Some charts/maps about the Rees-Dart tramp...
1/23, 12:16pm, Rees Valley
Back to paper and pen journal, the old fashioned way. No MacBook Air on this tramp… Woke up with the 6:30am alarm in Kinolch to a mix of clouds and blue sky. Loaded our packs, cooked 6 eggs with onions and tomatoes, packed the car, and hit the road before 8:15am. The view of "Isengard" across the Dart bridge was clouded over. When we reached Glenorchy, we stopped at the Dart Raft office to collect info on our jetboat pick-up (10:30am in 5 days, ~10 minutes past the swing bridge below Sandy Bluff, ~2.5hrs from Daleys Hut). With our jetboat pickup arranged, we head to the Holiday Park to park our car ($3.50/day=$14), and pick up the 9:15am shuttle ($30). The bus is full, and we are last on board, but the front seats are open, so we get great views during the ~30 minute ride to Muddy Creek Trailhead. The driver points out some areas where "lots of movies are filmed". I know Willow, LOTR, and others were filmed here.
Views during the bus ride to the trailhead...
We start hiking ~10am, under some clouds that are quickly burning off, and follow a road that leads to a trail along the grassy banks of the Rees River. There are lots of muddy swampy grass areas, and we are glad we're wearing our gaiters. The trail makes some steep climbs and descents above and back down to the river, which are quite tricky. We realize that given the lack of recent rain, the river is low, and we could have bypassed some of these undulations by sticking to the river bed (we do so in the future). Several stream crossings are encountered, but they are all easily walkable in boots with gaiters, and our feet stay dry. In one particularly muddy spot, I sank to within 2" of my knee.
A couple shallow stream crossings were a piece of cake, given the lack of rain the past few days...
Glaciers draped the mountains ahead, as we followed along the river...
The grasslands were full of muddy spots. I sank almost to my knee on one occasion...
The trail was mainly flat in the valley, and we kept a quick pace...
Back alongside the river again...
Eventually we led to the "crux" stream crossing of the day, which was fortunately shallow...
A wide look at this "crux" stream crossing. We caught it during a low period...
Working our way further up the valley. A zoomed in shot of a waterfall off in the distance...
We stop at noon for a snack on the river bed, off the trail. There are 8 others on the trail from the bus this morning. The weather is now very hot and sunny.
6:04pm, Shelter Hut
I've had LOTR tunes in my head all day, much better than the usual annoying pop tunes from the gym radio that hounded me on 14er hikes this summer. It was super hot in the open grass plains at mid day. After another hour of grass flats and mud, we reached the edge of a forest (~1:20pm), grateful for some much appreciated shade, where a sign marked the halfway point of today's hike. We ascended into the mossy green forest for quite awhile, made a brief descent, crossed a bridge, and saw several waterfalls as we traveled in and out of small meadows cut by cascading water. I stopped every 30-45min to eat half a PBJ sandwich.
A wide view from the grasslands. I kept thinking of the plains of Rohan while hiking this morning...
Finally the end of the grasslands is in site!
3hrs 20min since out outset, we reach the forest, where a sign marked the halfway point...
We crossed a swing bridge...
...and hiked thru a mossy forest...
The forest shade was very pleasant...
A meadow opened up in the valley. Wendy took a pic of a pink flower...
Back into the fern heavy forest...
We passed through a small rock tunnel...
The forest gave way to hilly brush...
I thought I spotted a hut way up on the mountain, so we decided to stop and filter some water from the stream, thinking we had a while to go. Turns out, our hut was just 20 minutes away, right off the river, across a swing bridge.
There were several rocky streams that we crossed, as we continued up the valley...
Looking back, we had gained some elevation since the beginning of the valey (we started past the mountains in the distance)...
I kept eyeing a small hut on the hill above the forest on the right side of the pick...
The trail entered another forest...
...and crossed another stream...
Looking back at me, and the opening of the valley...
Then the view opened, and we spotted a bridge ahead. I still was expecting to climb the mountain on the right...
But when we reached the bridge, we found the hut on the other side! Guess we didn't need to re-fill our water bottles...
Looking back across the swing bridge...
We were among the first to arrive at the 24 bunk Shelter Rock Hut (~4:30pm), where some people's clothes were hanging above the deck on clotheslines. We claimed our bunks, then washed some of our clothes in the sink to hang dry. The huts had drinkable water from sinks in the kitchen, and there were flush toilets in a detatched restroom.
We searched for a path down to the river, to wash up, but didn't find an easy route down near the bridge...
Most people arriving stayed in the hut, and there were a couple of tenters...
It was mostly shady and cool here. We meet the other hikers in our bunk room: 4 Aussie guys, and an older couple from NZ.
We searched for a path down to the river, but found none that were accessible in flip-flops (my flip-flops broke when trying to descend). Wendy works on the massage ball and charges her iphone with the solar charger, while reading an ebook. It's dinner time. The sun is out. We're writing down everything we eat on this trip, since we think we brought too much, and will know better next time.
9:45pm, Shelter Rock Hut
Just enough light through the bunkroom windows to write this without a headlamp… Wendy had a big dinner: 2 hardboiled eggs, salad (lettuce, tomato, onion), dehydrated pumpkin pie, 200g smoked salmon, yams, cheese and carrots. I ate little, and wasn't hungry for some reason, which often happens to me at the start of a backpacking trip. Just some yams, a little salmon, and some choc squares w/ 2 tbsp of PB. Wendy drains her heal blister after dinner. I tape up my flip-flops and take photos outside in between bouts of stretching, while soaking in the mountain views. The sandflies are out, but not awful. The older couple is already to bed. Same for us now. We want to get up early for sunrise.
I stretched in the field, while taking photos. 8:20pm here...
Some pics an hour later, just before 9:20pm sunset...
Nice having sun until 9:20 in January, when sunset is 4:30pm back in Colorado...
Legs are sore. I carried most of the food, the kitchen, and common gear. Perhaps a 2x heavier bag than Wendy, but I'm a happy mule. I carry the load for the love of Wendy, adventure, and adventure with Wendy. Wendy led most of the way, setting a strong pace (with a respectable sized pack too). She is one of 3 girls out of the 20 hikers staying at the hut tonight.
Great to be on adventure again! Pretty pink clouds to the west tonight. Wonder when the 4 Aussies in the group will be go to bed. Might need earplugs tonight. Wendy's still reading from her iphone in her sleeping bag below…