This Year
0
Number of Walks Ticked
0.0m
Total Distance Ticked
All Time
1
Number of Walks Ticked
15.0km
Total Distance Ticked
| Name | Date | Difficulty | Distance/Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mt Barney - East Peak - Up South-East - Down South (Mt Barney National Park) |
27 Mar, 2015 |
Very Hard |
15km return 10 hrs |
|
| I severely under estimated this climb. Due to pretty much all other hikes that i have been on having been overestimated on the official government descriptions a friend and i thought we would be fine as long as we took enough water and food and were in pretty decent shape. Failed badly and ended up smashing through lantana for about 3 hours. Definitely didn't help that we somehow forgot my printout of these instructions. Instead of turning left through the metal gate at the start we went straight past it then up and over a steep hill down to a creek. Our excitement and adrenaline was far too strong for our senses at this point. After trekking around looking for a path for a few hours we just decided to try and climb up one of the ridges. Terrible idea. Managed to get a fair way up one before we realised that it was impossible without taking too much risk so decided to try and get across to the next ridge on the left which was pretty tough and then for the same reason across to the next one after that =| By that point we were up quite high and i think we still were not on the South East ridge. My legs started to cramp up badly and a headache started building so it was definitely an amazing choice to turn back there since it was 2:15 and we didn't end up getting back to the car until just before darkness. The hike back was hell. The little cliffs and waterfalls which seemed the safest and fastest way down seemed to just keep appearing and were all dangerous and tough. The tops of the trees at the bottom seemed to be forever away for so long too. After finally reaching the bottom we only had a very vague idea of which direction to get back and my body was already ruined. At least 2 hours of extremely hard going through think lantana and trees we finally found the creek/stream again and were very fortunate to manage to find the steep hill back to the car park again. It was a huge relief to finally find the carpark again. Overall i probably don't realise just how fortunate we are that we only received same really scratched legs ( i did fall at one point and was very lucky not to break anything), that we madaged to find our way back, that none of my less capable friends that i know came along and i will never tackle a hike where people say (take a map and compass and learn how to navigate first!!) without doing that very thing and i urge anyone who reads this to do the same thing!! Also i took 4 litres of water and that was not enough. Though i am a fairly big guy and sweat a lot and we actually probably travelled further then is needed to get to the summit and back on the normal route. Ended up drinking a heap of water from the stream at the end and didn't get sick either. Sorry about the terrible writing but i am tired and have to work in the morning. After all that though it was great fun!!!! Can't wait to go again ASAP better prepared of course!!! |
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