Yes!! Tramping

Shadow of Me

Me on the suspension bridge

Suspension bridge

Available tracks

Weather Forecast

Clearer shot than the one above

The Pinnacle

On our way down from The Pinnacle

The Peak

The Pinnacle

Inside The hut

The first day on our way up "not yet tired"

Nearing the Peak "Just above my Head"

Waterfall on our way down

Another angle Another Shot of the Pinnacle

Logging track

Rocky wet Roads the whole Way through

Yes! Yellow RainCoat trying to conquer a slope with some guided help

Jolly Jolly downhill

Scenery..can you spot the hut in the wilderness?

The Hut

another shot of the peak

Rocky road

Stream

Journey Upward...still smiling :)

Captured the Sunset along with Some Steps

Me on top of the Logging track

Survived the Pinnacles!!! Now I am left with aches, pains and a sense of accomplishment. Now I can tick tramping off my Bucket list. I should stress that tramping is not a glamour sport. Begun my tramp looking like a gypsy and ended it looking like a hobo...it only gets better.

So to keep warm I set out in layers after layers of clothes each one peeping underneath the other. A backpack full of snacks and some more clothes (just in case the ones I was wearing got wet). Enjoyed a joyful car-ride to the bottom of the pinnacles full of pot-holes. Parked the car on a camp site and chose a three hour track up. We (my two-friends and I) climbed the steep rocky track gracefully and quietly for the first half hour, our destination being the Pinnacle hut where we had booked for the night. And there after we required a break every ten steps with our complaints getting louder. My excuse was that it was my first tramp with no proper shoes or any other gear for that matter as 1) I was too cool to invest on them and 2) my over-confidence on my survival skills (which has now been knocked down). We were eager for lunch and stopped early at a scenic spot to munch on some much needed calories. Here we were over taken an elderly couple which was quite an embarrassment. So we pressed on...with the only male among us resorting to some tricks to keep the girls moving such as fruit intervals at the next stop in half an hour. He was evil...laughing at us while we were panting for breadth. Now we had gone for what seemed like six hours but was actually only three hours. The hut was still nowhere in sight (we knew we would not have made it in the prescribed three hours as we seemed to have stopped for a lot of breaks). Our next motivation to reach our destination seemed to appear shortly as we sat down to eat some oranges. Another couple from Perth was also going up to the Hut and we had decided to race them to the Hut (this competition was formed unknown to the couple obviously). So for the next hour we ran with all our might not uttering a word of complaint and at last there was the hut. I think I should mention, the weather forecast for the two days we were out on our tramp was horrible but be sly managed to dodge rain. Lucky!

So, to freshen up I opened the toilet and there awaited the shock of my life. Gross and yuck!! I am tempted to put imagery in heads of my readers but only my kind heart is stopping me from doing so. And looking at the shower, only a cold shower without any roofing was available, so that you can get a nice cold breeze under a cold shower...recipe for freezing to death. So guess what...I did not pee or shower for two days...travel wipes came in handy. So we chose our beds and unpacked, when the Hut warden visited and said it was the perfect time to climb to the peak to view the sunset. That was another two hours of walk. We all had developed thigh muscles by now and decided to go for gold. We set out again now lighter by our packs and the hill had become ridiculously steep. The wind was so rough it could have carried me...I stopped looking down and had only a few more steps to of the top rock. Oh the exhilaration...the proud grin and the sense of being almighty are the sensations I felt then. After the thrill came the low I had to walk back down. This was scarier than walking up for some reason. I was glad to have reached the hut again. Made dinner. Learned how to make pasta with the bare minimums and them it was cards till 11 o'clock at night. Learned how to make a fire. Learnt many card games but I would like to stress on having learnt Poker. Now wait for me Casinos. I did not have a sleeping bag, so had to share a smelly one with my friend. My friend's comment looking into my bag, "You will not die out of hunger but of the cold". The night was a tug-a-war fighting for the blanket to keep warm.

So the next day we slept back in till ten, while all the other trampers had left early. We went out to brush when the NW winds were blowing wild. Brushing came as a surprise to me, I spat out the paste and my spit when flying from the first basin to the third. That was way too embarrassing in front of my friends who couldn’t stop laughing. Then, made hot maple syruped pancakes to counteract the chills we were feeling in our feet and hands. After deciding our route downhill, we journeyed downhill enjoying and photographing every scenic location in our way.

We came back to the car...stopped at a restaurant and caught dinner. Reaching home, rushed to the toilet and had a wash with the thoughts of how grateful I am to people who discovered bulldozers, roads, cars, toilets, heaters, jackets, cards and junk food. There are many other thanks that have been forgotten or left unsaid but they will be remembered with time.