Pine Valley Track Day 3 - Pine Valley to Echo Point

Date: 29th December, 2014

Distance:  14.6 km

Time: 6 hours

It was a bit sad in a way to pack up this morning and say goodbye to our home for the past couple of days. I had walked between the campsite and the hut/toilet/helipad so many times, I felt as though I knew every rock, root and fallen branch. In the absence of rain, the intensity of water gushing through Narcissus creek - separating the main track and our little island campsite - had dried up considerably since we arrived. As we rolled everything up we were visited by some pademelon-type creatures that were obviously undeterred by our presence.

Too soon it was time to get going.

Farewell, Pine Valley

During the first part of today's walk we retraced our steps from day 1, returning to Narcissus Hut via the Overland Track.

Hooray for walking!

Funky growth thing

Unlike day 1, when dad struggled a bit with the weight of his pack, today was my day of pack-anguish. It might have been a couple of kg lighter than on day 1 and more than 5 kg lighter than my pack last time I was in Tassie, but today I really felt it. Dad made some adjustments to his straps and found the going much easier.

The sky to the north rapidly deteriorated as we said farewell to yesterday's fine weather.

At the junction with the Overland Track we made a pit stop to fix my boots. After almost 5 years of loyal service, it seems they were finally ready to give up, with the toes flapping around again. A couple of months ago I had called on the services of magic glue and tape, but now it was time for some (I hoped) sturdier rope to keep things together.

Many people heading south on the Overland Track also made a break at the junction, and it turned out I wasn't the only one with dying boots. When some cheerful poms started threatening barmy army chants (I had forgotten I was wearing a cricket Australia shirt), it was time for us to move on. Moving with the traffic this time meant it didn't feel so much like a highway.

Dad at Narcissus Hut, keen to keep going

Instead of lunching at Narcissus Hut, we both were feeling pretty good and decided to push on and break midway to Echo Point instead. Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse and we didn't eat until much later, as it turns out.

This section had been one of my favourite parts of the Overland Track when I was here in 2011. From the buttongrass plains near Narcissus Hut you get great views across to Mount Olympus, then it's into the rainforest for some awesome, mossy, ferny, creek-filled hiking goodness, with opportunities to peek down at the lake here and there.

Best of all, both times we had the track to ourselves.

Mount Olympus from the Overland Track

Funky fungus

Crossing the creek, before things got severely wet

Looking back north from the shores of Lake St Clair... weather doesn't appear to be clearing up anytime soon

Starting to get muddy

Mount Ida, framed in grey (this is a colour photo)

At Echo Point we popped into the hut to say hi to some Overland Trackers here on their last night. They were bewildered when we turned down the last two free sleeping spots in favour of camping. I ran around taking photos while we waited for a stop in the rain to get the tent set up.

It was the only dryish place left

My boots... still holding up OK!

We took advantage of a brief dry spell to get the tent set up. Great! Oh wait, except when it started raining again, the tent leaked. Hmmm... did this happen last time I was in Tassie? Too bad the last two spots in the hut had been filled.

Good thing we brought an emergency shelter that also doubled as a fly for our flyless tent! Oh wait, except that it didn't really cover our tent completely, so I relied heavily on dad's ingenuity and masterly rope tying skills to fix and angle each side in just the right way to stop rain from flooding us.

With our newly rain-proofed tent, complete with a trench at the entrance to divert water pooling from the tarp, dad went in for a nap while I spent a couple of hours in the hut enjoying the company of everyone who generously allowed me to squeeze into their already-cramped living quarters. There was a group of young women who had apparently taken far too much weight with them on the Overland Track, a young couple (also from Brisbane!) and another father-and-son team from Perth, apparently here in preparation for an orienteering event in Launceston.

The weather barely improved all afternoon, and we found ourselves cooking dinner inside the hut before darkness rolled in.

I love this photo... sorry I can't remember your name, father of the
father-and-son team from Perth

Rain continued unabated as we went to sleep. We just hoped that the tarp would hold against the ferocious Tasmanian wind that threatened to rip it right off...

Day 2 - Labyrinth Lookout
Day 4 - Echo Point to Shadow Lake