On a bit of a whim, I decided to pack up my gear and head bush for a bit of time out and a walk. I had planned on leaving home mid-morning on Saturday, knocking off around 18km of the "Walk into History" and rolling out my swag at Starlings Gap for the night.
I didn't leave the suburbs until around 1:30pm, meaning that after a few photo stops on the drive out, I didn't reach Starlings Gap until around 3:30pm. Upon arrival at camp, I met a gentleman named Phil who had ridden the Lilydale-Warburton Railtrail then continued through Bit Pats Creek and further out bush. Due to all surrounding sticks and branches being wet from the weeks rains, Phil needed a bit of a hand getting the fire started, so I volunteered some paper, my axe and a few minutes to the cause before I set out on my becoming-ever-briefer walk!
I didn't leave the suburbs until around 1:30pm, meaning that after a few photo stops on the drive out, I didn't reach Starlings Gap until around 3:30pm. Upon arrival at camp, I met a gentleman named Phil who had ridden the Lilydale-Warburton Railtrail then continued through Bit Pats Creek and further out bush. Due to all surrounding sticks and branches being wet from the weeks rains, Phil needed a bit of a hand getting the fire started, so I volunteered some paper, my axe and a few minutes to the cause before I set out on my becoming-ever-briefer walk!
Once the fire was starting to catch, I left Phil to it and headed off on the Walk into History towards the Ada tree. I walked until it the sun looked like it was starting to disappear - about 4.5km - then turned around to head back from where I came.
With darkness well and truely set in by the time I got back to camp, it was time to refuel by sorting out dinner. Keeping my last minute plans nice and simple I cooked up some packet rice with some extra bacon thrown in for good measure (bacon's a vegetable, right?). After eating dinner and having a chat round the fire with Phil, it was time to settle in for bed and a bit of a read (Mud, Sweat and Tears, Bear Grylls' autobiography - a good read so far). Next time I need to remember either my sleeping bag inner sheet or thermals for a bit of extra warmth overnight. I felt the cold a little overnight.
After a wake up call from a car load taking a pit stop at the campsites' loos around 4:30am, I woke up about 8:30am, rolled up the swag and headed home.
I was pleasantly surprised by how effective my new Mountain Designs tshirt and Macpac Hoody (midlayer) were at wicking sweat away from my body. I must admit that in the past I have been a skeptic of the expensive outdoor active wear, convinced that it was all gimick aimed at the cashed up, unsuspecting townie. Yep, I'm eating my words bigtime!
Also surpassing my expectations are my Mountain Designs hiking boots. The support to my ankles and arches is amazing! (These boots got a real test out over in NZ Easter weekend and the following week, being saturated and still comfortable!)
One purchase I'm a bit miffed about is my mapping. Over the last 12 months I've invested a bit of coin in Memory-Map topographic maps of both Victoria and Tasmania. For interest, I'll compare the topographic map elevation versus my GPS altitude recordings for the walk in this post:
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| GPS Altitude (top) vs VicTopo Elevation (bottom) |
The VicTopo represents the overall trend of the lay of the land, but the localised rise and fall variance compared with the altitude data is astounding.
A Brief Walk into History
(Click link to view in EveryTrail and download GPS files)
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