{"id":441,"date":"2019-12-08T22:11:19","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T22:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/it.johnmark.net.au\/?p=441"},"modified":"2020-05-02T22:23:43","modified_gmt":"2020-05-02T22:23:43","slug":"on-our-last-legs-stage-20-port-davey-track-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/it.johnmark.net.au\/index.php\/2019\/12\/08\/on-our-last-legs-stage-20-port-davey-track-day-1\/","title":{"rendered":"On our last legs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Day 22: 8 December 2019 (PDT Day 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday 6 December, we headed to Hobart for a couple of days with Tim\u2019s parents, as his mother Elsie recuperated from surgery. It was very special to have that time with them and to know that Elsie was recovering well before we left for the South West. We also had the opportunity to hear Madeleine sing as guest soloist with the Cygnet Singers for their Christmas concert. Our good friend Mellissa had us to stay on Saturday night and waved us off on Sunday morning before 6 am. We picked up Madeleine, grabbed a coffee en route, and soon were back on the now-familiar stretch of road through Westerway and Maydena. Less than a week earlier we had walked the entire Scotts Peak Dam Road, and here we were, ready to walk over the tiny rise at the threshold of the Port Davey Track that we first visited in October last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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At Huon Campsite we met a group of 3 who were leaving the area, having waited for 2 nights on the side of a flooded Junction Creek, unable to cross. For the past fortnight, we had been watching the regional weather and 7-day forecasts and sensed that our chance of getting through was reasonable. As it was, this was the first of many potential obstacles that \u2018happened\u2019 to come together to enable us to continue throughout the trip without a single delay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just prior to leaving, an older man and his son drove up. The\nfather said he had walked through in 1972, and his son was planning to walk through\nearly next year. They seemed rather concerned that we may have underestimated\nthe terrain and might not make it. But we felt confident that we were fit,\nwell-equipped and well-prepared, and that we had the backing of friends and\nfamily should we require additional help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moment that we had long anticipated had arrived, and we\nboth as well as Madeleine took the first steps onto the Port Davey Track. We\nwere on our way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ah, the first of many false impressions of the PDT! For 300 metres the track is through beautiful myrtle rainforest, with a gentle path meandering through. Madeleine skipped along with us until a final wave goodbye on the verge of the barren hills north of the Western Arthurs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We aimed this day to walk 19 km to Crossing River. As we approached Junction Creek our apprehension rose \u2013 would we be able to safely cross it? We had already had to cross many smaller creeks, wading or walking on logs or jumping over them, and had managed to keep going. When we arrived, about lunchtime, we were relieved to find the river level down and a pile of trees with an overhanging rope stretching across it. We scrambled across – we were over! Out came our Helinox chairs and we enjoyed a rice cake, cheese and smoked chicken lunch on the river bank. A Romanian man crossed as we were leaving, telling us that he had had to spend 4 nights at the Strathgordon Lodge before the river levels fell. We climbed up to the Junction Creek campsite \u2013 just a clearing in the trees \u2013 and were definitely not ready to stop for the day. Our next challenge was another fast-flowing creek that required some planning to cross. We learnt later that a commercial group had successfully crossed Junction Creek only to have to turn back at this point. They then found that Junction Creek had since risen too far to cross back. They had spent 2 nights between the 2 rivers before moving on. At second faster flowing and flooded creek, Tim put on river-crossing shoes, I went through in my walking boots and squelched for the rest of the day. The Romanian walker crossed soon after in his amphibians, as he called his walking shoes that were not waterproof, but enabled the water to move through the shoe fabric \u2013 a good policy on this track. We never saw him again but thought of him later as another hiker who caught up to us the following day found a packet containing $400 in cash at Junction Creek. We suspected it may have been his and hoped that he was caught up with in order to have it returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As we were heading South, the view was dominated by the Western Arthurs which were emerging from cloud slowly through the day. We skirted around the base of this range to the West. By early afternoon, as we gained a little height we could look behind us clearly see the still snow capped Mount Anne range away to the North East, a view we had missed on the Scott’s Peak Dam road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Western Arthurs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Mt Anne Range <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My energy flagged by late afternoon, and Tim stated to scout out for a camping spot a few km short of Crossing River. On a rocky knoll on the western end of Mount Hesperus, we found a perfect site (albeit a little exposed). As the weather forecast was for mild conditions we pitched our tent and absorbed the beauty and stillness of the vast and wild terrain. With thankful hearts we retired for the night, immensely grateful that we had been able to get to this point without incident. It was a relatively early night, but not until Tim had messaged Madeleine, our communications coordinator in Hobart, via satellite communicator, so she could relay our short message to friends and family who were following our progress on a group chat called Last Legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n