September 28th
Canning Campsite(51.2)-Nerang Campsite(78.1)
Mileage: 26.9mi/43.3km
I didn’t sleep great last night. Temps dropped into the upper 30s (3.3C) and, even though I wasn’t wet, the dampness in the air always makes it feel colder. I woke up as the sun was coming out, and thankfully the skies were clear. I checked the weather and it should be clear today and tomorrow, but then the wind and rain picks up again a couple days from now. My schedule is good to make it to town in a few days, so if I take advantage of the two nice days, I won’t have to do as much on that last forecasted rainy day before I go into town. Since I wasn’t sleeping, I decided to go ahead and hike. I got started at 6:30am, and for the first few hours of the day, I wore both my jackets and my beanie. About an hour into the day, I got service and was able to put the blog up. It is a pain when I don’t have the service at camp. Especially today when it was cold and I would have wanted to keep walking. I hadn’t seen anyone in 24 hours, until I heard a noise and this is what I saw this morning.
The track should be closed to just walkers, but it obviously is used by motorbikers and mountain bikers. The guy stopped and was really nice. He claimed he wasn’t aware that it was a walking trail, which is understandable because it is an old road and the trail hops on and off of them quite often. However, there are a great deal of barriers purposely left across the old road that are there to obviously discourage the joy of motorbikes and mountain bikes. It was funny because when he came up to me and claimed to not know, I was standing right next to one that I had just walked through with a notch thin enough for someone to walk through, but obviously not moved for larger traffic. When he went to turn around, he even rode right through what was intended to be a barrier and turned around and came back through. He was quite nice about it, and I feel like if I was in the US, he would’ve told me to shove it and would’ve continued on.
As I hiked up the road further, I could see all the areas where he had either gone over what was in the road, or had gone up off the road to go around whatever barrier was there. It does say clearly in my guidebook that the roads are closed to vehicles. About an hour later, even saw another car on the road that was supposed to not have any vehicles, so that is confusing.
The morning was pretty uneventful, so I decided to take pictures of the different trees. Since I’ve done the flowers, and the trees seem to be noted often in the guidebook, I figured why not. There are only a handful of different types out here, and for the life of me, I can’t remember them. Maybe this little exercise will help. There are others I didn’t see today that I’ll try to remember to post if I see them. I think these are right…
Jarrah with long stringy bark.
Marri (red gum) with annoying honkey nuts that are easy to roll an ankle on.
Forest Sheoak with soft long needle-like branches.
Banksia with cones.
Wandoo (white gum). Not a great photo, but my favorite.
Grass Tree (Kingia).
I don’t look too far ahead on this trail, and just look as far as the next section to water, which tends to usually be just a few hours tops. It wasn’t until right before, that I realized I was doing what is considered two of the more challenging sections on the whole track. The range that the Bib follows is called the Darling Range. Today, I went over three peaks along that range. The first one was Mt Cuthbert. It was a short walk up with nice views of the range. This day really reminded me of the Appalachian Trail. It’s just like when you’re down in the woods for a long time, and then you finally get up to a viewpoint, and it feels more exciting then it normally would.
Looking back where I came from.
I did see six people in varying pairs while I was up there. It seems to be a popular area that goes through Monadnocks National Park. While I was eating lunch at the top of Mt Vincent, a father-son duo with packs that seem to be doing a section walked by. I was off to the side and we waved but did not speak. I enjoyed my lunch on top of Mt Vincent and could see the upcoming Mt Cooke.
Lunch on Mt Vincent.
Mt Cooke is the highest mountain in the Darling Range, and was really great. The climb up was not very much at all, but looking back the views were nice. The weather was warmer this afternoon, and I was able to be in a t-shirt on the ridge. I am really lucky that I didn’t have this section yesterday. The rock that I was walking on can get very slick and still had some slick spots to be careful of going down. I was also told that in the morning, it can be quite foggy up there, so I feel really fortunate to have gotten the experience that I did up there. There was hardly even breeze, and the lighting was just perfect. It really made my day and gave me a boost.
Looking back towards Mt Cuthbert and Mt Cooke.
Fun ride atop Mt Cooke.
Coming down Mt Cooke.
They aren’t all burnt!
A new (blurry) bird and flower.
The day ended with some awesome multitasking trail, that just cruises. People have asked me if I dictate my journal entries, and I never have, but I have been able to use that feature a lot lately while walking on the multitasking trail and answering emails. I realized today that I could try it when I ended the day with such good multitasking trail. It totally works! I was able to do most of this while just walking on a level wide path and dictating it. I love it! I wouldn’t always be able to do it, because I need to have something mindless like a clear path to focus. Any other regular trail requiring more focus, and I wouldn’t be able to do it. Plus, it makes enough typos that I do need to go back and edit it later, so I really don’t think it would save me much time overall. Also, it does drain the battery much more.
Perfect end of the day multitasking trail!
I didn’t intend to go as far as I did today. I thought that Mt Cooke and the trail after it this afternoon was going to be much slower. I expected to dry camp after Mt Cooke, so I actually carried all the camp water I thought I’d need over Mt Cooke. When it was time to stop nice and early at 5:30pm, I noticed I was less than 30mins away from the shelter. The time it would take me to walk there was totally worth the ease of not dealing with the tent tonight and tomorrow morning in the cold. Also, there was nothing that was calling to me as a nice camp spot. These damn shelters. I’m totally brainwashed now to go to them! Who would have thunk it!?
Nerang Shelter
Wallaby
Well, that’s about it for today. I am now going to watch the premiere of Survivor! Last night, I did watch the premiere of This Is Us. I wanted to like it more, and I will give it at least one more episode. It has potential, and a good cast, but I wasn’t quite connecting with the characters yet. I liked the ending of the premiere though. OK, off to watch Survivor!
I wonder if anyone’s ever tried hiking with a game camera? They’re the ones people (usually hunters) hang in the woods that catch movement of deer and such. Not sure if they’re continuous or just snap still shots, don’t know if they’d go off just because you’re walking, but they’re infrared and work at night. Might be a fun experiment if anyone has access to one! Love the wallabee!! P.S. As a solo hiker, I’m actually loving the lower-key parts of your trip right now. Personally, any Wired blog is good blog. 🙂
Haha, I think it may only work if I stood still.
43km over Mt Cuthbert, Mt Vincent and Mt Cooke is a great effort for an E2E day.
Pretty soon you will catch up with an older couple I met at Mt Cooke on Saturday (24th). They are only single hutting it and call themselves the SKI (Spend Kids Inheritance) Couple.
Ha ha! I think I just saw their entry at the last shelter, and I think I may see them today or tomorrow.
Enjoying your BT E2E blog, Wired. My then fiancé and I (we’re now married) did the BT E2E back in 1998 just after the southern section was opened. It wouldn’t be overstating things to say it was a challenging but rewarding life experience for both of us. You are a lot more experienced than we were at the time but I hope you get as much from it as we did. If you see an echidna (spiny ant eater), consider yourself blessed, they are the cutest little creatures. However, as the weather warms up, you will encounter snakes. For the most part they will just slither away, but if you meet one that doesn’t, just walk away and give it some space and time to move.
In Bryson’s book, I think that’s what he saw that made his trip.
I love this section of the trail. A great day hike for busy mums like myself. You got a great wallaby shot too! X
Loving these trail entries, Wired! And this trail. While wild and quietly beautiful out there it seems so approachable and manageable, while having the potential for little surprises around any corner (or behind tall stalks of grass). The wallaby, or was it a roo? peeking out the other day was a delight to see…so fun that you spotted the little face. I’m loving Australia and while I love any/all of your postings, these trails have a different, quite charming flavor that I’m really savoring.
Really enjoying your appreciation of the quiet time, new-found shelter joy, and chance to chill with your shows. Amazing job you did with your trail planning. You’ve been pushing so hard w/miles and terrain for months now – and your prep year of xtra work and nutso logistical planning it’s grand that you can cruise for miles, relax your brain, and stay in your bag past 5:45? What!? You’re a regular layabout – ha! – well-earned.
I know! The alarm was set for 5:05am all summer. No more of that!
Love all the trees…
Continue to pray for you. If you have any request please notify me. If private, just ask for unspoken request. You are an amazing woman. Thanks for sharing your hikes.
Thank you John:)
Wow, beautiful trail continues. I am so surprised at your embracing of trail huts. That is so not you! But I’m glad they work for you. As far as I’m concerned, the less work to do the better. As many others are saying, really love the photos of not only landscape, but trees, mammals, and birds. Just awesome.
Go!Wired!Go!
I see Erin as constantly evolving and embracing ever wider experiences.. a beautiful thing, seems to me.. and very much who she is.
Pretty great when you surprise even yourself.
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Sometimes we try new things (shelters) and find them so wonderful we just have to enjoy them when we can. Glad to see you aren’t on a schedule this trail … and I love that you are just relaxing a bit. Last summer I was all over the place, checking so much off my bucket list that I didn’t sit and just soak things in. This summer it is a slower pace, stopping to take enjoy the moments, and I even included a chair in my car camping gear. Enjoy the shelters. When you get back, maybe I can get you to try a rustic cabin as a day-hike basecamp. <– hahaha
Oh a chair, wow!