Day 82 - triple hutting
Middy Creek hut —-> Hacket hut 19km
Huts, whilst a wonderful break from camping, have a few downsides. Other inhabitants mean sharing available oxygen, so unless you open a window to provide more oxygen, you run a serious risk of overheating. Opening a window however will inevitably let in sandflies which will eat you alive, leaving little pools of blood all over you and have you scratching until your skin comes off. Other people also snore, or wriggle around like a possum having a dance party or get up every hour to use the bathroom.
Last night however it was just Josh and I in the hut and we slept beautifully. Good job as we we were straight out the gates with a 650m climb up to the next hut.
Our days would be organised in this section (and probably the next few down the SI) not by km but by hours to the next hut. In fact km didn’t really matter at all - we could be doing 30km or 3km, we weren’t taking much notice.
It was supposed to be 3 hours to Rocks hut, and after crossing the river via yet another swing bridge we started a relentless ascent up through the beech forest, clambering across rocks, streams and tree roots galore.
It took us just under that which we were very proud of so treated ourselves to a cup of tea and a snack in the very luxurious Rocks hut.
A little gutted we weren’t staying here (mainly because it had a proper flushing toilet rather than a long drop), we pushed on across the tops.
There was a constant hum in the forest which I’m still not sure we’ll ever know what it was - I’m 99% sure it was wasps. Josh is 99% sure it was the echo of the river.
The track was arduous and slow - fallen trees and overgrown bushes dominating the trail, and for most of the way provided little opportunity for any view other than tree trunks.
With no hut on the trail for lunchtime we continued on until we have in to the howling in our stomachs. We found a half flat bit of land in between the tree roots and plonked our chairs down wonkily.
Post lunch, the trail finally took us out in the open and across the tops. We were only 900m or so in altitude but our first taste of Richmond Range views did not disappoint - we already felt like we were miles away from anywhere.
Our hut for the night was going to be Browning hut, or if we made that in good time, Hackett hut which was 90 mins or so on from Browning. The track took us down back into the forest quite steeply at times and still covered in tree roots.
My bag provides a very good cushion for the times when my legs get a bit ahead of themselves...
Arriving at Browning we realised we had the time and energy to make it to Hackett so after a quick snack break we scrambled over the rocks and the river doing our best to avoid getting wet feet. Our best was not good enough.
We arrived at Hackett hut just after 6pm, and pushed open the door to find Grant, Annie, Andy and Sam cozied up in their sleeping bags cooking dinner. With two bunks spare for Josh and I, we had a lovely evening catching up about the trail so far and sharing stories. From a hut to ourselves to a full hut, I just hoped I didn’t secretly snore…
TA dictionary:
Double hutting - skipping staying the night in the next hut and instead sleeping in the following hut.
Triple hutting - skipping staying the night in the next hut, and also skipping the next hut and instead sleeping in the following hut.
