Quick Stats;
Full Album - Imgur
(Base) Pack Weight - 6.5kg
Distance - 16.3km
Elevation Gain - 1,319m
Total Moving time - 13hrs
Ticks - 1
Leeches - 2 (only 1 latched on)
Day 1
Despite wanting to start during the cool of the morning I slept in and in the end we only left home at about 7:15. By 9:20 we had our shoes and packs on and were just about to head off. Before we had a chance to lock the car there was a hiker just finishing up her own overnight hike. Chatted a bit about conditions and she let us know that the creek near Rum Jungle was flowing pretty well. This was good news as it allowed me to ditch a little water, as I could filter more at the top.
Thomas had recently bought a new pack (Osprey Exos) so we were only about 1km into the trek before we started making a few micro-adjustments to straps to make it sit better. Getting a pack fitted in a store is great, but until you have hiked a bit in it with a full load, you'll likely never get it quite right. Not too far after, we passed the National Park sign with a good view of the East peak behind it.
Not too long after the sign we passed Cronan creek camping spots, pulling into #10 to make some final adjustments to Thomas' pack. It's a really nice spot here, close easy walk from the car park. Would make a really good 'introduction to Hiking' spot I think if anyone is keen to give it a go, but not ready to take on a big challenge. Another few hundred meters and we reached the turn for the South 'Pheasants' Ridge and begun our ascent.
By 11:30 I was more than ready to stop for lunch. We found a nice little shady spot at around the 690m elevation mark. Muesli bars and Beef Jerky for me. Easy, tasty, quick, light. Before too long we re-commenced our climb, only ~430m up to go! As we were nearing the saddle we passed a group of 4 heading down. They had come up the South-East ridge this morning, over East peak and were happy to be making their decent.
Some bits on the trek up were steeper than others. A few sections required what I would call almost climbing, but most was a scramble at best.
We arrived to an empty Rum Jungle just before 2pm (4.5 hours from the carpark), dropped our packs and explored the area a little. Relatively clean site, considering. Some rubbish around, which was disappointing, but not much. We headed down to the creek (~200m north of Rum Jungle) then followed it upstream for a little while to get some good water to filter. I use a Platypus Gravity filter, which filled our containers pretty quickly. A few people suggest drinking from clear flowing creeks near the tops of mountains is safe... but for the minimal effort it takes to filter (especially as people would 'tend to nature' at the peak) this hiker suggest you always filter. Even if it looks good.
After a quick afternoon snack we were about to set off to the West peak. Thomas noticed a leech had attached but it dropped off fairly easy. Heat (Lighter/Match) or salt works really well if they're being stubborn. The track to the peak was a little hard to follow at times, finding an odd piece of flagging tape occasionally suggesting a route. Without packs we were travelling a little bit quicker! From the rum Jungle we had made it to the highest point on Mt Barney (1359m) in under 50min. Mostly covered in shrubs obstructing the view south, but North and West had a pretty good view, including parts of Maroon Dam.
Just under 35min to make it back down to camp. After setting up our tents and getting settled in the wind started to pick up a little and brought with it a nice cool breeze. I took the easy route for dinner this weekend and had a freeze dried meal, Spaghetti Bog. Thomas opted for noodles. We were cooking as the light was starting to fade. From our vantage point in the rainforest section it was starting to get pretty dark, but looking up at the peaks it was still bright. Amazing how much light the different vegetation blocks out.
After dinner I ran my hand down my shin to feel an all too familiar pain (though I wish I didn't know it quite so well...) A Tick had latched on, just above my sock line. Quick tug with the tweezers (hint: Grab as close to your skin as possible and pull straight out) removed the little bugger, head and all. Directly after it was squished into a rock until it split into two. I hate ticks, but you have to expect them from time to time. There has been heaps of lizards darting off logs/rocks as we get close. Plenty of spider webs to push through and all the other usual animals. About 20m away from camp Thomas found a carpet python slithering through the undergrowth. It wasn't a real big one, just over a meter probably. Was happy to have a few pics taken before it moved on.
With the fading light and a pretty full day it wasn't long before we retired to our tents. Thomas dozed off soon after his head hit the pillow, I could tell by the fact that his snoring was adding to the ambiance of the other sounds of nature.....
Day2;
Sun was up by about 5:20 but I rolled over trying to sneak in a little bit of snooze time. I slept pretty well last night, was maybe a little hot in the bag... but too cold out of it. Waking a few times but falling asleep again fairly quickly. We took our time once again in the morning (I need a good 4-5 nights of camping before I become a morning person) but eventually walked out of camp just after 8am. First destination; East Peak.
With packs a lot lighter (2/3rds of the food eaten!) it only took about 1hr 15min to get to the summit of the East Peak. West peak, a few meters higher and after a full day of hiking was 25min faster to get up... Packs make quite the difference, even without food weight. It's not just the weight, but it's easier to maneuver, push through scrub, climb and hop across rocks etc etc.
Survey Marker East Peak
View (West to North) from East Peak
After a 30min break up the top we began our descent on the SE-Ridge. At one point we followed a 'kinda looks like the trail' path which had been worn, obviously worn by a few other people heading the wrong way... Where most other people would say we got lost, I prefer to say that we were taking the scenic tour of Mt Barney that would be rarely seen by your average punter... After reconnecting with the trail I quickly remembered from my last time why the SE-Ridge is called Medium-Hard. A few places we had to take off our packs and pass them down as climbing down those sections was totally impractical otherwise.
After taking another short 'alternate route' about mid way down we arrived at the base trail by 1:45. From there it was just a short (~3k) walk back to the car. We considered also hitting Yellow Pinch... but decided to save something for next time...
All in all another great weekend hiking!
Lesson/Improvements for next time;
Find a better Bladder for my Dirty Water filter bag. - I've never really been happy with it (except the cost) as it was just an old bladder with a broken lid I retrofitted. The line-out points up, so the hose kinks a little restricting flow. Ok when full of water but could be improved.
Cord for Camera Pouch - To help keep water out if/when I'm caught in the rain.
Midnight snack - Suggestions? (I think dried fruit would be good)
Pillow Pouch - (Ask mum to) sew a pillow pouch into the sleeping bag hood. I usually just sit it in the hood but it's always been a little fiddly and my new pillow is a bit slippery compared to the old. Yes, Yes, I don't like sleeping on my spare clothes crammed into a stuff sack. Thanks for the suggestion (for the thousandth time.)
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