Bushwalk Australia

Go , you good thing L-P. Head down and bum up for the south coast.

Come on Louis-P you can do it!

Yep, all working normally now and he's making good time this morning. On the main track and about to hit the first bogs en route to Junction.

Is the Crossing River likely to be flooded and will that be a problem?

Robert H wrote:Strange, to me it looks like he just joined the main track. No indication of him going back to the beach??

Sorry about that comment. It must have been a glitch that displaced his turn-on position back to the previous evening.
It all seems fine now and he didn't start too late and his making a reasonable speed, but as NNW noted he is only just getting into the boggy sections. When I went through there (in January) I felt that sticks were essential for keeping balance in soft ground so I hope he is OK without them.

mikeb wrote:Is the Crossing River likely to be flooded and will that be a problem?

Quite likely flooded, but no problem for someone who has a boat and can handle 60 km/hr winds.

Links
https://eur-share.inreach.garmin.com/louphi

http://www.louis-philippe-loncke.com

MrWalker wrote:

Robert H wrote:Strange, to me it looks like he just joined the main track. No indication of him going back to the beach??

Sorry about that comment. It must have been a glitch that displaced his turn-on position back to the previous evening.
It all seems fine now and he didn't start too late and his making a reasonable speed, but as NNW noted he is only just getting into the boggy sections. When I went through there (in January) I felt that sticks were essential for keeping balance in soft ground so I hope he is OK without them.

I've been through several times, never with sticks, he'll be fine! The Crossing will be up and a hassle to cross. Great if he can get there today or even further. The walking is good once through the Junction mess!

MrWalker wrote:

mikeb wrote:Is the Crossing River likely to be flooded and will that be a problem?

Quite likely flooded, but no problem for someone who has a boat and can handle 60 km/hr winds.

yes, but could be fairly fast flowing there. Can be tricky in summer after rain. But he does have this incredible raft. Will be interesting to here how it goes. Still a bit of water to negotiate yet. If the weather continues to play up then I think Crossing, The Narrows and Louisa River will be interesting stories. Then SCR for a bit of fun just to finish it off nicely. Go Louis! This is my kind of sport viewing!

Wonder how his body feels to have a pack on his back again after the 'break' on the water. It must be a marvellous to at least be back on a formed track after those long days in the scrub. Hopefully the river crossings don't pose an insurmountable problem.

I reckon he'll be happy on his feet again. The rafting does hurt the lower back after a while...

Here's a pic of the Crossing River at the point the PDT crosses in reasonable flow. I suspect it will be a little higher but not a great deal more. No probs for a packraft or louphi!

MrWalker wrote:

mikeb wrote:Is the Crossing River likely to be flooded and will that be a problem?

Quite likely flooded, but no problem for someone who has a boat and can handle 60 km/hr winds.

Actually the Crossing can be very dangerous when high. There have been deaths. A packraft may be very difficult to use too, as it is somewhat log infested and fast flowing. Only 3.4mm of rain in 24hrs to 9:00 AM, so hopefully the level will be okay, (27mm to 9:00 AM Sunday).

With no sleep last night hopefully he gets some sun to dry his wet sleeping bag. Maybe that is why he was up early today. Go Louis go.

Maybe 1.5km from Junction at 11:30, and at his present speed he'll be there by 12:30 at the latest. He'll make the Crossing easily today, and the track gets better beyond that.

South Coast by the 21st may be a stretch but at this rate it's doable, especially if he paddles from Farrell Pt to Melaleuca.

Was he going to try and paddle part of the Crossing River before the Gorge?
Meant to be a bit of a log jam mess after it joins the Dodds I think?

He could also potentially paddle part of the Spring River out into Manwoneer Inlet / Joe Page Bay out to Farrell Pt - then to Melaleuca.

He just crossed Junction Creek. He is making good progress. He is stopped very near the open air throne

Azza wrote:Was he going to try and paddle part of the Crossing River before the Gorge?
Meant to be a bit of a log jam mess after it joins the Dodds I think?

He could also potentially paddle part of the Spring River out into Manwoneer Inlet / Joe Page Bay out to Farrell Pt - then to Melaleuca.

I don't think he's paddling the Crossing, it'll be too dangerous. The photo SBS put up was to show that we had to use rafts to get across the river in summer as it was a bit high to wade. I paddled up the M. inlet after our Crossing trip but I chickened out early and headed up to the PDT. I reckon I could have got a fair way towards the Spring River bridge. I'd be tempted to put in there if I was coming the other way!

doogs wrote:I don't think he's paddling the Crossing, it'll be too dangerous.

I figured that would be the case, but does he know that?
It almost looks tempting on the map.

I saw the photo of SBS and that made me wonder because I didn't think you guys put in at the crossing.

Azza wrote:

doogs wrote:I don't think he's paddling the Crossing, it'll be too dangerous.

I figured that would be the case, but does he know that?
It almost looks tempting on the map.

I saw the photo of SBS and that made me wonder because I didn't think you guys put in at the crossing.

We put in a little further down the PDT due to the known log jams up to the Dodd confluence. Jumping in at the Spring River would be very tempting if the wind was favourable for Joe Page Bay...he's got pretty easy walking for a couple days now at least. The Crossing wouldn't be easy

He's at Alpha Moraine junction now. Would he be tempted to reroute to escape the mud with a lazy arthurs traverse for old times' sake

On current progress it looks like he's well on track to reach Cox Bight by the end of the 21st. So long as he's not held up at the Bathurst Narrows crossing.

That was quite a reasonable speed today. Fairly consistent, except back at the Junction, where he had a lunch break, or possibly had to pack and unpack his boat to get across the river.
It must be a lot better now the pack is lighter and he (presumably) doesn't need to walk in snowshoes or fight through untracked scrub.

Lou-Phi is starting to think about his exit. If you look closely at the tracker you will see two adjacent pings at 10:33 and 11:03, between which he sat and sent out some planning messages.

He is thinking that he will reach Cockle Creek between 23rd and 25th; then no more than a couple of days in Tassie, then up to Sydney. Out of Sydney on 2 October.

He wants to make the most of potential media opportunities. Says "I have Gopro clips in 4K: paddling, Mt. Ossa, Cradle Mt, bush-bashing, deep snow. Maybe community or dedicated person at Tas Tourism can help with media contact?"

The ABC journalist Georgina Burgess is already onto it. If anyone has media expertise or other relevant media contacts and is keen to help, please message me directly.

Cheers, John

18:03 and he's over the Crossing River. It's all downhill from here.

Is there actually a defined track? On GoogleEarth, can't really see anything obvious.

From the Crossing there's a very good track. Some bits better than others, but it's no worse than McKays.

north-north-west wrote:

Heremeahappy1 wrote:Hypothetical. Does the external provision of info/intel from a third party count as resources? Would you consider this as support to a trip? Interested in your views.

Read. The. Previous. Two. Pages.

Thank.You.For.Your.Direction.

I wonder if he is going to have the SCT to himself ?
He might pick up a few LouPhi groupies for company after Mallaleuca.

Day45

17 Sept. Good progress but lost 1h to go back to yesterday's landing spot to get my 2nd 6dl bottle. Lost it. Hungry! Just now looked for a bag of food…mmm. 2.7kg left, will have to last 5-8days!

Keep going Lou-Phi

Mechanic-AL wrote:I wonder if he is going to have the SCT to himself ?
He might pick up a few LouPhi groupies for company after Melaleuca.

Plenty of planes flying over the last week or so. I reckon a few early walkers are heading down that way.
Fixed the spelling there for ya too.....