Camping right near the start of my walk meant that I could just walk away, and Jubbie could take his time to pack up and get ready to head off. Today’s walk was a bit of a slog, especially after the amazing views of the past few days. The first 3km were up to the summit of Mt Sunday along an overgrown vehicle track. It’s definitely a long time since any vehicles drove up that track! It was steep in parts and a bit of a grind, but at least the track was easy to follow. The summit didn’t have any of the amazing views I’ve become accustomed to given all the trees, but through the trees, I could see some of the mountains I’ve climbed over the past few days. That’s pretty cool. There were some good looking camp sites at the top as well as a helipad I remember from last time I did this walk. Jubbie and I spent Christmas day afternoon and night at the bottom of the track from the helipad where we camped and drank surprise bubbles and ate sachets of Indian curry.
Most of the rest of the day from the summit of Mt Sunday was along 4WD tracks, easy to walk but kind of boring. Some parts were super steep and rutty, others flat and easy. There were annoying puddles of very dirty water along the track, which meant that at times, I had to go off track into the bushes to avoid them. Just enough times to be really irritating. Parks Victoria recommended not to drive that track, and I could see why – super rutty and rocky and steep. I had lunch on a grassy patch looking across to Mt Skene.
Along the walk, I came across a black snake having a sleep. It didn’t move at all as I went past, much closer than I would have liked had i seen it before I stepped there.
After Rumppf’s Saddle came Barkly River Jeep Track, a super steep, very rough 4WD track. Unfortunately for me, it was uphill, very uphill! But all things come to an end, and at the end was Jamieson Licola Road, a wide, well graded dirt road with some great views across to distant mountains. After a few km of that kind of walking, the trail headed onto a bush path, which clearly used to be a vehicle track, but is now for walking only. It started off being quite nice, a welcome change from road walking. But soon, I encountered some fallen trees across the path, then more, then more. There was 1.5km of track with trees fallen everywhere like a game of pick-up sticks. Some I could step over, some I had to climb over, some I had to crawl under. So not enjoyable at all. There were also a couple of spots of very dense regrowth bush where I had to full blown bash my way through. Slow and boring and hard work.
As the trail started to head down hill and the vegetation changed, the dead trees stopped, and there were all these lovely tree ferns. That’s where I came across black snake number two for the day. It was stretched right in the middle of my path, having a lovely sun bake. I stomped my hiking pole onto the ground, and it didn’t move. I then moved a stick near it, and it raised its head. I moved the stick again, and it quickly and quietly slithered away. That was all fine, except the next section of trail down to the road was covered in dense ferns, and I couldn’t always see where I was stepping. I just kept hoping it wasn’t onto the next snake. It was really beautiful though and a lovely change from the rest of the day.
I came out back on to Jamieson Licola Road right at the time that Jubbie drove up from Barkly River Logging Track at that same spot! After a powerade and a chat, I continued on to finish the last few km of the day, and Jubbie went to our meeting spot. We then drove back to near where I’d first come on to Jamieson Licola Road from Barkly River Jeep Track and found a lovely campsite. We had some oat cheese and bikkies and wine, then a delicious Chef Jublé gnocchi and another early night. Tomorrow will be another big one.
Kerry's Hikes 