Heysen Trail, South Australia
Adelaide Hills Council, South Australia, Australia
time : May 25, 2019 7:59 AM
duration : 3h 31m 20s
distance : 15.3 km
total_ascent : 393 m
highest_point : 715 m
avg_speed : 4.5 km/h
user_id : gstreet
user_firstname : Carl
user_lastname : Greenstreet
A wet and blustery 15km slackpack walk today between Mt Lofty and Norton Summits. A check with the Bureau of Meteorology suggests 15-20mm fell while I was walking. I’m so thankful not to be setting up camp in such weather while I’m resigned to the fact that this scenario is yet to come...
Lisa dropped me off at Mt Lofty and the blustery white-out conditions were completely different there from the blue skies we experienced when Drew and I arrived yesterday. Still, there were a steady stream of walkers trudging up the Waterfall Gulley hike which has become an Adelaide icon.
Lisa initially was going to hike with me but she still has an awful cold and has not regained her voice so we both thought being out in this blustery weather would be a terrible terrible idea. I’m hoping the exercise is boosting my immune system, especially since I mistakenly used Lisa’a electric toothbrush head last night! I suppose I’ll know if I’ve got the lurgie over the next few days!
This section of the walk is also familiar to me as I trained over the first part and walked the second half in the Trailwalker events 20 years ago. Soon after I started walking, it began to bucket rain but I was reasonably toasty in my running tights, synthetic tee, mid-layer, buff, ball cap and rain jacket. I brought a rain skirt but I was happy enough for my lowers to get wet and the clothes did a good job of wicking water away from my body and being active kept me warm.
As I exited Cleland, the trail follows a narrow curvy paved road. During Trailwalker all those years ago, we had to transit through this section at night which seemed very unsafe. Once again, in the fog and driving rain, I began to wish for one of those red bike flashers that Sparky (a keen cyclist) has brought along during Trailwalker and pinned to each of our daypacks. Well, ask and the trail provides! I hadn’t gone five metres after thinking this when I saw a red flash on the road verge and found a rechargeable compact bike flasher that had fallen off some cyclist’s bike. Trail magic! I fastened it to me pack and felt much safer. In fact, given my scary nighttime road walk in Mt Compass, I’ve decided to bring this with me in case I need it again!
The trail wound down long descents through Horsenell Gulley and then a long climb up through Giles Conservation Park. Giles was an early settler here. A trained horticulturalist, he arrived from England in 1850 and founded orchards on the slopes of Norton Summit. He eventually had 50 people working for him and the trail climbs by historic ruins of worker cottages.
Eventually I emerged back along the road leading to Norton Summit and encountered three backpackers heading towards me. They started in Burra two weeks ago and were section hiking all the way to Cape Jervis. We exchanged notes and they had some concerns with the lack of camping spot on the way to Victor as they did not want to walk the daily distances I did. They also told me that they found the Norton Summit Scenic Hotel, my destination for today, still closed when they walked by. We wished each other well and went our separate ways.
Fortunately, when I arrived at the Scenic Hotel at 11am, they had just opened and had a roaring fire going. I called Lisa to pick me up (she was starting to worry given the weather) and had a lovely coffee and piece of pecan pie as I waited for my ride. I’m burning so much energy at the moment that I can’t keep the weight on no matter what I eat. I’ve already lost around 4kgs in the first 9 days of walking and I have 43 days to go!
Now that I’ve showered, changed into dry clothes and am snuggled under a blanket in an upstairs recliner, I have that feeling I used to get as a child when we would come in from playing in the snow - tired but invigorated, chilly deep inside yet pleasantly warm.
Tomorrow a well earned rest day!