My third day in the Cobberas didn’t start off in the way I may have envisaged. I’d checked the weather forecast before going to bed last night and it was for late rain and storms with high winds. Figuring that I’d be safely back at the ute by mid afternoon I envisaged a relaxing sunny morning, breaking camp slowly while I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, before making my way down to the ute, maybe with some clouds starting to build up to my west to add a bit of drama to my photos. However, around 4am something woke me from my slumber, in my sleepy haze I could of sworn that someone had shone a torch into the tent, but weirdly everything was pitch black now. A few seconds later my foggy brain suddenly cleared as a clap of thunder, which sounded like a shotgun being discharged next to my tent, had me wide awake. I guess the weather was arriving early!
I spent the next two or three hours snoozing, waking every now and again when the rain got heavier, thankfully the lightning and thunder had moved on though. By around 8am, with the rain showing no real sign of stopping I figured that I may as well pack up and start walking out. Packing up in the rain is never much fun but at least today I was heading back to the ute, so after pulling on my wet weather gear in the tent it was just a matter of climbing out into the elements and stuffing everything into the pack. Normally if I’d been staying out for a few more nights I would have been a lot more careful keeping the wet gear separated from the dry. With camp packed up and after scoffing down a quick breakfast it was time to head off into the wet scrub.
 |
| About to leave camp, hey I'm still smiling! |
With today being basically a re-trace of day 1 it would normally be a pretty easy walk, but being off piste and raining meant that being familiar with the route wasn’t going to help me a great deal. First up I had to sidle beneath Moscow Peak until I met the spur coming up from Cowombat Track, I decided to drop a little lower on the sidle today in the hope that I’d drop below some house sized boulders that I’d had to find my way through on my journey across. To be honest I’m not sure if dropping a little lower helped or not, I seemed to miss some of the rockier stuff but at the same time the scrub seemed a little worse…and now it was wet.
 |
Tracking along below Moscow Peak.
 |
Once I locate my spur I'm heading down into that valley.
|
|
After a hard half hour or so I eventually met up with my descent spur, once on the spur it was a matter of following the spur back down. Now while the broad spur made it easier to pick my way up missing the worst belts of scrub, it made it a little harder to navigate on the way down. With the top of the spur fairly wide I had to stop and check a few times to make are I hadn’t wandered to far north, it wouldn’t of been a disaster but it would of added to my time in the rain. Speaking of rain though, the showers were definitely thinning out as I descended, I was actually starting to see a few breaks of blue sky through the trees.
 |
The wide open spaces near the top of the spur.
 |
Even with the inclement weather there was still plenty to hold my interest.
|
|
Eventually I emerged out of the scrub onto Cowombat Track, all I had to do now was to walk the easy 6 kilometres back to the ute. The track was a little on the greasy side after all the rain and I could see where a few walkers had been slipping and sliding on some of the short sharp descents and ascents but for the most part it was an easy amble that allowed me to look around a bit. The showers had almost stopped now and the weather was almost balmy, I would finish the walk in just my ice breaker top (luckily no other unfortunate walker had to witness that!). While the day was getting a bit warmer the wind was definitely picking up and I was nervously watching the tops of the trees thrashing about in the wind above me, there wasn’t a lot I could do though, just keep shuffling along and hope for the best really. Arriving back at the ute on Limestone Road I found another ten cars parked up on the side of the road, I assume most of the punters must of headed along the AAWT towards Cowombat Flat as I hadn’t seen a sole in three days. After throwing all my wet gear in the back of the ute and having a bit of a wash I jumped in and started the six hour drive home, a drive that was enlivened by two fallen trees across the Great Alpine Road and then huge storms once I got a little closer to Melbourne, but that’s another story I suppose.
The Dirt.
I walked 9.9 kilometres today and climbed 336 metres. Once again while the walking, as far as off track walking goes, wasn’t to hard it’s still harder than most on track walking so I suppose I’ll rate it hard. As I mentioned navigation wise it was actually harder descending the spur than it had been ascending it a couple of days ago, in my experience this is fairly common. Once on Cowombat Track the walking is easy which made for a pleasant finish to my stroll. Over the full three days of this walk I covered 30.7 kilometres with around 18 kilometres of that completely off track. Over the course of the three days I also climbed 1458 metres complete with a few short sections of scrambling, with the scramble up Cleft Peak being the most exposed. I used a few notes out the House of Chapman’s Australian Alps Walking Track book and carried the Suggan-Buggan 1:50,000 topo map. For the most part though I was just making it up as I went along. This three day walk was a wild little stroll, one that I’ll definitely revisit at some stage in my future, it was great to visit a spot that appears largely untouched by man.
Relevant Posts.
Day 1 of this walk.
Day 2 of this walk.
 |
| There was still a bit of weather around. |
 |
| Another great little adventure coming to its end. |
No comments:
Post a Comment