Wild Dog Mountains

A three days walk in the south-west Blue Mountains in wonderful, early spring weather with the forest full of flowers and great birdlife. We started with a 15km walk down the Narrowneck Plateau from Katoomba, with magnificent views on all sides.

At the end of the plateau we descended the famous Turros ladders, where spikes are driven into the rock to make a descent with a full pack practical.

After the ladders it is rather disappointing to be standing under power cables at Cedar Gap, but you do get this great view of the Wild Dog Mountains, which we were about to walk around. The leftmost peak is Mt Mouin, and the rightmost, I think, Mt Dingo.

A further 15km on bush tracks, finishing with a pretty steep 600m descent, brought us to a lovely stretch of the Coxs river just as night fell.

The next day we climbed slowly back up to the Wild Dogs, with lunch on the peak of Yellow Dog. This is Brian doing a passable imitation of the eponymous canine.

Then we made an early camp in a magnificent cave with a creek running straight past the door. The yellow dot is a tent erected inside the cave. As we were idling away the late afternoon three Glossy Black Cockatoos came and played in the trees right above the creek, making their creaky calls and showing off their magnificent scarlet tail panels.

This is someone's successful first attempt to light a fire with a firesteel. As always, lighting the fire near the cave mouth makes for great ambient light reflected from the roof, and warms the air in the cave. The big root in the foreground allowed me to keep the fire going all night as I slept beside it in my bivvy.

Next morning found us back at Cedar Gap, looking up at the tip of the Narrowneck Plateau. The birdlife around here was great. We saw a Spotted Quail Thrush, which was a first for me, and more Pardalotes than I think I've ever seen in a day.

The ladders were the highlight of the day again. After that, even with the views, the walk back down the road to Katoomba is a bit of a slog.

Some Sons in the High Sierra

Some of the Sons of the Desert are in the US, so of course what else to do but head for the High Sierra in a break between commitments.

We had five days, so after meeting up with an ex graduate student living in LA in postcode 90210 we drive five hours north. Packing equipment for -15 degrees, the first day is over 40! But we are greeted with this

After camping on a huge rock with panoramic views, we head past Bear Paw (where for $350 you can use a tent provided and have a shower, at least if you have booked long in advance). We shun this outpost of civilization on the trail and head for Hamilton Lake, where we have possibly the finest imaginable campsite:

Its thirsty work, and we are forever pumping water:

The view from the campsite at dusk is gorgeous:

On the next day we climb about a thousand meters to a pass high above the lake, where we find Precipice Lake, made famous by Ansel Adams

Then we get to look down into Nine Lakes Valley, one of the biggest vallyes of glacial tarns anywhere:

The next day it's back on the track for a couple of days to walk out. This kind of scenery is with you the whole way:

On the last day, one of the party comes within a meter of a Black Bear. The guide books say 150 foot is the closest safe distance! We re-approach the area, and walk past together singing and brandishing bear spray and stones. We imagine the bear is scared off (this is the approved technique by the way) but as we look back the bear is in the raspberries, and we had walked all walked right past its snout.

But we all survived!

For these pictures in high res and more from the trip, go here