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I had a good night's sleep and set off at 9 AM in good spirits, a
little cold and still wearing warm gear. The guide book indicated
there was a lot of "poorly defined" trail today and I was determined
to be careful. The early trail was through the eucalypt forest with
some scrub and my route-finding was helped by someone who had put
out pink ribbon as markers to compensate for the paucity of official
markers. I disturbed a couple of families of brumbies on the way and
stopped after an hour take off my warm gear.
Trail-finding without the markers is very difficult because the
brumbies have worn many trails and it's easy to follow a wrong
track. At one point I came across a dead horse lying in the middle
of the track. Pretty smelly and fly-blown and I was holding my
breath as I walked past. I eventually reached the mis-named Misery
Trail on a ridge and enjoyed walking along through the snowgum
forest. Around 11 AM I followed a wrong trail and found myself
off-trail and trying to work out where I was and in which direction
I should go in the forest. My mood sank, and I wasted 30 to 45
minutes crashing around on the scrubby hillsides. I fell twice in 10
minutes, twisting both knees in succession quite awkwardly. At last
I located Macs Creek Track and found the right route soon after
noon.
After a break, I continued on the next "poorly defined" section
of trail which again proved difficult to follow and included a very
steep and awkward descent. Without getting lost on the section, I
made better time than expected and reached a nice lunch spot next to
the very pretty and fast flowing Dead Horse Creek. I took advantage
of the sun to dry my tent and sleeping bag while I ate. Alas, as I
left I followed some wrong ribbons and misunderstood where I was on
the map, made a navigational error and wasted another hour crashing
around on scrubby hillsides following misleading brumby trails.
Eventually I got back on the right track and reached Limestone Creek
Track in the mid-afternoon.
After a slippery steep descent (falling once) and fording the
fast flowing Creek, I had my last break before tackling the final
"poorly defined" section of the day. I was tired and the 6 km of
following faint trail on the steep sides of Stony Creek wasn't much
fun. I strayed a few times but didn't get badly lost. The section
finished with the steep and rocky ascent of a spur and I reached
Cowombat Track, my goal for the day, at 7 PM. It was getting dark
and I quickly set up camp, washed and ate. It wasn't as cold as last
night but I expect a heavy dew again.
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