Wylds Craig - 29th August 2020
Posted: Thu 10 Sep, 2020 5:11 pmBlog -> http://www.benderandxing.com/2020/09/09/wylds-craig/
Video -> Probably about 3 weeks away at my current rate of progress... :-p
Forecast heavy rain and potential snow had shied us away from our original plans of attempting the Chimera and/or Hippogriff, so instead we set our sights on the relatively simpler walk of Wylds Craig.
It was a late start out on-track - despite leaving the other end of the state at a keen hour - compounded by the need for an extra forestry road walk from the decommissioned bridge and inaccessible fjord crossing alongside - an extra 4km each way we hadn't counted on. Somewhere along the lines wires got crossed and we believed the bridge had been repaired - clearly not so. An attempt to shortcut the lengthy walk to the trailhead resulted in a steep, slippery walk over an old skidder track and really wasn't worth it.
The trail head itself was well marked but the initial route between it and where the track begins at the edge of the old logging coupe wasn't, a variable mix of small rock cairns and old tape that was far from easy to follow through the patchy regrowth euc. Eventually we made our way to its western edge and from there on the pad was clearly defined and easy to follow, aided by plenty of track markers and tape. There was no lack of timber and other debris across the track but otherwise the climb was moderate and the going good.
After several undulations and a sudden drop we passed through a pandani band before crossing Coles Creek and commencing a steep ascent through thinning scrub and a very damp pad (read: mostly flowing stream) up onto Goodwins Moor. From here on in we were mostly ankle to knee deep in old, mushy and damp snow, not a huge amount of fun as it slowed our progress up to the fortunately clearing summit, which we made about 20 mins past our 'cut off time'.
The cloud cover was still low and heavy but we still had good 360-degree views of of Mt Shakespeare, Lot, Field West, Mueller, Wedge and the Denison/Prince of Wales Ranges, the latter of which looked particularly imposing with their heavy snow covers. The summit itself is quite handsome and the sharp drop off looked great, particularly with plenty of snow around.
Gravity plus less faffing with cameras on the return trip meant we made it back to the car just on twilight, having been out for about 9 hrs in total, including breaks.
We'll head out this way again in the coming months to summit Mt. Shakespeare, but I reckon we'll make it an overnighter
Video -> Probably about 3 weeks away at my current rate of progress... :-p
Forecast heavy rain and potential snow had shied us away from our original plans of attempting the Chimera and/or Hippogriff, so instead we set our sights on the relatively simpler walk of Wylds Craig.
It was a late start out on-track - despite leaving the other end of the state at a keen hour - compounded by the need for an extra forestry road walk from the decommissioned bridge and inaccessible fjord crossing alongside - an extra 4km each way we hadn't counted on. Somewhere along the lines wires got crossed and we believed the bridge had been repaired - clearly not so. An attempt to shortcut the lengthy walk to the trailhead resulted in a steep, slippery walk over an old skidder track and really wasn't worth it.
The trail head itself was well marked but the initial route between it and where the track begins at the edge of the old logging coupe wasn't, a variable mix of small rock cairns and old tape that was far from easy to follow through the patchy regrowth euc. Eventually we made our way to its western edge and from there on the pad was clearly defined and easy to follow, aided by plenty of track markers and tape. There was no lack of timber and other debris across the track but otherwise the climb was moderate and the going good.
After several undulations and a sudden drop we passed through a pandani band before crossing Coles Creek and commencing a steep ascent through thinning scrub and a very damp pad (read: mostly flowing stream) up onto Goodwins Moor. From here on in we were mostly ankle to knee deep in old, mushy and damp snow, not a huge amount of fun as it slowed our progress up to the fortunately clearing summit, which we made about 20 mins past our 'cut off time'.
The cloud cover was still low and heavy but we still had good 360-degree views of of Mt Shakespeare, Lot, Field West, Mueller, Wedge and the Denison/Prince of Wales Ranges, the latter of which looked particularly imposing with their heavy snow covers. The summit itself is quite handsome and the sharp drop off looked great, particularly with plenty of snow around.
Gravity plus less faffing with cameras on the return trip meant we made it back to the car just on twilight, having been out for about 9 hrs in total, including breaks.
We'll head out this way again in the coming months to summit Mt. Shakespeare, but I reckon we'll make it an overnighter