Day 19 - Australian Alps Walking Track Instalment 1

So I am re-writing this post as I deleted my 2 days worth of writing accidentally last night!

I sit here writing, thinking of my night sleeping at Selwyn Creek Camp.  I don't remember it, I have no pictures and my diary has nothing written in it that has helped me to remember anything about this spot.
It just goes to show the bad mood I was in last night and all of yesterday.  I think this morning as I wake I am so focused on what is ahead that I'm not really concentrating on anything around me.

The plan for today is pretty big.  Walk 25km along the relatively flat Selwyn track.  Climb 4km up and down the Viking to Viking saddle and set up camp.  Its a relatively big day.

Middle back of this photo in the mist - The Viking

This morning is like all others, with an early start.  My mind is really focused on getting through these rolling hills and get climbing the Viking.  So I follow Twins Track to Selwyn Track, I'm not pressing too hard, just 3kms per hour as I do not want to run out of energy before the Viking.  Today is much hotter then the any other morning.  I had checked the forecast before leaving Hotham and today is meant to reach 30 degrees which is atleast 6 degrees hotter than anything I had hiked through on this adventure.  Calculating how I am tracking, I'm going to be climbing at about 2pm today which will suck but I want to stay on schedule now that i have a deadline to meet and I am in striking distance to the Viking so it game time.  Unlike yesterday the game face is on.

I have filled up with water at Selwyn South water tank and continued on Selwyn track.  There is little breeze even today so things are really quiet.   HHHHHHOOOOOOOOOONNNNKKKK!

Holy Heck, what is that.  About 10m above me is the blow horn sound just as loud as it would be right beside me.  All I can think is how has Tim found me out here and why has he got a fog horn....and why did he just let it off beside me head.  I almost drop to the ground it has scared me so much.  For sure it someone has a video camera I would have won family home videos.  

I look up, see and hear the Sambar Deer running through the scrub.  Hilarious.  I laughed about it for an hour.  

The trail is easy to follow today no issues, it definitely the warmest day I've faced.  I am really going through the water.  There were actually 2 tanks that I filled up with but I cannot remember where the second one was.  I had marked it in my book but as I rip up my trail book to make fires I no longer have a record.

I am down to about 1.5 litres of water by the time I arrive at Barry Saddle.  There is an old water tank here that I am looking to fill up.  I figure as it is old and rusty I should probably check the water quality, so I only fill up my 550ml hip bottle.  Nasty, its brown and has all these little spermy swimmers in it.  I am not going to drink that but I also have the feeling I shouldn't through it out.

I'm not enjoying the prospect of going over the Viking on a day like today with so little water but I have no choice really.  The only direction is forward.

So with all the build up to the point now over I stand here at the base of the Viking. I start climbing trying to stop myself from just running up the side of this bad boy.  I want to get over the top but also don't want to blow myself up either so I keep telling myself it is hot and I have put in some big kms with little water - take your time.  I do.  In the end not by choice.

There are parts of the ascent that is more like climbing and bouldering that hiking.  This feels more like a mountain than any of the others I have hiked on this adventure.  I am moving really so.  Its so hot.  I am so thirsty but I am cautious so I take a big mouth full at a time.  I find myself walking from shaded bush to shaded bush.  I will walk for 5 minutes then see a shady boulder outcrop and I can't help it but take off my pack and lay under the boulder in its shade.  I start stopping more often, I just can't do more than a 100m at a time without stopping.  I can feel the effects of light dehydration already, a small headache across my forehead like wearing a headband.  Every hour or so my legs are cramping and spasming.

I keep trying to press onward up but its hot, I am really starting to worry about my water consumption.  I'm down to a litre plus the brown water on the hip and I'm not over the top yet.  I start to only allow myself a sip.  Now I know this may seem dramatic, but even at my early stages of dehydration a sip is so hard.  All I want to do us chug it down but all I can do is sip.

When I finally reach the summit I am relieved for a couple of reasons a) I have just climbed the Viking b) I am no longer climbing the Viking c) there is now an almighty wind that seems to want to knock me off the Viking, which at this point is much nicer then the dead dry heat I had been battling for the past couple hours.

The summit is a beautiful place.  Not only for the distant views but I really love the rocky outcrops that I can only imagine gave the Viking its name.  Much like the horns on a Vikings helmet the outcrops point out over the cliff faces.  I find them fascinating.

I take a rare moment to sit down to enjoy the views.  I remember that Tim's camera also has video and decide now is a good a time as ever to start a video diary of my progress as well as my condition.

Now, I have been contemplating since my arrival home whether to share some of these videos.  They are a real reflection of my state of mind and the position I am in at the time of taking them.  I like them.  I look back and remember recording them.  These are recordings of me at a time when things are real.  No worldly consciousness.  No regard for what might be said or how what I am saying may be viewed.  This is just genuine thought.  They tend to get more genuine as the day goes on.

Once I start my climb down I start to relax a little, there is a cool breeze on the south side of the Viking and its an enjoyable trail.  I can also start to think about the Viking saddle below me and the knowledge that on my arrival at the saddle I will enjoy replenishing my water supplies.

Now more than a week ago, at Thredbo, I had a chance to cross paths with Jochen Spencer (as previously mentioned) and one of the things Jochen mentioned to me was a chock stone which I would come across as I descended from the Viking.  He mentioned I should keep some spare guy line or chord to attach to my bag so I could lower it down the drop and then scurry down under the stone myself.  When talking at Taylor's Crossing with the 3 gentlemen there, they also mentioned a similar technique.  Now you need to watch all 4 videos to understand how funny this all is.  In hindsight it shows how exhausted and dehydrated I actually was.  My thoughts are a mess - I'm just spent.

So I now feel pretty silly, but I am used to laughing at myself, so I do.   I continue down the Viking to Viking saddle which is a pretty easy foot pad to follow with only a rare spot that is overgrown.  I am walking now with extra purpose.  I can almost taste the fresh cold water I will soon refill with at Viking saddle.

As I come down off the mountain I can see a grassy clearing which is the Viking saddle camp ground where I should be able to get water from.  When I get down to the camp site I drop my pack and get out my trail book to figure out where to source water.  There is an unmark path through the bush which goes about 300m from the camp, it not there I will need to continue another 600m or so to the main branch of Buffalo River.

I walk for about 45 minutes - nothing.  neither sources.  The first branch at 300m is definitely dried out
so I figure a river is a sound bet.  I couldn't find it.  In my physical condition I am worried about going further into the bush as if there is no water then I am only further deteriorating myself with no benefit.  I could be using this energy to get to the next most reliable source.  I decide to return to my pack.  I have virtually no water now, except the brown water.

I grab my pack and start along the climb up towards the Razor.  I am shattered, I can usually talk myself into some motivation but there is nothing left.  I am cramping up so often, my back, my legs, my brain..... they all hurt.  I am now basically shuffling up the mountain.  I shuffle past the junction to go over the Razor, part of me is a little disappointed that I can't also take on the Razor.  I descend and ascend again this time climbing up Mt Despair.  I can see in the trail book that there is water to the east below Mt Despair so once again I take off my pack and spend about 45 minutes trudging through the bush looking for water.  Nothing.

So I think this post is getting a little long so I will have to divide today into 2 posts, will get the next one up asap.  I will also mention that the next instalments videos made my 8 year old daughter cry when she saw my condition so you will want to read on!