Duwul hike in campground to Durd Durd hike in campground
14.5 kilometres
8:00am to 2:30pm
6 1/2 hours Included 1 hour worth of breaks
I found this to be another hard day with decent steep climbs - Parks Victoria rate it at a Grade 5 hike.
First climb was from Duwul hike in camp ground, straight up to Mt William summit.
It is a tar service road, which I didn’t expect, still steep and the highest mountain in western Victoria at 1167m
Even though the sun was out, it was freezing, the wind cut right through us, thankfully we had our wind proof jackets which helped a lot.
We then continued down the trail, across to a prominent knoll above Boundary Gap, which separates Mount William from the Major Mitchell Plateau
From there, we dropped 220 m down into the gap before making our way back up some pretty impressive stairs, steep but very impressive with some amazing views and exposed sections - it was really cool.
Then it was a gradual climb across rocky slabs and steel mesh walkways, across the high plateau with the most spectacular views all round - and eventually made our way to the Durd Durd summit cairn
From here, we continued on to Durd Durd hike in campground.
This campground had an open communal area with benches and bench seats - there was no shelter - tent pads are timber tent pads with retractable chains to anchor your tent - there are toilets, a charge station with 4 usb outlets and there is a water tank - a nice, clean camp ground with good facilities.
The track was fairly easy to follow and there were plenty of GPT yellow triangular markers to point you in the right direction.
However, in bad weather conditions with poor visibility, you’d need to be vigilant in keeping an eye on the markers and it would be important to have some other mapping tools to help if need be, electronic, as in a mapping app, would be great if visibility is low, well that’s my opinion anyhow and I’d always encourage to have both, digital and paper maps, to cover all basis.
The footpad ranged from dirt, to tar road, to rocky loose sections, there are stairs and rocky slab sections - there is also a bit of rock scrambling in sections, which was a lot of fun, but at times - a bit of hard work.
I carried 2 L of water on this section and drank just over a litre with plenty to spare - but everyone is different so always check with parks to make sure there is water available especially in the hotter months, and bring enough water to cover your needs and suit the weather conditions - I would have brought 3 litres with me if it was hotter.
This day, we saw our second snake during our hike. It stood up as I walked past it on the steel mesh walkway, I didn’t see it, however, Paul did and told me to keep on walking - I looked over my shoulder and saw it standing up very close to me as I kept walking straight - so be careful especially on those warm days.
Another amazing hike, I loved every moment - this hike was spectacular from start to end.
Thanks again for watching and supporting the channel, If you have any comments or questions, please leave them in the comment section below and I’ll answer them as best possible.
Until next time, happy hiking - bye for now.
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15 окт 2024
