It had rained lightly all night so I was conscious that the morning pack up would be a wet one. Thankfully I had pitched the tarp the night before so most of the tent was dry. The morning also was steadily clearing as the sun came up. I knew today would be a ‘big’ and challenging walk – mud, water, elevation and long at 28kms. I set out with high hopes of getting through in reasonable time. The promise of a fellow bushwalking mate (Jim) to pick me up a give me dinner and a bed at the other end was particularly enticing.
The first few kms were straight forward. I had thought I had camped at one of the last places on the track before it got rough. This was not quite the case, there were quite a few more properties before the road became 4wd only.
Once the track deteriorated to mud and water, I stowed my ‘trekkers friend’ and loaded my pack for the next section. My thoughts of a reasonably paced day soon evaporated. The mud was not too bad to negotiate but the long deep water sections (much more than puddles) with thick foliage overhanging them on either side slowed me to a stop. Several had tracks around but most did not. I was slowing down to less than 2km per hour and sometimes spending 10 – 15 minutes bushbashing around deep holes. I had reception and let Jim know that our dinner date would probably not be happening, I would need to camp out somewhere at this rate.
I finally came to the conclusion that getting wet and wading straight through the water sections was the only way to make reasonable progress. I did this for the final three or four water holes I came across. I was nearing the top of the range by this point at about 900m and suddenly the road completely transformed – logging I guess. It was from here on for the next 10kms well made, maintained and recently topped with heavy road metal. Still to rough for my trekkers friend but no more water holes in the road. I lunched and decided maybe I could make it after all. I would put a good 10km down and see how things looked. I had only done 10 km by my late lunch at 1.00pm.
The 600m of elevation loss downhill was tough on my knees but I was now making much better time. Chatted to a couple of mountain bike riders who were on their way up to Billy Brown Falls which I had passed a couple of kms back. They asked about the track and I warned them about the steepness (up for them). They continued on but within 10 minutes were back – way too steep for them they said.
I stopped at 4.00pm to assess my options and as I was now within 10km of Judbury, I reattached my ‘TF’ and headed down. The road was overall not too steep and good walking. I hit Judbury right on 6.00pm to be met 10 minutes later by a smiling Jim with the promise of good wine, a warm shower and a hearty dinner with Cheryl his wife – all of which went down very well at the end of what was probably my most challenging day so far.
