Mitchell River Hike Report

On the 20^th to 22^nd of August 2010 Dan, Aaron, Tom and I did my 30km hike which I had planned as part of my adventurer level badge work.

We met at the scout hall 4:30 and Dan took Aaron, Tom and me to Mitchell River National Park.

On the way, we stopped at Red Rooster in Sale for dinner.

At Bairnsdale, we stopped at the police station to let them know where we were hiking.

Dan was driving about 50 Km/ph around the corner and the trailer started snaking. Dan managed to stop the car before the trailer jack knifed.

 We left the car and the trailer at the car park at the Den of Nargon and started to hike; it was dark by then time unknown.  

It was tricky when we were trying to read the map in the dark to find out where we were exactly. The river gave us confidence that we were on the right track, as long as we heard it. We saw wombats, wallabies and deer footprints.

 Eventually we got to an intersection and a small walking track went down the river and a 4WD track up the hill.  We took the 4WD track thinking it was Billy Goat’s Bend track.

Tom was feeling sick by then and was struggling.  After walking further, we didn’t think we were on the right track.  Dan went ahead around the corner to check the track we just followed.  Tom was not feeling well so Aaron and Tom waited as Dan and I went further to check the track out.  We found a good camp place then we contacted the others and Tom went straight to sleep after putting up the tent. We got to the campsite about 10:30pm after hiking 3.25km.  Dan and I tried to find out where we were on the mobile tracking system, it wasn’t much help initially, but eventually showed where we were.  We should have brought the new GPS from the Scout hall. 

Next morning we got up, had breakfast, packed up and left for hiking at about 9:10am.  Dan showed us a good way to put our packs on.  After a short hike, at 9:30am we adjusted and swapped packs because Tom had problems with his pack and Aaron’s fitted him better and Tom’s fitter Aaron better, then kept on hiking until we got 10:50am to an intersection at 10:50am where the 4WD track enters the main road.  I was not sure where we were and Dan was positive we were on the main track, a sign was there and it said 2 km to Billy Goat Bend.  We followed the sign because we needed to get water.

We came to Billy Goats Bend at 11:55am and 5.25km hiking.  

We had lunch at Billy Goats Bend, filled our water bottles up, took some photos and at 12:55pm we followed the track further.  Down the track, some walkers  told us about the upcoming river crossing and where to go across.

We soon got down to the creek and found the crossing that they meant. I volunteered to go across first, so that I was able to help the others.  I went in and it was cold.  I brought my pack across.  Dan got in next and as soon as he got in he kept on swearing because the water was very cold. Even though Dan and I were in the water the most, the others still kept on complaining. Dan’s feet went numb!!!

After we dried our feet we put our shoes back on and started hiking again. We eventually got to an intersection with a campsite where we decided to stay the night. It took forever to go down to the camp site.  As we got down to the campsite near the river we set up camp at about 6:00pm. In the afternoon, we hiked 5.75km. We lit a fire while Dan went to the river to get water.  We got the fire lit in one go. We got warmer and had dinner.  Dan showed us how to make chocolate pudding. Tom went to bed before the pudding was finished, Dan had one pudding and Aaron and I shared one.  After that we all went to bed.

During the night Dan was sick.

We got up about 5:00am, packed up, had breakfast, burned all unneeded weight and started walking before the sun came out.  Dan still felt sick.  It felt like it took two seconds to get to the main track. We managed to walk at a fast speed to Angusvale where we had originally planned to sleep at the second night.

As we got to the campsite before Angusvale after 6.5km we rested about one hour, then we hiked for 1.75km to Angusvale and got there about 10am. Because of Dan’s sickness we decided to wait here for Sylvia to pick us up instead of hiking further out towards the highway. We were not able to get phone reception from here even as we walked a bit up the hill. Tom and Aaron lit a little fire and listened to music.

We tried to make a path across a little branch of the creek. Sylvia (Käfer) finally arrived at 2:30pm.  Käfer took us to the edge of the National park; we played around

with a ball while Käfer took Dan to pick up his car and trailer. Käfer came back, picked us up Tom and I went with Dan to McDonald’s where Dan bought for everyone a Chicken Nugget Happy Meal.

Then we went back to Yinnar Scout hall and then home by than it was nearly 6:00pm.

All together we did 23.5km hiking this means Aaron got his 100km, Tom got 150km and I (Angus) got 400km hiking as a Scout. Even though we did not hike as much as planed due to uncontrolled events (illness), I hope I can get my Adventurer hike signed off.

Thank you for the leader, Dan, parents and Scouts, Aaron and Tom, to make the hike possible.

By Angus