The old forestry trail was in much better condition than the last time I drove the road, the small creek crossing posing no problem due to the recent lack of rain. I had to stop and clear some fallen trees blocking the road but as the wood was very rotten it didn't take too long.
I came to the end of the road and started up the trail. I had some co-ordinates plugged into my GPS, but decided to follow the obvious trail, marked with spray paint and surveyors tape, and began my traverse around the mountain slope.
The ground was so dry that clumps of grass and dirt on the steep slopes would disintegrate beneath my feet, but I kept following the obvious markers across the loose terrain. It wasn't long before I slightly sprained my ankle, but I decided to keep going even though the markers were taking me on a slightly different course than my GPS way-points.
The markers vanished, so I scrambled up the slope to make the summit of the ridge to get my bearings. This took me further away from my path, so as soon as I had reached the summit I had to plunge down into the rain-forest below and back down the slopes.
It was slow going through the dense ferns, vines and soft undergrowth, but I eventually made my way to a small creek running through the forest. I followed this upstream until I could contour back up to where I needed to be.
Three hours after setting off I was finally on the right track! Given that I had spent too much time wandering through the scrub I decided to head back to the car as I didn't want to run out of daylight. The heat and humidity was draining but the path back was well marked and it took me less than an hour to return. As I came out at the end of the track it was obvious where I had made my mistake, I should have turned off the path earlier in the day.
Dirty, sweaty, scratched to pieces and skin tingling from wading through stinging nettles, I returned to my car for a cold drink and a change of clothes. A pair of hikers had earlier returned from the same trek, they had set off very early in the morning and were just leaving when I arrived back to my car.
It was great timing as their car wouldn't start (and we were a long way from help), so I gave them a jump start and set back off home.
I stopped at a nearby stream to sit in the cold water for a while, before heading back over the range at dusk and home. I was exhausted and knowing I had an early start the next morning it wasn't long before I was in bed.
I definitely need to plan a little better next time, but the next trip out there should be a lot more straight forward.
More photos here
