Two words: bush walk. And lots of it today. After breaky we sorted out our passes and headed for the Dove Lake carpark with the intent to do the two hour Dove Lake circuit. Two detours and six hours later and we arrived back at the car. I swear there was a warp in the space time continuum or we walked through a few temporal singularities because one sign said 1hr 30 and it took us 45mins but another sign said 1hr 45 and it took us somwhere between 2.5 - 3.0hrs. We even got the bum steer from a ranger... a RANGER!!!
The start was great. Boardwalk and some steps. Piece of pie. Then the first detour took us up a steep bit. We made Wilks Lake for lunch and continued. All we seemed to do is go up and up. We finally made Little Horn and started coming down to where there's an emergency hut and the path split nearby.
If we hadn't walked the circuit backwards,
we'd have seen this sign earlier!
Two people including a ranger said that the Twisted Lakes path was flat albeit muddy so we thought we'd do it and avoid a climb. Strange idea of flat. It was a hard slog up and down for hours. Not happy. But we made it back in one piece and we all feel impressed with where we walked and Mim was happy. Not only did she get to take some more detours, she now has a young Padawan in the form of Rebecca.
In spite of my whinging, the views are very rewarding
We returned to the cabins for nibbles, a roast dinner, games and some much needed sleep.
This made the hard slog worth it
Julie says...
I was looking forward to getting some hiking training in (I'm doing the Gold Coast Kokoda walk) but after getting lost beside a Twisted Lake I decided that this wasn't worth it.
It was all smiles at the start
Mikey says...
The walk was fantastic. Didn't see much wildlife though.
Mim and I having a ball. Haha... get it?
I'm so funny!
Luke says...
Even though I was at the back, I could still hear Mikey's singing. I feel sorry for the wildlife.
Mikey couldn't understand why he kept losing at Liars Dice
Bec says...
I was proud of my previous detour suggestion (day 1) when I lead the team to the Cataract Gorge... but not so proud of my later detour suggestion that had us turn a day of 'we'll just do a short walk' into what will go down in history as the longest hike ever. The team: noisy pants Mickey (you are the reason we didn't see any wildlife); always happy hiker Mim; the camera guy Pete; the camera guy's assistant (Julie your dedication to carry a camera tripod that entire trip was incredible); preggas (I would never have attempted this walk in my normal not-super-fit condition and now I was doing this 27 weeks pregnant); and the always helpful preggas assistant (Luke's dedication to push me up the hills, talk me through the hyperventilation and escort me down the rock faces will never be matched), are now available for hire if you are in the mood for an adventure hike with a twist.
I found snow!
No comments:
Post a Comment