrow’s starting point.
We camped at Buenba Flats with 100 of our closest kangaroo/wallaby friends. It was still and calm and a really lovely place to camp.
Kerry's Hikes 