Grand Plans



Over the Christmas holidays I decided that I would do a three day hike, so after studying the social calendar I had the three day weekend picked. Next came pouring over the guide books and maps to decide where to go. Good old Tyrone Thomas came to my rescue with a nice three day loop in the Bogong High Plains. So I put the wheels in motion, things were looking great until…
I discovered that a local sporting event that we help out at was on the same weekend. This spelt the end of the three day'r. However the eyes quickly lit up when I realised the event would finish early enough on the Sunday to allow me to walk out to Mt McLeod camp area at Del’s plain.

Leaf

This is a walk that I have done before, but that did not deter me, in fact it made the planning easy as I was familiar with the walk. Looking at the quality of photo in some of the blogs I read, I have been inspired to lift my game when it comes to photo's, so the shorter walk would allow me to have a play with the camera.

I ate lunch at the car and departed around one, At the turn off from Reservoir road I meet a family of six who were also heading to Mt McLeod, however I had a head start on them and did not see them again until they arrived in camp. I will spare the reader the detail of the walk to the camping area, it has been covered in my previous post and also by Greg over at Hiking Fiasco.

View East

Once at Del’s Plain I set up the Golite SL2, with my new single inner net from Terra Rosa Gear. I was happy enough with the concept of using the single inner in the SL2 after my Warby Range trip, that I thought I would have new one made. This inner is sized on the SL2 two person inner, and simply cut in half to give me a nest on one side and open space on the other side of the SL2.

SL2 and TRG inner

Once camp was set up I headed up the summit of Mt McLeod, last time I had made this trip before sun up, but this time I decide I would have a sleep in instead. In hindsight this may have not been the best plan as the fuel reduction burns had nicely filled up the valleys with a smoky haste and restricted the visibility. Towards the end of my time on the summit I could hear the voices of the children from the camping area signalling that the family had arrived.

Evening Display

I returned in time to see the last of the tents going up and settled back to cook dinner (home dried special fried rice), take photos of the changing cloud formations, and listen to the constant buzz as Mum, Dad, and the four boys ate their dinner and chatted insistently.

Moon in Chop Sticks

The next morning, the clouds were down low enough to be drifting through the Plain, making things a little damp and chilly; however I was in no hurry and took the time to enjoy my breakfast and a coffee.

As the weather cleared a little I slowly spread out my gear which was a little damp from condensation inside the tent. I am happy that with some tweaking of how the TRG inner fits inside the SL2 it should allow me a tighter pitch on the SL2 outer and prevent the droplets landing on my sleeping bag.

Summit Flower

The family of 6 headed off to the summit leaving me in the peace and quiet to pack the remainder of my gear and head home. The trip out is much the same as the trip in except the hills go the other way. Thankfully this means more downhill than uphill walking.

Tea Pot Tree

I was back at the car park in time for a late lunch and even took the time to boil the billy for a cuppa before hopping in the car for the trip home.