Day 28: 15 December 2019 (SCT Day 2)
Point Eric to Louisa River
Heavy rain was scheduled for the day, which could potentially block our progress at Faraway Creek, Louisa Creek or Louisa River. Each of these had to be forded and we hoped if we left early enough we could get across before the water levels rose. Tim shared our thoughts with a couple of other groups who had also flown in on Justin’s plane and were camping at Point Eric.
We left soon after 7 am and the other groups (Mark and Glen, a couple of teachers from NSW and a group of 6 friends from Melbourne) were on the track at a similar time. It was 17.6 km to Louisa River, up and over Red Hills, at 236 m elevation, then along forest and plains. It was great fun walking in the rain.
At Faraway Creek, Mark and Glen were already over and reassured us that it was easy to cross. So we walked straight through boots and all much to their astonishment, as they had carefully changed into river shoes to cross. I think changing was the first and last time for them, as they quickly adopted our method! Hearts gladdened we charged on, and managed to cross Louisa Creek easily as well. The final challenge was Louisa River, and again – it was passable.
We were through by early afternoon and set up the tarp and tents. Checking an hour or so later, the water level was up and raging, so we were very glad we had made it through when we did. We all snoozed that afternoon, then invited Sarah to join us as we had our evening meal. She had arrived the night before and decided to have a rest day before tackling the legendary Ironbound range. The rain started to ease in the evening and we all settled early for the biggest challenge of the SCT the following day.
