Active duration on tracking should have been 8 hrs) Today is a full day of walking with something like 36 km to go. I wake up early, pack and eat a special town treat breakfast - three pieces of fruit, yoghurt and a cinnamon bun. Yummy! I start out just after 7am which is still a few minutes before the sun is up. My pack is at peak heaviness after resupply and it feels awkward and uncomfortable at first, despite my previous day of rest. Once I had been walking 45 mins, I’m warm and all the aches disappear as I settle into a full day of walking. No rain but but the sky is grey and cloudy, with hints of blue sky but the sun hadn’t broken through by mid morning. It’s a steady light climb all day today - I wish I hadn’t checked the elevation profile as ignorance can be bliss. There is a lot of dirt road walking today and they are muddy. Mud clumps to my runners until it feels like ankle weights. I try to walk on the grassy verge where it is not so muddy but the price is wet feet! I’m glad to turn off into paddocks and get away from the worst of the mud. The paddocks are beautiful; the edges lightly forested, nice tone outcrops and historic stone ruins. I emerge onto rural dirt roads again. It’s amazing- I’m on the road but something like 300 Jeep 🐑 and lambs get disturbed by me up walking by and stampede across the pasture, making one heck of a racket. Not too long later, I’m walking along the edge between a pasture and a lightly forested road reserve when I come across three lady hikers. My experience is that you don’t meet hikers very often except in the popular end sections of the HT, so I stop to say hello. They are from Adelaide and periodically go out walking sections of the Heysen Trail. Their partners catch up and the seven of us have a nice chat. They’ve thought about walking E2E so have lots of questions. It’s always nice to see people and I have a bit more bounce in my stride after we say goodbye. Soon afterwards, I come across a fragment of blue and white pottery, brought to the surface when they ploughed the field. There are lots of historic signs left by earlier settlers- broken stone ruins set in lonely locations, roads cut through stone hilltops (oxen cartage roads?) and twisted ancient fruit trees. To my great pleasure, I see that some of the fruit trees have swollen colourful buds with white and pink flowers starting to open up despite it being mid winter! Life renews for another year. It seems like I’m walking through lush cattle and crop country. All in all pleasant walking. I’m a bit footsore and tired on the last 8km of the walk. I fantasise about arriving at the hut and shedding my pack weight and taking a couple of Vitamin-I. From experience, I know the aches will pass but my feet ache intensely when I stop for a breather. I don’t stop long as I’m keen to get it done! I go by a small vineyard and then meet a couple chainsawing and burning dead wood along the road reserve. I stop to chat and it’s a Danish couple who own the vineyard. They are doing fuel reduction as this is the only way into the property and they want to reduce the risk of being trapped by a summer bushfire. Hard work that never ceases. They also tell me a backpacker went by an hour before so I’m thinking I may have company at the hut. The walk ends with a climb up to a steep ridge festooned with cell towers. The views from the rocky ridge are outstanding and I see my first wind turbines in the distance. I drop down the other side and come to Marschall’s Hut. This stone hut may be the prettiest on the trail. I see a muddy bike is parked under the veranda so I know at least one person is here. When I open the door, there are two men inside. Gert, is a Dutch born backpacker around my age, who is walking Kapunda to Burra so we’ll see each other most nights this week. Danny, is the younger bike packer. He road up from Tanunda today and will ride back tomorrow. Danny is Scottish; it’s interesting that the three of us are Aussie immigrants. We have a pleasant evening chatting around the fire. I get cold and retire to my warm bag to finish this blog. It’s supposed to be a chilly four degrees tonight and even colder the next night where I’ll be in a tent. My feet still ache but I’m expecting a slightly easier day tomorrow Carl /Pilgrim ——- Weather: cool, grey clouds with a little sun late afternoon Calories burnt: 3703

Hiking/Backpacking

Heysen Trail, South Australia

Light Regional Council, South Australia, Australia

time : Jul 5, 2020 7:19 AM

duration : 8h 52m 49s

distance : 35.9 km

total_ascent : 628 m

highest_point : 519 m

avg_speed : 4.5 km/h

user_id : gstreet

user_firstname : Carl

user_lastname : Greenstreet

Active duration on tracking should have been 8 hrs) Today is a full day of walking with something like 36 km to go. I wake up early, pack and eat a special town treat breakfast - three pieces of fruit, yoghurt and a cinnamon bun. Yummy! I start out just after 7am which is still a few minutes before the sun is up. My pack is at peak heaviness after resupply and it feels awkward and uncomfortable at first, despite my previous day of rest. Once I had been walking 45 mins, I’m warm and all the aches disappear as I settle into a full day of walking. No rain but but the sky is grey and cloudy, with hints of blue sky but the sun hadn’t broken through by mid morning. It’s a steady light climb all day today - I wish I hadn’t checked the elevation profile as ignorance can be bliss. There is a lot of dirt road walking today and they are muddy. Mud clumps to my runners until it feels like ankle weights. I try to walk on the grassy verge where it is not so muddy but the price is wet feet! I’m glad to turn off into paddocks and get away from the worst of the mud. The paddocks are beautiful; the edges lightly forested, nice tone outcrops and historic stone ruins. I emerge onto rural dirt roads again. It’s amazing- I’m on the road but something like 300 Jeep 🐑 and lambs get disturbed by me up walking by and stampede across the pasture, making one heck of a racket. Not too long later, I’m walking along the edge between a pasture and a lightly forested road reserve when I come across three lady hikers. My experience is that you don’t meet hikers very often except in the popular end sections of the HT, so I stop to say hello. They are from Adelaide and periodically go out walking sections of the Heysen Trail. Their partners catch up and the seven of us have a nice chat. They’ve thought about walking E2E so have lots of questions. It’s always nice to see people and I have a bit more bounce in my stride after we say goodbye. Soon afterwards, I come across a fragment of blue and white pottery, brought to the surface when they ploughed the field. There are lots of historic signs left by earlier settlers- broken stone ruins set in lonely locations, roads cut through stone hilltops (oxen cartage roads?) and twisted ancient fruit trees. To my great pleasure, I see that some of the fruit trees have swollen colourful buds with white and pink flowers starting to open up despite it being mid winter! Life renews for another year. It seems like I’m walking through lush cattle and crop country. All in all pleasant walking. I’m a bit footsore and tired on the last 8km of the walk. I fantasise about arriving at the hut and shedding my pack weight and taking a couple of Vitamin-I. From experience, I know the aches will pass but my feet ache intensely when I stop for a breather. I don’t stop long as I’m keen to get it done! I go by a small vineyard and then meet a couple chainsawing and burning dead wood along the road reserve. I stop to chat and it’s a Danish couple who own the vineyard. They are doing fuel reduction as this is the only way into the property and they want to reduce the risk of being trapped by a summer bushfire. Hard work that never ceases. They also tell me a backpacker went by an hour before so I’m thinking I may have company at the hut. The walk ends with a climb up to a steep ridge festooned with cell towers. The views from the rocky ridge are outstanding and I see my first wind turbines in the distance. I drop down the other side and come to Marschall’s Hut. This stone hut may be the prettiest on the trail. I see a muddy bike is parked under the veranda so I know at least one person is here. When I open the door, there are two men inside. Gert, is a Dutch born backpacker around my age, who is walking Kapunda to Burra so we’ll see each other most nights this week. Danny, is the younger bike packer. He road up from Tanunda today and will ride back tomorrow. Danny is Scottish; it’s interesting that the three of us are Aussie immigrants. We have a pleasant evening chatting around the fire. I get cold and retire to my warm bag to finish this blog. It’s supposed to be a chilly four degrees tonight and even colder the next night where I’ll be in a tent. My feet still ache but I’m expecting a slightly easier day tomorrow Carl /Pilgrim ——- Weather: cool, grey clouds with a little sun late afternoon Calories burnt: 3703