mount rolland to mount claude

[gossy1985]

my mother in law and I walked across the mount Rolland reserve today. and what a hard days walking that was. we started at the kings road track and straight into the hard climb. but we was prepared for that bit but from the mount Rolland trig we didn't really know what to expect. mount Rolland itself wasn't to bad a nice steady downhill following a creek bed and walking planks right to the O'neils Rd track junction. we then started our walk up mount van dyke and to start with it is a nice steady climb to the top on soft soil and rocks. From there we headed down a small gully once again a easy walk. but that is where things change. when we started our climb over the small gully we started our descent from mount van dyke which is fairly steep with some big drop off steps where my mother in law got caught up on a stick a fell a couple of meters down the track. thankfully no serious damage was caused only two grazed knees. we finally made it to the bottom of the second mountain to the second O'neils Rd track. It did cross our minds to pull out at this point because we was both exhausted and seeing mount claude in front of us and the next climb ahead. but after a second of thinking we decided to keep going on. we got to the top of the first part of the track but by this time we was starting to hurt from all the climbing.
but as we found out it wasn't the last of the climbing. the walking down a little only to walk up hill again was great fun (not) but we made it to the transmission tower finally thinking it will be a short walk down the service road to our second car. hmmmmm by far the worst part of our walk was the service road it was horrible. but we did make it and loved it

[taswegian]

"but we did make it and loved it"
That's what makes it so worthwhile. Your perseverance was well rewarded.

Agree, it is a very nice walk across the top.
I love Van Dyke - to me there's something special about the way it is tucked in behind Roland, a mountain in its own little way.
And surprises tourists when they venture westwards to see it pop into view as they drive along Claude Road.
It was even prettier on top of Van Dyke until the fierce fires many years back. Thankfully it is growing back.

Sounds like you put your mother in law to the test!

[ofuros]

Did the trip an awfully long time ago now,, with my brothers in tow.....thanks for bringing back some
long lost memories, I'll have to did out the old dust covered photo album now.
Glad you enjoyed it & hope your mother-in-law recovers.