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Journal: |
I slept well on a very cold night and forced myself to get up in
the freezing pre-dawn gloom at 6:30am, knowing that I had a big day
ahead. Because the morning's are so cold, I usually put back
on pretty much all of the clothes I was wearing the night before
while I go about packing up the tent and having breakfast.
Then, the last thing I do before I start hiking is put on
yesterday's hiking gear and pack away the extra clothing. It
adds time, but makes life more bearable. While I packed up,
dawn broke and the hues of Paddy's River Dam seemed to change every
few minutes. It was magically still, with the occasional
kookaburra call and something, maybe a fish, disturbing the lake's
surface now and then to create a small circular ripple. I was
told later it was a great trout fishing spot.
Soon after
8:30am I began hiking through the tussocky alpine forest on a superb
morning. The going on the well-defined single-track was easy,
the scenery magic and I anticipated a lovely day. I did
finally see three or four brumbies when we all startled each other
around this time, but they quickly galloped away through the trees
and over a ridge. It continued like this for the first hour
and a half and I became confident that I would reach the Henry Angel
Trackhead in good time to hitch a lift into Tumbarumba and have an
early mark.
After a short break, the track began to follow an
old water sluice that had once carried water from Paddy's River Dam
to Tumbarumba to generate hydroelectricity for the town. It
was now just barely a path following the contours around the side of
a mountain and the going became much harder. It was soft
underfoot and overgrown and I frequently stumbled on hidden rocks
and roots. I got "up close and personal" with hundreds of tree
ferns in the many ravines the trail crossed, often having to
bull-doze my way through the vegetation, thankful that it hadn't
been raining. In many places large trees had fallen across the
trail necessitating some careful clambering. It took the best
part of three tiring hours to traverse this section and, although it
was exhausting, I did take time to appreciate the lovely country and
the efforts of Hume & Hovell's party in finding a route through this
country.
Lower down the track passed by the remnants of an
old timber mill and many gold mining enterprises, mostly reclaimed
by the bush. It's amazing how quickly nature reasserts itself.
Eventually, the track reached a private pine plantation and then
followed forestry roads and firebreaks to grazing country and more
old gold mine workings. By this time my legs and feet were
tired and I was very glad to see the Henry Angel Trackhead Campsite
come into view. There were quite a few RVs and other car-based
campers staying there.
I passed through the Campsite and set
myself up in a hitch-hiking position on the Tooma Road at 4:30pm in
the gathering dusk. After 20 minutes not a single vehicle had
passed going my way and I decided to begin walking towards
Tumbarumba, 8km away, in the hope of getting a mobile phone signal
and possibly calling someone in town (the motel or taxi.....but the
town's probably too small). Anyway, after walking about one
kilometre, two cars passed and the second, a young couple in a
pickup towing a boat, stopped and picked me up. They had had
an unsuccessful day's fishing on a nearby lake, but said this was
unusual. The guy said that one of his casual jobs was clearing
the Hume & Hovell trail of brush and treefalls with a chainsaw and
that he would be back up there after the winter. They dropped
me at the motel I had earlier booked in town and I decided, given
the relatively late hour, the washing I needed to do, and the
longish next section of trail, that I would stay two nights and have
tomorrow off. I showered and walked into town to get some
take-out dinner before having a quiet night in the hotel, looking
forward to a sleep-in in the morning.
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