Friday morning Duncan picked me up at 630 and after a brief frantic search for my GPS watch I was good to go. Had forgotten to charge it after a run but with 66% left it should last. Drive out was light on traffic the only delay was the rubber strip on the roof racks dislodging itself.
At the car park gearing up a group was looking a little unprepared for a full day hike. Even a day hike up Barney needs water/food. They saw our o/night packs and one came and asked if this was the Lower Portals (and 8km, low elevation change) track. Nope. Off they went about 2k back on the dirt road. Bit cool this morning but we warmed up quickly camping and it wasn't long before we covered 2k and reached the Barney NP sign.
After breezing past the Cronan creek camp sites we turned right and started the ascent up the SE ridge. It wasn't long before my heart was thumping and I was breathing heavy. Duncan noted that his legs were getting a pretty good workout too.
We'd stop periodically to "enjoy the view" which strongly featured Mt Lindsay the entire way up. Allowing he added us to catch our breath. We went past an odd place for a food stash/camp. Tins of food and some other gear was left. Maybe got too heave on the way up? If it was just rubbish I would have grabbed it.
When we stopped for lunch a group of day hikers caught up. They left the car park 10-15 min after us so we must have been on a decent pace. We trailed behind a little when we got to the scramble section but quickly joined them at the peak. 4 hours to get there.
Extended break before heading down to the rum jungle where we'll be camping for the night. While there is a goat track to follow it's very overgrown. Pack and poles (stored in a side pocket) were constantly snagging on branches. Grabbed some water to filter from the creek near old hut and arrived at the Jungle shortly after.
Put up our tents and decided I was time for a bit of a snooze/rest. It was already fairly cold at 230pm. The wind wasn't making it feel any warmer either....
345 we started our ascent of the west peak. The original plan was to maybe be there for sunset but with the chill already about in the air we thought not. Someone had recently marked a trail with pink flagging tape. Pretty sure they were leading people to their death. We pulled down the worst offender, telling people to go up a sheer cliff when the actual route was safer, easier and even quicker. Long stretching shadow from the top looked cool, especially seeing the multiple peaks. Standing around was cold so we didn't spend too much time at the top.
Back down for camp, 3 others were also here. Nice blokes so we chatted through dinner about future tracks to try, and our various hiking adventures. Duncan headed off to bed while I stayed and chatted for a while. Despite the cold we ventured away from camp to look at the starts. Absolutely amazing up here. Wish I had the gear/skills of Jenny or Ramsay to capture them. By 730 pm I was rugged up in my sleeping bad and drifted off soon after.
The guys we shared camp with were planning on doing a summit for the sunrise, they too came to the conclusion that it was too cold for such thoughts. As we finished packing up they went off to the west peak so we said our goodbyes and headed down Peasants ridge. We could see the valley floors full of fog, making the hills and mountains stand out like islands.
Rather quick descent passing a few day hikers on their way up the hill. A group of 4 on their 4th attempt, previous attempts foiled due to weather, timing and trying the SE ridge but not making it past the scramble. Peasants ridge has its own small scramble sections, but nothing too difficult to overcome.
It wasn't long before we arrived at the gate near the car park, where you can branch off to Yellow Pinch. As I had never been up there before, and we had plenty of time we decided to check it out. It's only a few hundred meters and 80m of elevation gain, but it felt pretty steep all the same. Great views of Barney from the top. There was also a school/youth group at the top having a talk. Must be doing a hike too as they all had large packs.
Very short return to the car park from there, another successful Mt Barney dual summit completed.
