Sometimes we come across fantastic trip reports and this one about the South Coast Track in Tasmania is a winner.
Maintained by “The Sons of the Desert”, this site is interesting, quirky, well written and contains some really great information.
We suspect very clever people , who can actually write and photograph, are behind it.
With “the Son’s” permission we have linked to a couple of their excellent images and stolen some amusing and enlightening pieces of text.
Please read the full trip report, it is well worth your time if you are planning the South Coast Track or just want to see why you might never go there….or, just live the adventure vicariously.
In no particular order, some images and selected quotes:
But as we descended the south-easterns side of the mountains two things happened. The first was that the flora went from alpine to rainforest! A complete, dramatic change which contributed to making the thousand metre descent quite challenging. The other thing was that the well made track ended; that was the last of well made tracks until the final day.
So what we were left with was descending what was alternately a muddy trench or a root filled running watercourse down a thousand metre descent all overgrown with rainforest undergrowth. The horizontal distance was about 2k; it took almost five hours.
Top of Ironbound Ranges looking toward Louisa Bay and beyond
We then walked on to our intended campsite at Prion East. When we had almost achieved it we found that (not for the first or last time) storms had destroyed the track work, and there was a twenty metre almost vertical sand and slippery rock climb to get to the campsite. When we got the campsite, we found that there was no water: the only water was in soaks at the bottom of the climb!
Mmmm, water is king!
The people who came in the other direction arriving at Granite Beach camp were shellshocked. It started with a relatively tolerable 600m climb through moderate mud and up waterfalls laughingly called track. But when we got to the top, there was a traverse across the ridge line for a few km that was extraordinary. Many people were getting in the mud up to their waists. I managed my thighs but no higher.
South Coast Track mud - fun in the sun (or rain)
Interesting how psychology changes: at the cold moment I would have paid thousands to be transported back to civilisation. Warm in my sleeping bag I would have paid a lot *not* to be transported out and miss out on completing the walk!
Cold is bad, warm gear is great!
We hope you enjoyed the article over at The Sons of the Desert site. Many thanks to them for granting permission to share the information here.
Have you hiked in mud or water like this?
Enjoy or never again?
Shoot us your thoughts and experiences below, we love to share.