A very quiet day with little to report. I took an unplanned second rest day here in Melrose to delay me sufficiently that I will just miss the mid-north trail closure for aerial culling of feral animals. As reported yesterday, walkers were given less than a week’s notice of the five-day closure which starts near Mt Bryan (Tourille Gorge) and ends at the Tothill Ranges. This has caught a number of thru hikers out and there is a bit of an uproar going as walkers scramble to adapt. I’m lucky as I only needed to delay one day and I’ll be able to walk into the closure region as soon as it reopens. I’m also struggling with ongoing muscle spasms within my right outer back; sort of above where my “love handles” are located. It doesn’t hurt to walk but a wrong movement sends the muscles into cramping spasms. They haven’t felt much improved today but I’m hoping a second day off will help me overcome this. I had to check out of my BnB at 10am. I said goodbye to Chris as he took the guitars and headed home. I spent the next four hours sitting around Over the Edge drinking coffee and eating lightly until my room at the North Star hotel was ready. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading, stretching and resting. If I hold schedule, I have an 11-day stretch before my next test day but I have a few town beds and meals along the way. Tomorrow is a super easy day, 18 kilometres, but it sets me up after that for decent walk distances between campsites. I find that campsite spacing is the biggest driver of my daily walk distance. Here’s hoping the next leg goes smoothly! Carl / Pilgrim Weather: high 17 degs with 6 degC lows Calories burnt: negative once again as I did little and ate much!

Hiking/Backpacking

Heysen Trail, South Australia

South Australia, Australia

time : May 23, 2024 8:10 AM

duration : 0h 0m

distance : 0 km

total_ascent : N/A

highest_point : 384 m

avg_speed : N/A

user_id : gstreet

user_firstname : Carl

user_lastname : Greenstreet

A very quiet day with little to report. I took an unplanned second rest day here in Melrose to delay me sufficiently that I will just miss the mid-north trail closure for aerial culling of feral animals. As reported yesterday, walkers were given less than a week’s notice of the five-day closure which starts near Mt Bryan (Tourille Gorge) and ends at the Tothill Ranges. This has caught a number of thru hikers out and there is a bit of an uproar going as walkers scramble to adapt. I’m lucky as I only needed to delay one day and I’ll be able to walk into the closure region as soon as it reopens. I’m also struggling with ongoing muscle spasms within my right outer back; sort of above where my “love handles” are located. It doesn’t hurt to walk but a wrong movement sends the muscles into cramping spasms. They haven’t felt much improved today but I’m hoping a second day off will help me overcome this. I had to check out of my BnB at 10am. I said goodbye to Chris as he took the guitars and headed home. I spent the next four hours sitting around Over the Edge drinking coffee and eating lightly until my room at the North Star hotel was ready. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading, stretching and resting. If I hold schedule, I have an 11-day stretch before my next test day but I have a few town beds and meals along the way. Tomorrow is a super easy day, 18 kilometres, but it sets me up after that for decent walk distances between campsites. I find that campsite spacing is the biggest driver of my daily walk distance. Here’s hoping the next leg goes smoothly! Carl / Pilgrim Weather: high 17 degs with 6 degC lows Calories burnt: negative once again as I did little and ate much!