Tuesday 5th
May 2009 The day before the trip I finally stuffed everything I had accumulated into my backpack. I managed to fit everything in but spent a restless night contemplating its weight and the prospect of carrying it, and got up early to repack it according to some ideas I had in my sleep. It was still FAR too heavy but slightly better in its interior (and exterior) design. Bidding a sleepy farewell to my partner and my little cat, I hoisted my pack and went across to join Michael and Yvonne for the car trip up to Katoomba. Tossing both bags in the back we decided that mine was possibly slightly heavier. I had too much gear, being unwilling to leave items like my cooking stove and water filter behind. Michael’s bag was still heavy though, so I didn’t feel too ridiculous about the state of my own.  Arriving at the locked gate on Narrow Neck, we admired the fog in the valleys, bade farewell to Yvonne and started off. The walk along the Narrow Neck fire trail was as uneventful as expected, but the views into the Megalong and Jamison Valleys, full of early morning mist, were beautiful and inspiring. An organised “100km Wilderness Trail Run” was apparently held the day before, so it was lucky for us that we had delayed the trip by one day. Bright flag markers showing the way to participants followed our route along the road, down Taros Ladder and finally diverging at Medlow Gap. Michael lowered our packs down Taros Ladder, while I assisted their passage from below, and thus already saved my life on the first morning. It is fairly certain that I would make the descent very quickly and unpleasantly if forced to climb down wearing my heavy, bulky pack.  Passing Medlow Gap we proceeded south along White Dog Ridge, trudging along a broad fire trail and eventually entering restricted Water Board territory. My pack was becoming a serious burden on my shoulders, hips and mind, and I was much relieved by a lunch stop overlooking the Cox’s River, from which we had an excellent view of the ascent we would have to make after we first descended an equal distance to the river.  The descent, down a trailless spur, seemed surprising long and arduous, and as the clouds which sheltered us earlier in the day had burnt away, we were quite warm by the time we reached the bottom. Finally we reached some unoccupied Water Board huts and the Cox’s River running by them. The area is very heavily oppressed by a wide variety of the most common and virulent weeds of the Blue Mountains, which was rather disconcerting in such a supposedly protected area.  We crossed under a flying fox, presumably Water Board infrastructure of unknown purpose, which did not seem to be available to ferry trespassers across the river. The river where we crossed with our own legs was deeper than expected, but not problematic. The bottom of my pack got a little wet at the deepest point. We then followed the river for a short distance before filling our containers with water and beginning the ascent. If the earlier descent had seemed tiring it was as nothing compared to the subsequent climb. It was steep, awkward, long and unmarked by a trail. Several stops were had on the way up. Finally, making it through a high section of scree, loose logs and cliffs, we discovered a flat area suitable for camping about 100m from the top of the slope, and gladly took advantage of it. We had a hot drink, successfully made contact with a mobile phone tower and spoke to Yvonne, and later Anna. We both enjoy sitting and not wearing our packs. Walking time: 7am to 3:15pm (minus breaks) Casualties of the day: 1. Turns out my lovely new Camelpak water bladder has a defect and leaks water from the top. VERY annoying. I spent much of the morning fiddling with it at every opportunity, but nevertheless lost a significant amount of water, which I still had to carry as it was soaked into my pack. I rigged up a temporary solution in the afternoon. 2. I was awarded the medal for the First Fall, loosing my footing on some loose ground. The momentum of my pack had me flipped over like a turtle, possibly causing 3. A broken plastic plate. |
