The trail starts out in mixed forest, with interesting fungi (STOP PRESS "they are in fact chlorophyll-free plants (actually they have chloroplasts, but the genes don't express). These ones are Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)")
Pretty soon, however, it emerges onto granite uplands, with a carpet of heath plants and lichens, and occassional, very slow-growing trees.
This is Zeke the labradoodle, who was finding his backpack a bit restrictive, having a good scratch.
About 13km brought us to a gorgeous lakeside campsite.
This is a zero-impact camping area, so we used a fire-bowl. This is a new idea for me, and worked really well.
This is my my idea of 'sleeping under a tarp':
I felt very soft when I saw Rich and Zeke's idea of what 'sleeping under a tarp' means:
Here's my beloved bivvy bag after I pulled the tarp down in the morning.
Rich and Zeke took a bee-line home through the woods, leaving me to complete the circuit on my own. I only met two other parties on the whole track - amazing for a warm summer weekend about 20 km from the city limits.
In the dips the track goes through swamps, with interesting vegetation, like this pitcher plant:
Rather than build boardwalks, WRWEO puts in granite stepping stones, which give the track a lovely, natural feel.
The contrast when you ascend only ten or twenty vertical metres is striking.
This is one of the higher points along the track:
From here there was a nice view back to the previous night's camp.
Some of the lakes are hard to access for swimming, because they are surrounded by swampy ground..
As I climbed up again, getting back towards the start of the trail, it was seriously hot.
This was the only man-made structure I encountered on the trail. I was told it is a nineteenth-century 'deer blind' for hunters.
By this stage I was more than ready for a swim, and very glad to find the perfect access point at one of the canoe portages - really a natural wharf made of granite.
No time was wasted getting gear off...
and into the water!
aaaah!
In the hope of avoiding the mosquitoes, I climbed back up the hill to camp, where I had a wonderful view of the lake, just beyond the first trail loop, where I expected, correctly, there would be Sunday morning runners to disturb me!
Then it only remained to cook dinner and settle down to enjoy the view.
Next morning I had a short walk out to catch the bus. Very sorry to leave - a lovely spot and a tribute to what a bit of local environmentalism can achieve.
