Tag: bushwalking

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Littlechild 2016 May

Mt Littlechild revisited May 2016.


Handley Peak, en route (this is Mt Littlechild on the map – or, on the map I was using)


Hygrocybe saltorivula
Because so many people insisted that the black dot called Mt Littlechild on the map was not the “real” Mt Littlechild in some other essential manner, on this weekend, I led a group to go and visit the black dot, which, whatever its name might be, is  the highest point on the Blue Tier. And a rather insignificant high point it is too. Even when there, with gps devices in abundance, we could not agree on the location of the summit, so purists (me included) dashed about the place, touching all suspect-rocks that might be a smidgeon higher than their friends and the true black dot. Everyone was happy at the end of the day that they’d had an encounter with this important dark smudge on the map. The ground was pretty level up there, and views were not on offer. Gorgeous fungi were a-plenty, and the highlight for me. We’d definitely had a lovely bushwalk in this wonderful area of Tasmania worth saving from destruction at the hands of chainsaws and myopic politicians.


Hygrocybe lewellinae


Happy troupers on one of the many black dot contenders (but not the most-favoured one).



For the route from the car to the peak here labelled Mt Littlechild (HandleyPeak in disguise, apparently) see  natureloverswalks.com/blue-tier/

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Food list for ten-day hike

You don’t have to worry about food going off eating al fresco here, and the view is awesome, if perhaps an acquired taste. Here is my husband enjoying his cooked breakfast.
Food list for a ten-day hike.

People have been asking me what I take on long expeditions, and it is, of course, an interesting question. There are huge individual differences in taste and portions to consider. I like my food, eat a lot for my size, and like variety. I think it’s important to have a balance of food types and not eat the same thing each day – for mental as well as physical health. When packing for ten days  – and considering my pack is size XS in recognition of my lack of  torso (I am like a spider – all limbs and negligible body) – bulk is also a crucial issue. An XS pack is made for eleven year olds who don’t go on ten-day expeditions; it’s incredibly hard to find space for anything. The first long expedition I ever did (six days in December 2014), I couldn’t do the packing – only partly because my thumb was dislocated and I had no stuffing power. My students, who knew how much and how often I eat, were intrigued by the problem of how to fit what they knew I’d eat into one rucksack, believing the challenge was impossible to solve. They came around to have dinner and then pack my pack for me. They approved of my food choices and brands (my students are self-declared food snobs), and somehow got it all in. Thanks so much dear Jessie and Gracey!! Miss you heaps.

The two who got me packed against all odds (husband and dog did not help).

Below is a detailed list of what I took on a ten-day walk in January this year.

10-day walk: (which only lasted 8 due to a variety of factors, but I packed, catered and carried for the 10 of our plans).
Breakfast, daily.
1 pkt porridge, consisting of: 1 handful oats, small handful of raisins, another of craisins, 6 pieces of freezedried “Forrager Fruit” apples, 1 son brown sugar.
4 x Valley Seed Crisps (or, 1 linseed “Clever Cookie” biscuit and 2 x Valley Seed  crisps)

1 x dessertspoon ground espresso coffee in 1 cup water.

 

Dining room table (rock) all ready to go. Water laid on. View to dream about. This is the best way to eat (Arm River Track).
Lunch:
Meals 1-3: 1 wholegrain roll with parmesan cheese, sliced, and plenty of tomato relish (Vix Kitch). Carrots and celery, Droewors (South African dried sausage) and Kooee beef jerky on the side.
Meals 4-10 (per meal):
1 slice peccorino cheese (7 x 5 x 1cm in dimension (approx)).
1 stick celery
4 baby carrots
max 3 corn circle crisps / dried biscuits.
1 x 5 cm stick of Droewors (from Trevallyn grocer) + Kooee Beef Jerky
For dessert: A bite or two of one of my sweeter muesli bars.
In 8 days, I ate 1 x Kate Morgan meal supplement (Vanilla) divided into three meals (ie 1/3 per day). NB. This is not as a substitute for a meal to lose weight, it is IN ADDITION to a meal to add extra, non-bulky calories and reduce my need to snack quite as often as I normally do.
Ate 4 shortbreads (Cripps). Could have eaten more. Hit a spot.
Another perfect setting, which somehow makes dehydrated concoctions taste like the most wonderful delectables you’ve ever tried (Eldons).
Dinner:
1 x Maddel veggie cube in water (lighter and smaller than cup of soup packets) per day
1 (in total) cup of soup, had right near end for variety (didn’t actually need variety in this).
1 freezedried meal (mostly army brand)
For variety also had 1 x Backcountry Roast Lamb and 1 x Outdoor Gourmet Co Mediterranean Lamb with Olives. Both well received.
Allowed 1 x half dried peach per day, had as pre-dessert

1 x liquor chocolate at night for dessert

 

Here on the Southern Ranges, we all got our stoves and sat around a (mostly) dried-out tarn to cook and eat – and to exchange stories, a necessary part of the eating ritual in the bush.

 

Half an hour later, eating ceded to photography as food was ignored and cameras were considered far more important than calories.
Snacks: NB. Did NOT get through the 4 allowed per day. Probably didn’t even get through 3 / day. Still, good to have as emergency.
Went through (by sharing) almost 1 x packet of light soya snacks from Grand Central
1.5 pkts Kooee beef jerky. Yum. Needed salty snacks like this. (Grand Central)
1 large handful dried cumin soy beans (Coles).Went down well
should have taken dried broad beans – love them (Coles)
Quite a lot of ginger (loose, dried) for self and others – all loved it.
2 x toffee-almond bars J (Trevallyn grocer)
2 x sesame snack packets of four (in a single sitting, each). J
2 x Mogli MandelRiegel. YUM (Trevallyn)
3 x Baracke classic halva bars. Yum. (Trevallyn)
1 x Go Natural Cacoa Fruit Nut, almond and raspberry bars. Yum,
1 x Bounce almond protein hit (health food shop in arcade). Pretty good.
1 x weightwatchers macadamia and cranberry bar. Like.
1 x Isowey High protein bar – berry and yoghurt bar. Nice enough.
1 x Brookfarm bar (macadamia and cranberry). OK
1 x Be Natural trail bar. Berry. Tolerable.
½ Lo Carb (blue pkt) protein bar: Dark Choc Mint. OK
½ Lo Carb Orange protein bar. Didn’t do it for me.
1.5 x Nude Food Cacao & Hazelnut bars. Too much coconut and sunflower oil L. Didn’t  like.
Finishing off breakfast in a valley in between Stepped hills and Mt Wright

Took but didn’t eat: (Brought home 1 kg uneaten snacks.) Remember, we came out two days early + you need to be prepared for emergencies that keep you in there longer than expected.

1 extra packet of savoury bickies.
Emergency deb potato + soup
2 x AntiOx snack bar. Like??
1 x Paleo Crunch raw strawberry protein bar. Like??
1 x Lo Carb orange protein bar. L
2 more Mogli Mandel-Riwegel. Yum Yum.
2 more Baracke classix halva. Yum again
2 x toffee almond bar.
1 x bounce cocoa mint protein bomb. Like ?? (Health food shop in arcade).
2 Go Natural Almond-Raspberry bar
1 x Protein FX energy bar Choc Mint
1 x Pure Organic wild blueberry bar. YUM !!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 x Paleo Crunch Raw Cacao bar. Like? No
2 extra Kate Morgan meals that I didn’t need 

Does it get better than eating with a view like this all to yourselves?
Sundry:
Also had 1 x cup of tea (took 4 bags)
1 small (100gms) gas canister lasted 8 days (had another with me in case).

Next time, pack 1 x safety pin. Had with me 1 x click strap, 1 x shoelace, 1 x guy rope and 1 x peg. Happy to have had those!

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Lots Wife 2016 Apr

Lots Wife  Apr 2016

Sunrise day 2. Mt Sarah Jane in the background
Weee; an expedition to climb Lots Wife. Happy to have my pack on my back and to be off bushwalking again, I played dodgem in the mud-swamp bogs that surround the Lake Judd area, weaving to avoid the more treacherous, neck-deep holes and swinging like an orangutang at times from one melaleuca sapling to the next in an attempt to avoid death by mud suffocation. Not only do I find this to be an unpreferred way to die, but also I have my precious camera strapped to my chest, so also fear a mere face plant.

Andrew, huddled, admiring the gold

It did not rain, but all three of us were pretty wet by the time we breasted the ridge that forms the springboard for Mt Sarah Jane, so that the 80 km/hr winds that greeted us chilled us to the bone. We had rather been hoping to burst into balmy, warming, drying sunshine. The wind was a rude and unexpected shock.

Down they drop

We had all planned to camp here: the other two to avoid carrying the packs back up the slope the next day, and me because I wanted to sleep close to the magic panorama on all sides that this spot offers. It was a deal, despite the wind, so we searched around for a moderately protected niche. So much for my desire to have an expansive and photogenic vista out the tent window: there was no sunset that night. No views regaled us. Mist encinctured us. Two of us were so cold we elected to go straight to bed without even having any dinner. I was far too cold to cook, and just wanted to be snug in my bag. I was in my bag, but not snug. The wind blasted a fury all night, but died down somewhat by dawn, when the world filled with golden, misty light, and the full moon still pierced a hole in it to the west.

We set out at around 8: late enough for the sun to have cleared the mist, but early enough for us to enjoy the crisp, early light in the mountains. Along we went with vast views to left and right, then down to Spanner Lake, and then up, up, up through glorious rainforest until we reached the ridgeline that leads to Lots Wife. Getting close now.

Approaching Lots Wife – stone, not salt. Might be easier to climb.
I am told that a friend, not at all given to swearing of any kind, when greeted with the sight of Lots Wife that confronts you when you pop out of the forest and onto the ridge, said: “Oh shit”. These words pretty adequately describe my own feelings. I walked along, gazing at this monstrosity, wondering how we were going to find a way up. The face does not have a notice out saying “Welcome stranger”. The fact that that very morning we had met a young guy returning from a failed attempt did not fill my heart with hope. Lucky I was not just here for the summit. I was having a ball and the views were fantastic, and maybe that was all I was going to get out of this trip (plus some sunrise photos already in the bag).

Summit view from Lots Wife
We followed the pad along, further admiring the surrounding cliffs and peaks, but concentrating on our tower, wondering if we’d get to look back at it on the rebound with a successful feeling, or whether we, too, would be defeated by this giant. The pad led to a chute that did not look promising, but we gave it a bit of a go, Andrew leading, before deciding it was too dangerous. Pete remembered a conversation with a club member in which he’d been told to go past the obvious-looking chute and drop down a bit, proceed further and then choose the next chute, a scrubby one. This we did. This chute, too, had its challenges, especially the way I took it, going around a buttress, hanging for dear life by fingertips and toes to the narrowest of ledges (4 cms) with a shocking feeling of space (not looked at, but all too easily felt) below me. Pete, following behind, cleverly spotted a route over the top that was much safer (and used by me, too, on the return).

 

Another summit view from Lots Wife

It was a superb feeling to burst out of the cavernous chimney onto the giddy heights and see the summit cairn, problem free, just ahead. We sat there for an hour, eating and enjoying the scene before beginning our rather reluctant way down. It was such a privilege to be in the presence of a view like that, and as if victory and the view were not enough, nature gave us a pair of wedgetailed eagles circling quite close to us overhead, riding the thermals, as a bonus.

The close of day from our camp spot
Looking towards Lake Pedder

I felt deeply satisfied as we descended through the lush rainforest, each musing over the joy of a climb like this. I was hungry back at camp, and wanted to enjoy dinner in the light and the open, and to concentrate on photography at sunset, so cooked tea at 4.30 (I have never eaten that early before), enjoying the last of the day’s warmth before I froze my hands off shooting the golden rays of the western sun as it sank behind the mountains surrounding Lake Pedder.

On the way home, we made up for lost calories with burgers and cake (and more) at the fabulous Possum Shed, toasting our success with coffee.

And Alpenglow to the east
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Gear List

Gear List for bushwalking.

Are you ready for this? It can happen in January

Some of my followers on IG and blog have asked if I could give advice on packing – of clothes and food. I am happy to oblige, and will begin with gear. Before I do so, however, I need to stress a couple of matters that seem important to me, and that should be borne in mind when reading this.

A different snow squall, different place – any time of year

(1) Individuals differ from each other in the extent to which they feel the cold. What is good and necessary for me might be insufficient for you. In the case of ‘the cold’ that is actually unlikely, as I am a renowned wuss, but thought I’d better mention it.
The most important thing is to know your own body, and know it well before you step into the wilderness. Being in the wilderness is as much an experience of self learning as it is one of seeing beautiful wild places.

If you count on getting saturated, then you won’t be disappointed.

(2) Begin simple, so you can learn from your mistakes without killing yourself. I have heard of first-timers who want to start their ‘bushwalking career’ with the Mt Anne circuit or the Western Arthurs. This is like a beginner in high jumps setting the opening bar at 2 metres.
When we wanted to take our 6- and 8-year-old daughters on the Overland Trail, we first took them on the 33 km Freycinet Peninsula walk as a warm-up – both for them and for me, the provider. I weighed and measured everything in those three days to learn for double that number.
If you have never experienced even a daywalk on a Tasmanian exposed mountain in a black mood, how can you plan for five? I once took a Swiss friend to Cradle, insisting he pack certain precautionary clothes. He was indignant, and scoffed: “I live higher than the summit of this mountain, and you’re telling me what to bring?” He didn’t get past Hansons Peak, and had the grace to apologise. The incident points to the fact that height is not felt in the same way in all circumstances, and height on top is very different from the same height in a valley.

More soaked walkers – it’s a recurring theme

(3) You need to be prepared to be tough and uncomfortable if you don’t want to burden yourself with a pack full of wet gear. Most (all?) of us put on wet clothes each day (in continually raining conditions) rather than wet a different outfit each day, only to have the new outfit wet after five minutes. This means, of course, that your daytime get-them-wet clothes need to be made of a fabric that is comfortable and warm when wet, and that will dry quickly if given quarter of a chance. I use icebreaker gear next to my skin, supplement it with a thermal or icebreaker long sleeve top, then have a third layer of a padded jacket that is warm when wet (mine is a macpac Pulsar hoody, not down for day), and over that, my Anorak (rain jacket). Even so, I need to keep moving to keep warm. PS Now I use an Arc’terx hoody instead of a macpac Pulsar, as it’s warmer.

Perhaps another theme – comical – is to be careful of your company. Do we assume cause and effect (or post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy) if I tell you every photo above was taken on an LWC walk? It does make the incidental point that clubs get out there and do it, even when the weather is not kind. I have stood on many a misty, freezing summit huddled with LWC or HWC members, penguin style, warming each other up (hopefully). 

(4) You must have a complete dry set of everything for nighttime, when it is imperative that you warm up and sleep dry. This includes nighttime woollen socks, gloves, beanie and undies; i.e., double up on everything. (In summer, you can sometimes get away with one thermal top and long johns – but even then, you can get caught out, as I have been; better to be safe).

(5) Have a bag of warm, dry clothes in the car. Assume you’ll arrive back cold and wet. Anything else is a bonus.

You can pack a baby if you wish

My Gear List.
Tent                                         Sleeping bag
compass                               map

stove                               gas
matches                                 inner sheet?
Sleeping mat                        blue carpet underlay for extra insulation
2-3 prs wollen socks        crocs for camp
headtorch                              phone for gps / navigation
Camera gear                        spare batteries? (camera, torch, phone)
water sac / bladder           EPIRB
water bottle                          cup / mug
penknife with scissors     2 spoons (1 to use, 1 to lose)
tiny towel                                 wetex to wipe wet tent
walking shirt, quick dry     walking pants or shorts
Thermal top x 2                    Thermal long johns x 2
waterproof pants x 2         3 prs gloves (fleece, wool + possum)
scrub gloves                           anorak (ie, rain jacket)
boots                                         gaiters 
icebreaker singlet               day pack for day climbs from base                   
beanies – 1 for day, 1 night     silk balaclava   
lip cream                                   sun hat
paper for writing                   pen                 
3 prs undies (1 of wool)      crop top
Arcteryx jacket (for night)   extra jacket (Pulsar) warm when wet for day wear
face cream                               sun cream
sunglasses                                pack cover
Toothbrush                              Toothpaste
Blister gear (Compeed)      Panadol
Anti-inflammatory tabs      tinea cream          
food (to be discussed later)      whistle (if Osprey pack, it’s part of your pack)           
book?                                       If you are on any medication, then those tablets.
Some need electrolyte tablets to replace salt lost in sweat.
light spade for toilet use        toilet paper (please have mercy on the bush and     use only when necessary. Leaves can be an excellent substitute for quality).
I also take 2 pegs and a bit of chord. You never know what can come in handy.

Plaster can mend trousers as well as legs.
You have no idea how handy doubling up can be. On a ten-day expedition I went on:
I forgot toilet paper, but W had 2 rolls and gave me one;
M forgot his hat, but J had two;
B lost his sunglasses, but J had two pairs;
S broke his stove, but A had two;
C broke her spoon, but I had two;
Someone tore their pants, but C had a sewing kit;
W broke his pole, but S had a pole repair kit;
My tablets for pain were dated 2007, which A informed me would not work in 2016, but she had spare.
The list goes on, for sure. This is all I can remember.
Helping out and being helped in mutual working towards the goals is the theme.

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Orites Falls 2016

Orites Falls 2016.
The real story of Orites Falls is actually the story of the Cheyne Range, which can be found scrolling down to C on the right here, by an internal search or clicking:
http://www.natureloverswalks.com/cheyne-range/


I have done a separate heading for those who are solely interested in waterfalls, and in seeing a very unusual one. However, if you are not interested in “real” bushwalking with a pack on your back and an overnight stay in your tent, then this one is only for window shopping. You also need to be able to navigate to get to these falls, as tracks will only help you for about the first hour. The going is rough and tough, but the rewards are great. I was upset that I couldn’t bring my tripod on this trip, but I found an obliging rock that allowed me to use it for exposures of a couple of seconds.


Our route is in the Cheyne Range entry. I haven’t repeated it here in order to emphasise that this waterfall is only for very experienced members of  bushwalking circles.