Some folk had given us notes on the next section, but perhaps PeterF's online commentary was most accurate for us.
He says that he remembered "lots of scrub", and that seemed to be the case whatever path you chose.
We followed a very clear pad up onto the slopes of Gould, but it then abruptly ended.
It had started to traverse around next to a wide rocky gully, but I suspect we had missed something earlier as I think we were supposed to be higher up above this gully before we began to traverse.
But now we followed our noses through the padless scrub.
Eventually we came out onto more open slopes, but not much easier. The slope was quite steep and the wet branches gave rise to some energy sapping and interesting slips.
I had one memorable slide where I ended up upside down with my legs stuck above me. It was a little awkward working my way back to an upright position
Finally we got to the screes. Initially they were good, but as we got higher, they got bigger and wetter. The black moss on them was becoming very slippery, so we again moved very slowly across this.
It was a relief to finally get to the saddle out to the Minotaur.
There was no chance to climb Gould for a view as it was well and truly encased in cloud and we were quite worn by now.
It had taken about 3:40 to cover the 3kms from the plateau. There had been light rain for much of this time.
Finding a basin with some water just below the Minotaur, we set up camp there. We did not go on to the larger saddle towards the Guardians.
It was nice to get some dry clothes on and have a meal. And the setting was very moody as it got darker with cloud streaming over Gould, the Guardians and the mountains to the south, Lake Marion far below.
- Gould Plateau and the weather is not looking too flash
- Mt Byron from our campsite.
Next day was a slow start as we were in cloud. And putting on the wet clothes, wet socks and wet boots was sadly amusing.
We knew this was standard procedure in Tas, but still not the sort of thing that you are jumping out of your skin to do.
Heading up towards the top of the Minotaur in mist, we were scanning about for a pad.
I hooked up with one that took us to the very top - but no views.
However, the cloud lifted sufficiently to allow us to pick up the pads heading down and it was a relief to see clearly as we got further down.
The photos folk had put up had misled me a bit, as I thought the gully down was quite near the top. Instead a good pad took us along the skyline quite a distance before gently going down.
After a few hundred metres we got to the real drop, and I was glad to be going down it rather than up.
Then it was up and down a bit as we made for the main track into the Labyrinth. We got to a clear track crossing but then ended up on a rough pad that took us higher.
Not sure how it happened, but this turned out to be the Minotaur pad from the real main track into the Labyrinth.
Our map showed an upper and lower track into the Labyrinth, but it seems that the lower track is not really used.
Once on the official track, it was then a lovely misty walk traversing the Parthenon before dropping down into the lakes - with Cyane and Ophion in cloud.
Had lunch just past Ophion and the cloud started lifting.
It was a relaxed afternoon setting up camp at Elysia and exploring around a bit.
- A misty walk into the Labyrinth
