As it was still early, I decided to have a crack at Mt Emmett so took off up the (very long) hill. Once at the top and the turnoff to Mt Emmett, the lack of a track, lateness in the day and dodgy weather conditions convinced me to leave it for another day, wisely as I discovered the next day as it was a much longer walk than the Abels book led me to believe.
Tuesday dawned clear as a bell, so I was on the track by 8am, and joined the OT at 9. On top of the world with views everywhere, blissfully easy walking on boardwalk or a solid track and absolutely no-one around, it was wonderful. Barn Bluff beckoned me on, and I soon reached its base where I met a couple who told me they couldn't find the way up. They decided not to follow me up, so I climbed up by myself, wondering how they could have missed the track until I followed an incorrectly cairned route to the right, and had to traverse back over to the left - this seems odd as the rest of the route is very well cairned. I didn't find it a difficult climb at all, but of the next couple that came up, only the girl went to the top, and the next couple didn't get past the base.
Once on top I enjoyed the solitude, warmth, expansive views and the antics of the fat skinks. If only bushwalking in Tassie was usually like this, instead of so often being cold and wet!
Back at the junction of the Lake Rodway track by 1pm, going back to the hut so early didn't seem like an enticing option so I set my sights on Emmett. Marking numerous waypoints on my GPS just in case the weather closed in (scary thought out there), I headed round the first hill and into the beautiful but rather painful scoparia garden that has to be navigated before the band of scratchy gum scrub which is below the rocks. The views back to the cirque and Barn Bluff along with all the flowers made this walk outstanding. The mountain is made up of giant boulders, very secure but quite hard work because they are so big - they have to be climbed much of the time rather than just stepping from one to another. They also have giant holes between them which are best not to think about as no-one would ever find a walker who fell into one.
I reached the summit of the first peak after an hour and three quarters at which point I was still feeling comfortable about being there, but the second summit was another 20 - 30 minutes away at least, it was getting late, I had had quite a long day, and I was a bit concerned about how hard it was going to be going back down. So rather than pushing it to the second (higher
) summit and then ending up anxious, burning lots of nervous energy which I needed to safely navigate the boulders, I decided to forgo the points and head back. I found going down the mountain much easier than going up, to my surprise, and also found the same faint pads through the scrub that I had found on the way in, making the return journey as pleasant as the way out had been.I will be going back as a day walk - it is a lovely walk which gives spectacular views back over the National Park.
I got back to the Hut at 6 and thought I had it to myself for the night but a school group from Victoria came in at 7. They were polite and well behaved, but 5 teenage boys are noisy however good they are so I was a bit disappointed.
Rain again the next day, and strong winds so I just headed for home. Checked the map in the emergency shelter which said that it was an hour back to the carpark via the Dove Lake Track so I decided to go along the Face Track and drop down rather than head over exposed Hansons Peak. I didn't realise how far up the Face Track goes before the track drops down past Lake Wilks. It was a decision that I regretted all the way down the track that goes past Lake Wilks and all the way back to the carpark as by that stage my knees had decided they had had enough and every step hurt. Thank goodness for walking poles! Took me nearly 2 hours from the emergency hut - it's no more than an hour and a half via Hansons and probably less going down.
All in all it was a good "fix", and gave me more confidence to go out solo overnight. Barn Bluff is a beautiful mountain and Emmett is a good walk too, I just feel privileged to have had such a perfect day out.
