The clear skies that enabled an awesome star display last night, had all but disappeared by morning, making way for a grey cloudy sky. I got up an hour before dawn as I remembered from last year that I had a long day’s walking in front of me. After brekkie and packing up, I was ready to walk. I said my goodbyes to Geert; it would have been fantastic to walk together for a few more days but I need to keep the pace up and Geert needs to manage his foot that is playing up. We’ve exchanged details so I hope to see him again socially and perhaps for another walk. I learned last year to accept what the trail gives me but friendship is one of the rarest gifts from this lonely trail. I only walk a couple of kilometres before I stop to scout out a lovely old ruin for future astrophotography. It’s a long haul up here from Adelaide but the dark skies are outstanding. I’m trying to capture interesting foregrounds and compositions into my PhotoPills database as I go so I can put an Astro trip together some time in the future. Then I focus on putting kilometres behind me but also enjoying the unique semi arid and dry forest lands I’m travelling through. It’s a mixture of fence following, track following and even some trail. There are some climbs but all pretty. I come across a small mob of kangaroos feeding in and amongst a herd of feral goats. I often see roos feeding with sheep. Is this because they congregate at the best feed in this arid country or are they social? Like a Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoon, I imagine them gossiping as they feed, “...and then, Marge, oh my god, he hopped up to me like he was God’s gift on two legs and a tail!” 😀 Just a kilometre from the shelter, I run into three kids backpacking. We say a brief hello but they don’t answer a question about where they are going or stop to chat. I get it; why stop to chat with a creepy old man on the trail and they’ve probably had “stranger danger” rammed into them since they could walk? Ten minutes later, I come across Dave & Jared, who I learn are scoutmasters, and are deliberately loosely supervising the three young scouts, ages 13-15 year olds (Caitlin, Emma & Maegie). The three girls are on an advanced outdoor accreditation hike so they need to do it all on their own. They’ve walked from Hallet and will finish at Black Jack. Good on them and well done for tackling such a remote hike! I reach Caroona Creek shelter just after 11am. It’s roughly half way in distance today but I know the 2nd half is slower walking. I take a short break; I wanted to leave Geert a note but I can’t get the pens to work. I scrawl a short note with a sharpie and it looks like a kindergartener with a crayon... I’m just starting to leave Caroona Creek shelter and it starts showering quite hard. What the hell; I take my pack back off and let the hard rain pass as I expect it will be brief. Sure enough, the rain blows through in ten minutes. I’m a little behind schedule but I’d rather be dry! 😁 Well. So much for being dry. It showered and drizzled most of the rest of the afternoon. I had to put on my rain jacket and skirt and leave them on and the lower legs of my hiking pants got more muddy. I make good time, even stopping by the ruins of the Thomas Hut, mostly just a large fireplace left standing. I once again plan out some Astro compositions. I reach Tourilie Gorge around 2pm. Going up the creek and gorge is one of my favourite walks. I check out the historic Tourilie Hut, no longer used, and find it picturesque and in pretty good shape. I’m not sure why FoH don’t invest some effort making over this hut and replacing the rusted out and now useless water tank. It would be a lovely place to overnight. There is a historic road along the gorge and creek edges. You can see where slate has been stacked to form the road base and, in one place, a gap has been cut through a rock outcrop so that a wagon could get through. It must have been brutal hard work creating and maintaining this road. I finally climb out of Tourilie and have a 6km dirt road walk to my hut at the old Mt Bryan East school house. I don’t arrive until 4pm, only an hour before sunset. The hut is the old Mt Bryan East Schoolhouse. This historic building is where the famous SA adventurer Sir Hubert Wilkins attended school. I like the room with blackboards on the wall. Next door is a derelict church, no windows but so much potential to be restored. Problem is that nobody much lives around here. The hut, in my view, needs some maintenance, lots of TLC and a combination lock to ensure it stays nice as it’s accessible by car. I get there to find it a bit grubby and all the doors wide open. Clearly, not everyone has been packing out their rubbish. Unlike last year, there is no cut firewood (bummer!) and scarce branches to scavenge nearby. I spend the last hour of light filling a box with wood - mostly small skinny branches but it will do. I won’t use it all so it’s a gift to Geert or the next occupants. I keep hearing a beeping every minute or so and I find that two of the fire alarms need replacing so are giving the periodic audible alert. I don’t want to try to sleep with that so I take down and disable both. One was so high up that I had to get creative with a stack of chairs and a broom to bring it down. I’ll let FoH know they need replacing. I’m fed, warm -actually the fire is burning quite hot - and I’m ready for an early bed as my feet hurt! I’m on my second day of no mobile reception but I’m sure I’ll regain signal up on Mt Bryan. Big climb tomorrow and lovely views if the weather permits but it is a short day overall before I end up in the flash Hallet Railway Station hut, better known by hikers as the Hallet Hilton! 😁😁 Carl / Pilgrim —————— Weather: grey morning moving to light but frequent showers in the afternoon. Calories burnt: 3512

Hiking/Backpacking

Heysen Trail, South Australia

The Regional Council of Goyder, South Australia, Australia

time : Jul 12, 2020 7:29 AM

duration : 9h 12m 57s

distance : 33.3 km

total_ascent : 553 m

highest_point : 544 m

avg_speed : 4.0 km/h

user_id : gstreet

user_firstname : Carl

user_lastname : Greenstreet

The clear skies that enabled an awesome star display last night, had all but disappeared by morning, making way for a grey cloudy sky. I got up an hour before dawn as I remembered from last year that I had a long day’s walking in front of me. After brekkie and packing up, I was ready to walk. I said my goodbyes to Geert; it would have been fantastic to walk together for a few more days but I need to keep the pace up and Geert needs to manage his foot that is playing up. We’ve exchanged details so I hope to see him again socially and perhaps for another walk. I learned last year to accept what the trail gives me but friendship is one of the rarest gifts from this lonely trail. I only walk a couple of kilometres before I stop to scout out a lovely old ruin for future astrophotography. It’s a long haul up here from Adelaide but the dark skies are outstanding. I’m trying to capture interesting foregrounds and compositions into my PhotoPills database as I go so I can put an Astro trip together some time in the future. Then I focus on putting kilometres behind me but also enjoying the unique semi arid and dry forest lands I’m travelling through. It’s a mixture of fence following, track following and even some trail. There are some climbs but all pretty. I come across a small mob of kangaroos feeding in and amongst a herd of feral goats. I often see roos feeding with sheep. Is this because they congregate at the best feed in this arid country or are they social? Like a Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoon, I imagine them gossiping as they feed, “...and then, Marge, oh my god, he hopped up to me like he was God’s gift on two legs and a tail!” 😀 Just a kilometre from the shelter, I run into three kids backpacking. We say a brief hello but they don’t answer a question about where they are going or stop to chat. I get it; why stop to chat with a creepy old man on the trail and they’ve probably had “stranger danger” rammed into them since they could walk? Ten minutes later, I come across Dave & Jared, who I learn are scoutmasters, and are deliberately loosely supervising the three young scouts, ages 13-15 year olds (Caitlin, Emma & Maegie). The three girls are on an advanced outdoor accreditation hike so they need to do it all on their own. They’ve walked from Hallet and will finish at Black Jack. Good on them and well done for tackling such a remote hike! I reach Caroona Creek shelter just after 11am. It’s roughly half way in distance today but I know the 2nd half is slower walking. I take a short break; I wanted to leave Geert a note but I can’t get the pens to work. I scrawl a short note with a sharpie and it looks like a kindergartener with a crayon... I’m just starting to leave Caroona Creek shelter and it starts showering quite hard. What the hell; I take my pack back off and let the hard rain pass as I expect it will be brief. Sure enough, the rain blows through in ten minutes. I’m a little behind schedule but I’d rather be dry! 😁 Well. So much for being dry. It showered and drizzled most of the rest of the afternoon. I had to put on my rain jacket and skirt and leave them on and the lower legs of my hiking pants got more muddy. I make good time, even stopping by the ruins of the Thomas Hut, mostly just a large fireplace left standing. I once again plan out some Astro compositions. I reach Tourilie Gorge around 2pm. Going up the creek and gorge is one of my favourite walks. I check out the historic Tourilie Hut, no longer used, and find it picturesque and in pretty good shape. I’m not sure why FoH don’t invest some effort making over this hut and replacing the rusted out and now useless water tank. It would be a lovely place to overnight. There is a historic road along the gorge and creek edges. You can see where slate has been stacked to form the road base and, in one place, a gap has been cut through a rock outcrop so that a wagon could get through. It must have been brutal hard work creating and maintaining this road. I finally climb out of Tourilie and have a 6km dirt road walk to my hut at the old Mt Bryan East school house. I don’t arrive until 4pm, only an hour before sunset. The hut is the old Mt Bryan East Schoolhouse. This historic building is where the famous SA adventurer Sir Hubert Wilkins attended school. I like the room with blackboards on the wall. Next door is a derelict church, no windows but so much potential to be restored. Problem is that nobody much lives around here. The hut, in my view, needs some maintenance, lots of TLC and a combination lock to ensure it stays nice as it’s accessible by car. I get there to find it a bit grubby and all the doors wide open. Clearly, not everyone has been packing out their rubbish. Unlike last year, there is no cut firewood (bummer!) and scarce branches to scavenge nearby. I spend the last hour of light filling a box with wood - mostly small skinny branches but it will do. I won’t use it all so it’s a gift to Geert or the next occupants. I keep hearing a beeping every minute or so and I find that two of the fire alarms need replacing so are giving the periodic audible alert. I don’t want to try to sleep with that so I take down and disable both. One was so high up that I had to get creative with a stack of chairs and a broom to bring it down. I’ll let FoH know they need replacing. I’m fed, warm -actually the fire is burning quite hot - and I’m ready for an early bed as my feet hurt! I’m on my second day of no mobile reception but I’m sure I’ll regain signal up on Mt Bryan. Big climb tomorrow and lovely views if the weather permits but it is a short day overall before I end up in the flash Hallet Railway Station hut, better known by hikers as the Hallet Hilton! 😁😁 Carl / Pilgrim —————— Weather: grey morning moving to light but frequent showers in the afternoon. Calories burnt: 3512