Dave Byrnes' Adventures

Australian Alps Walking Track - 2011
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Day: 010
Date:

Thursday, 24 March 2011

Start:

Barry Saddle

Finish:

Selwyn Creek Road

Camp Location Here
Daily Kilometres:

22.6

Total Kilometres:

210.2 AAWT

Animal Encounters

Birds

People Encounters

Trail-clearing crew and one 4WD

Weather:

Mostly overcast with some fog, rain and drizzle

Pictures:

No pictures, iPhone stopped working

Journal:

I got going about 8:45am. It had rained overnight and all my stuff out "drying" was saturated. It continued drizzling through breakfast and almost everything was either wet or damp, including my sleeping bag. I rugged up in all my wet and cold weather gear and started hiking for what should have been an easier day than yesterday. The old firetrail was overgrown and I quickly got saturated again, though it was still easier walking than yesterday. However, sadly, in mid-morning on one of the more overgrown parts of the firetrail, I missed a sharp left turn onto another overgrown old firetrail and continued straight ahead down a very difficult and dense wet scrubby descent. I reached a saddle and worked out I had gone off course. After crashing around for probably two wasted  hours, I eventually made it back to the missed junction. I suspect I'm not the first to miss this turn. There were signs of others having crashed around in the same scrub - broken branches, scuffed logs, etc.

It was extremely disheartening and tiring and I didn't reach the Barry water tank (put out for hikers on this remote and usually dry section of the AAWT) until 1pm when I should have been there by 11am. I was VERY unhappy, not to mention cold and wet. While having a 15 minute break, I realized I could hear a chainsaw going in the distance. Not long after, I was surprised by a worker who was the lead man of a trail clearing crew from Mt Beauty Fire Station. He was a very nice and knowledgeable young guy and we chatted for about 15 minutes during which time we were joined by a second chainsaw guy. I had seen a chainsaw blade stuck in a partially-cut log a kilometer back and they said they had to leave it there a week ago.

I continued on down the still very overgrown firetrail, though with fallen trees now cut and  making life a bit easier when, about 15 minutes later, I could hear a loud brush-cutter getting closer and closer from the other direction through the very dense scrub as I muscled through. In the end, there was a brief pause in the noise and I shouted I was coming through, much to the surprise of the guy wielding the brushcutter. More chatting, and I thanked them all for their work. A little later, I met a group of Australian Conservation Volunteers - four backpackers, three girls and a guy, three of them foreign, and a supervisor - clearing the cut brush off the trail. They were very pleased to meet someone actually using their cleared trail. I enjoyed their cleared trail for the next kilometer or two until I joined the Selwyn Track which was much easier walking.

Along here I encountered a guy driving a new-looking 4WD with a baby strapped into a child seat in the front passenger seat looking bemused by the whole thing. The weather began clearing a little and I hung some things on the outside of my pack to dry, but it was soon raining again. I left the nice, though hilly, firetrail to climb Selwyn Mt South (1398m) which was a wet steep ascent into the clouds. Pretty country, though, with long grass, open snow gum woodlands and ghostly big boulders in the mist. After a short descent, I made the (poor) decision to follow the official AAWT route over Mt Selwyn (1424m) rather than taking a slightly longer firetrail alternative I could see on the map. It was getting late and I should have dodged the "faint trail" descent that followed Mt Selwyn, especially since it was in cloud and not much higher than Selwyn South.

Predictably, I lost the faint trail and had trouble orienting myself because of the fog. I ended up crashing around on the steep and difficult wet scrubby slope for 45-60 minutes. Eventually, I climbed back to where I should have been and carefully made the descent to a road. It was already 6:30pm and I covered the remaining distance along a firetrail to Selwyn Creek Road, where my next food dump was, by 8pm, just on dark. I found the drum easily and repacked food and then ate dinner (and food dump treats) by headlamp. I didn't wash for the second night in a row and wore damp clothes to bed in the hope they would dry a little. I'm hoping to cover the 30km to Mt Hotham/Davenport Village without problems tomorrow and then get a room for two nights and dry everything out. Everything is damp and it's still drizzling a little outside.

ADVENTURE LIST

 

Round Ireland
(2016)

Hume & Hovell Walking Track
(2013)

Via Alpina
(2012)

Australian Alps Walking Track
(2011)

Land's End to John O'Groats
(2010)

Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2009)

Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2008)

Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2007)

Australia Tip to Top MTB
(2006)

Adelaide to Darwin MTB
(2005)

Sydney to Melbourne MTB
(2004)

Three Peaks Race
(2004)

Appalachian Trail
(1986)

Alpine Track
(1983)

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