Posted by I was looking forward to today and making a start on this section. I’d hiked all of today’s distance in the past on training hikes for the PCT and on other shorter hikes. Familiar territory feels like being on home turf and I knew what lay ahead.
Packing up last night at the lodge I had my food barrel set aside which Emily would take down with her to Bairnsdale today. I munched into a bacon and egg wrap purchased from the general yesterday followed up with a hot coffee.
I was out the door and on the road at around 6:45am to hike the 2km to the Mt Loch Carpark to get back to the AAWT. I didn’t get far up the road, maybe a hundred metres past the fire station when one of the resort managers in his Subaru sponsored car stops and asks me if I want a lift. Of course I do. I jump in and he whisks me up the carpark. Back on trail by 7am.
The mountain air was fresh up high with a chill to the hands. Gloved up and jacket on to cut the wind I made fast headway along the snow roads to where the track takes off from near the Orchard chairlift to Derriks Hut. Puddles on the road surface were frozen solid, testament to the ambient air temperature.
I quickly passed Derriks Hut, not bothering to check it out. I’d been inside many times and in this instance the place was surrounded by tents of a school group and the hut taken over for breakfast.
I love this top section of the Track. Beautiful country. Well maintained and cleared track surface on relatively flat ground passing through alpine scrub and Snowgums.
The track soon steepens as it descends down towards the Cobungra River. It becomes rockier and tighter with a few more fallen snowgums to clamber over or around.
Hitting the bottom of the valley, Cobungra Hut appears on the right. I see a tent setup and a person milling about and call over the say G’day. It’s Michael who gave me a lift into the Hotham the other day, still out here enjoying his time off and photography. A quick catch up and I’m off.
From here its a steep but short pinch up the otherside of the valley to climb onto the open plains. I strip to shorts and take my time slowly and methodically climbing so as not to overheat on the way up. Once the steep ground passes the terrain opens up into open grassy areas of the high plains. Clear views are gained across to Mt Feathertop and in the distance.
This area of the high plains is usually teaming with brumbies but I see none although there are signs of their presence, mainly in the piles of horse shit they leave and hoof prints in the soft ground.
Much of this section of track is waterlogged, forming huge natural soaks and alpine bogs. Tarns and small streams dot the landscape. Many of them heavily damaged by brumbies which is a huge disappointment. To guard against compacting these wetter areas and forming tracks of mud, much of the track has rocks placed as stepping stones through the marshy areas.
I soon reach the turn off east towards Mt Cope and continue on a solid pace in the flat country. Initially I was aiming to reach Cope Hut and stay there the night but realise I’ll make it there by lunch time with plenty of time to keep going while the weather is good and push the distance out some more, now aiming for Edmonson Hut. I’d walked past the turn off to Edmonson’s many a time but never walked the 1km distance into it and was looking forward to it but had to beat the forecast snow predicted for this afternoon.
Sure enough, I reach Cope Hut by lunch and drop my pack. There is an outdoor education class at the hut and many are keen to hear about the AAWT, how far I’ve hiked, how much further to go and about the gear I’m carrying, seeing my light pack setup. Over lunch I entertain and take off again determined to get distance in along the flattest section of the AAWT along the Falls Creek aqua duct.
It’s fast walking following the sometimes open channel of the aqua duct, at other times closed and underground and I soon reach the bridge to cross over it back into the scrub.
By now I can feel a change approaching and the weather rapidly cooling down. A deep chill is in the air as I drop my pack and put another layer on. Not far to go to Edmonson’s Hut but I reach it before the snows?
I knuckle down and find a new gear, determined to beat the weather. With less than 2km to go my exposed hands can not bare the chill any longer and its pack down again to retrieve two layers of gloves. I’m still in shorts at this stage mind you as the first snows start to fall from the sky. Small, solid chunks of white stuff, not quite hail, not quite the soft fluffy stuff I was expecting. In addition to gloves, I grab by rain jacket, the cold unbearable bow.
I race to the final kilometre to the hut and make it with enough time to gather some kindling and wood to start a fire and keep it going for a good chunk of the night. And talk about timing. By the time I’m settled in with a fire roaring, the snow really starts to bucket down, changing the green landscape outside into a blanket of white, getting heavier and heavier every time I look out the window. It continues to snow right through the night.
Mick Beckers 
Love reading your adventure n photos.
Sounds as if you have reached your goals and some. Your spirits are high, well done.
Looking forward to your next blog.