Australian Alps Walking Track - Day 025 - Four Mile Hut to Tantangara Creek

 

Day:	025
Date:	Friday, 9 April 2011
Start:	Four Mile Hut
Finish:	Tantangara Creek
Camp Location	Here
Daily Kilometres:	29.0 AAWT, 1.1 from Hut
Total Kilometres:	576.2 AAWT
Animal Encounters	Birds, small snakes, brumbies
People Encounters	Vehicles on highway at Kiandra, two horse riders
Weather:	Very cold and foggy early, sunny and mild later
Pictures:	Here
Journal:	It was another cold night, though not too bad in the quaint old hut. There was a heavy fog when I woke at 6:00am, but it had receded down the valley by 7:00am revealing another cloudless sky. I started walking at 8:00am and quickly covered the kilometer back to the AAWT and began following the route north along the same closed and disused old 4WD tracks passing through alpine valleys and over a few low ridges. I was close to the Mt Selwyn ski field and there were a number of marked cross-country ski trails crossing the trail at various points. I met a highway at the old mining town of Kiandra, now uninhabited with just a few buildings remaining. There is also a Roads Depot here and I have vivid memories of sheltering inside it 7 years ago when caught in a November blizzard while riding my MTB to Melbourne down the Bicentennial Trail. I took my morning break at Kiandra and then continued on. I was now back in brumby country and felt my nose watering and eyes welling again in reaction to the horse droppings everywhere. Of course, it's nice that there are wild horses in the mountains, but they are feral and they do have a significant impact on the landscape. I think that their numbers need to be controlled, but know this is a sensitive issue. The remainder of the day was spent walking from one long flat alpine valley to another via low snowgum wooded hills. The average altitude was about 1400m, but you couldn't tell from the terrain. It had all been high country sheep or cattle stations at some point and there was evidence of fences and gates here and there. Around 3.30pm I deviated from the AAWT to go cross-country for a couple of kilometers to the place where I had hidden my food drop using my GPS. I hadn't been able to find a good hiding spot right on the trail near here so had hidden it on the access track. I found it without much trouble by 4:30pm and had a relaxing evening eating my treats. I hear on the radio that my run of good weather will be coming to an end tomorrow and I'll be wet for the last three days of my trip.