No Thermarest problems last night as I slept in a comfy bed in the caravan park cabin! Ah, the glamping life for me! 😀 I’m up well before dawn as I want an early 0630 start today as I’m a bit apprehensive over the physical demands of the coming day. Going the other way, northbound, this section was beautiful but perhaps my most challenging day of the trail. Looking at my tracking records, it’s possible that the climb is even greater in the southbound direction. Let’s find out! I walk up Alligator Road as the glow from the rising sun expand behind me. The sun is up by the time I reach the track along Stoney Creek. When I finally get to the campsite, I check the rainwater tank and multi use platform, both of which I helped install on a 2019 FotH maintenance trip. Everything looks to be in good shape. It’s time to get into goat mode as the trail climbs steeply up a rock face towards Alligator Gorge road on the ridge way above me. I can hear a loud barking cry near me - no idea what it is. Perhaps a fox announcing a morning kill? The trail is a bit overgrown with vegetation that I must push through as I climb. It could do with a trim back! I reach a stone cairn marking the summit of this climb, to which I add another rock. Up in the ridge, I can see Mt Remarkable across the steep hills. I know that, late today I will get up-close and intimate with this peak! But there are a lot of ups and downs between me and the summit! Route finding is easier this year, particularly as it’s easier than prior years to often see where other walkers have tread. I’m not sure why there is a more visible footpad; possibly more growth as it’s a wetter year or simply that there are more hikers on the trail. I cross Alligator Gorge Road and follow a steep track for awhile, both up and down. The trail takes me cross country at times or follow 4WD tracks. Either way there are many sustained steep climbs. I just grind away at them the best I can, briefly stopping to gasp breath when I just can’t take another step up. I think about how easy it is to fall. Let me count the ways: I considered making this into verse sung to the tune of Fifty Ways to Leave your Lover; you know “tripped on a stick, Rick. Slipped on the dirt, Bert. You don’t need to fall, Paul. Your sticks will set you free…” Uh, naw. 😀 The common theme is that trekking poles save me from falls multiple times every day. I think a walker would be crazy to do this hike without poles but it takes all types. After climbing a steep hill (get the theme, yet?), the trail follows a lovely creek, gently flowing with water, and enclosed by green rocky banks and the occasional majestic gum tree. The climb out is straight up (yep, definitely a theme) but I eventually climb out. The adjacent green hills are quite beautiful. I pass by a dark black still lake; no idea why the water is black (tannins?) but it makes a superb reflecting surface. I follow another 4WD track, come around the bend, and there is Grays Hut, a pretty spot to camp but too close to Melrose for me to give camping here any serious consideration. I stop by for a short break and find three ladies at the picnic table: Fiona, Angela and Cathy. They are section hiking the Heysen from the south and have completed 800 kms of the trail. Today, they are going in reverse, starting at Alligator Gorge Road and walking to Melrose where they left a car. We talked hiking for a short while before I said my goodbyes - I had been walking pretty hard and did not want to stiffen up by stopping too long. Gray’s Hut is not too far from the steep climb to the Mt Remarkable summit. I climbed up away from the hut until the trail dropped steeply down. I must confess that the trail route over the next small section makes no sense and forces the walker to go down and up very steep pitches. On my second walk, I discovered I could ignore the trail for a couple of kilometres and simply follow a contour around the steep hillside, going neither up nor down, and that doing so, I would reconnect with the trail. It’s only fiddling at the edges but I reckon it saves a few hundred metres of climb on a tough day. So I cheat! I rejoin the trail at the bottom of the Mt Remarkable 4WD track which climbs and climbs unceasingly, at first at a brutal grade but levelling out at the top. I finally reach the summit, leaving the Heysen Trail to go to the very top. There aren’t really views due to the trees but there is a trig and a number of platforms to rest on. I’m soon heading downhill towards Melrose as fast as I can go on the rocky path. The trail traverses many rocky scree sections and the rocky footing hurts my pounded feet. I pass by the old plane wreck which looks less like a plane and more like aluminium rubbish each year. I whisper a blessing for the occupants killed in the wreck and hurry down the mountain. I hit Melrose at 3pm, 31 kms, 1200m climb, some 8 1/2 hrs after I started out - with only 15 minutes stationary as I hardly rested today. I stopped by Over the Edge and had a coffee before checking into Wozza’s BnB. It’s evening now, I’m showered washed my sweaty clothes and had a good pub meal at the North Star. Tomorrow is a welcome rest day. I’ve still got difficult days in front of me but I’ve overcome what I think is the hardest section between Melrose and Hawker. I’m looking forward to a sleep-in! Ah, the glamping life for me! Carl / Pilgrim

Hiking/Backpacking

Heysen Trail, South Australia

South Australia, Australia

time : Jun 27, 2022 6:38 AM

duration : 8h 31m 33s

distance : 31.3 km

total_ascent : 1180 m

highest_point : 967 m

avg_speed : 3.8 km/h

user_id : gstreet

user_firstname : Carl

user_lastname : Greenstreet

No Thermarest problems last night as I slept in a comfy bed in the caravan park cabin! Ah, the glamping life for me! 😀 I’m up well before dawn as I want an early 0630 start today as I’m a bit apprehensive over the physical demands of the coming day. Going the other way, northbound, this section was beautiful but perhaps my most challenging day of the trail. Looking at my tracking records, it’s possible that the climb is even greater in the southbound direction. Let’s find out! I walk up Alligator Road as the glow from the rising sun expand behind me. The sun is up by the time I reach the track along Stoney Creek. When I finally get to the campsite, I check the rainwater tank and multi use platform, both of which I helped install on a 2019 FotH maintenance trip. Everything looks to be in good shape. It’s time to get into goat mode as the trail climbs steeply up a rock face towards Alligator Gorge road on the ridge way above me. I can hear a loud barking cry near me - no idea what it is. Perhaps a fox announcing a morning kill? The trail is a bit overgrown with vegetation that I must push through as I climb. It could do with a trim back! I reach a stone cairn marking the summit of this climb, to which I add another rock. Up in the ridge, I can see Mt Remarkable across the steep hills. I know that, late today I will get up-close and intimate with this peak! But there are a lot of ups and downs between me and the summit! Route finding is easier this year, particularly as it’s easier than prior years to often see where other walkers have tread. I’m not sure why there is a more visible footpad; possibly more growth as it’s a wetter year or simply that there are more hikers on the trail. I cross Alligator Gorge Road and follow a steep track for awhile, both up and down. The trail takes me cross country at times or follow 4WD tracks. Either way there are many sustained steep climbs. I just grind away at them the best I can, briefly stopping to gasp breath when I just can’t take another step up. I think about how easy it is to fall. Let me count the ways: I considered making this into verse sung to the tune of Fifty Ways to Leave your Lover; you know “tripped on a stick, Rick. Slipped on the dirt, Bert. You don’t need to fall, Paul. Your sticks will set you free…” Uh, naw. 😀 The common theme is that trekking poles save me from falls multiple times every day. I think a walker would be crazy to do this hike without poles but it takes all types. After climbing a steep hill (get the theme, yet?), the trail follows a lovely creek, gently flowing with water, and enclosed by green rocky banks and the occasional majestic gum tree. The climb out is straight up (yep, definitely a theme) but I eventually climb out. The adjacent green hills are quite beautiful. I pass by a dark black still lake; no idea why the water is black (tannins?) but it makes a superb reflecting surface. I follow another 4WD track, come around the bend, and there is Grays Hut, a pretty spot to camp but too close to Melrose for me to give camping here any serious consideration. I stop by for a short break and find three ladies at the picnic table: Fiona, Angela and Cathy. They are section hiking the Heysen from the south and have completed 800 kms of the trail. Today, they are going in reverse, starting at Alligator Gorge Road and walking to Melrose where they left a car. We talked hiking for a short while before I said my goodbyes - I had been walking pretty hard and did not want to stiffen up by stopping too long. Gray’s Hut is not too far from the steep climb to the Mt Remarkable summit. I climbed up away from the hut until the trail dropped steeply down. I must confess that the trail route over the next small section makes no sense and forces the walker to go down and up very steep pitches. On my second walk, I discovered I could ignore the trail for a couple of kilometres and simply follow a contour around the steep hillside, going neither up nor down, and that doing so, I would reconnect with the trail. It’s only fiddling at the edges but I reckon it saves a few hundred metres of climb on a tough day. So I cheat! I rejoin the trail at the bottom of the Mt Remarkable 4WD track which climbs and climbs unceasingly, at first at a brutal grade but levelling out at the top. I finally reach the summit, leaving the Heysen Trail to go to the very top. There aren’t really views due to the trees but there is a trig and a number of platforms to rest on. I’m soon heading downhill towards Melrose as fast as I can go on the rocky path. The trail traverses many rocky scree sections and the rocky footing hurts my pounded feet. I pass by the old plane wreck which looks less like a plane and more like aluminium rubbish each year. I whisper a blessing for the occupants killed in the wreck and hurry down the mountain. I hit Melrose at 3pm, 31 kms, 1200m climb, some 8 1/2 hrs after I started out - with only 15 minutes stationary as I hardly rested today. I stopped by Over the Edge and had a coffee before checking into Wozza’s BnB. It’s evening now, I’m showered washed my sweaty clothes and had a good pub meal at the North Star. Tomorrow is a welcome rest day. I’ve still got difficult days in front of me but I’ve overcome what I think is the hardest section between Melrose and Hawker. I’m looking forward to a sleep-in! Ah, the glamping life for me! Carl / Pilgrim