Karl, Pam and Sue + Melinda, David, Mark, Steve and Yvonne
We walked in Thursday night, starting 9pm from Carlons Farm and setting up camp on top of Mt Dingo at 1am.Walked in a creek rather than on a track. Oh Dear - Was it ever wet !!!
Breakfast Crk must have been 25m wide across the fire trail
Surprise surprise but we struggled to get up and going for the 6am Dawn Service. Despite the weather, there was a large crowd out there abd the service was as moving as ever despite the drizzle. The bag pipe player is to be congratulated and we hope he is back next year.
Two drowned rats and Kermit the Frog at the Splendor Rock Dawn Service.
We had a leisurely breakfast huddled out of the rain and adjusted our walk plans for the w/e. Climbing down the pass, we walked south to the base of Splendor Rock, to check out the chains there from the bottom. The cliff line has a number of interesting overhangs, a couple of them very large (more on that latter) that provided some dry tinder and water was streaming of the edge in many places despite the rain easing by this time. Once Kermit had overcome his fear of heights and climbed the chains, we back tracked to the pass and then out to Mt Yellow Dog for an early lunch. Initial plans were for Kanangaroo Clearing via Yellow Pup, but this mysteriously changed to via Yellow Dog Point, at some point during lunch, where we arrived by 2pm.
The area was so inviting we justified a "soft" day by adding the 4 hrs in the dark and wet of the night before and upgraded it to a "solid 24 hrs" and promptly decided Kanangaroo could wait. Tarps up and just as the firewood chore was complete, our peaceful campsite was invaded by fellow SBW's David, Melinda, Mark, Steve and Yvonne. They too gave their target of Kanangaroo away and we joined forces for the rest of the w/e around the fireplace. An attempt was made to locate the grave site of Harry Shire, who passed away from heat exhaustion in 19nn while walking with Melinda's father.
Next day it was off to Kanangaroo Clearing for morning tea, where Mark showed us a couple for pleasant camp sites and then to lunch
at an unscheduled spot opposite Moko Crk. Karl, unsure whether water would still be running off Mt Dingo, crossed the Coxs for some of Moko's finest. Rather later than desired we headed up the ridge for the cave overhangs under Mt Dingo. The main party arrived for sunset but Karl, David and Pam had the pleasure of a second night walk in 48hrs, albeit just half an hour. Mark and Co had selected the largest and most sheltered of several. Everyone was busy collecting water, still falling from the walls, by whatever means possible. Best ultralight practise was followed with pack covers doubling as oversized water collectors.Dawn on Sunday
A hip high elevated fireplace was selected that made cooking and drying off a breeze. More of that please!! Not so good on the selection of flat ground for sleeping, but Mark showed it how it was done by scooping a depression in an otherwise unusable slope. Karl returned from a night time walk to Mt Dingo a rather embarassed 30 min late, having made the interesting discovery that finding a pass in darkness from above is somewhat more tricky than finding it heading uphill. Lesson Learnt !!
Next morning the alarm went off at a totally unreasonable 5am, and we quickly broke camp in order to catch a spectacular sunrise at Splendor Rock. Well worth the effort and what a difference 48 hrs makes.
Breakfast was at the top of Mt Dingo, where Yvonne provided the mornings entertainment as she attempted to bake, steam, roast or otherwise cook a Zuchinni.
The walk back via the Wild Dog mountains was truely worthwhile. The views and the terrain quite special and deserve further exploration.
A great w/e of walking in good company. Thanks to all involved
No comments:
Post a Comment