Day 8 (11/11): Pt. Augusta to Hawker; 108 km; 17 kph; Caravan Park
Day 9 (11/12): Hawker to Wilpena; 55 km; 15 kph; Hills Homestead Hike; Campground
Day 10 (11/13): St. Mary Peak Hike; Wilpena to Near Craddock; 86 km; 20 kph; Bush Camp
Hi all. First a quick, hopefully interesting story. On 11/10, evening before leaving Pt. Augusta I was watching a movie about rebuilding of Marshall University football program after team/staff/etc were killed in 1970 (?) plane crash. The new coach could not remember the names of all his new players so he had an assistant write their last names on their helmets. Apparently a relative tried out for that team because they showed the assistant writing "Meckstroth" on one of the helmets--spelled correctly I might add. I found that a compelling connection to the past especially being so far from home.
Ok, on to "business." This segment of my trip was a bit of a test in that I wanted to verify that riding long distances across the "bush" (i.e., the outback) might not be the wisest plan. Continuing the trend for this trip so far, I once again battled the wind for two days riding the 160 km up to the Flinders Ranges National Park. These days were not too bad since I had towns/services at reasonable stopping distances along the way (Hawker was actually a quite pleasant caravan park/experience). The second day's ride to the park was only 56 km meaning I arrived at lunch time and had time to do a nice 4 mile--sorry--7 km hike to an old homestead and view point.
Anyway, the above two days ride clearly demonstrated that my original plan to continue out of Pt. Augusta by bike the LONG ways to Ayers Rock/Alice Springs and points north would be foolish at best. I just can't make the distances I'd have to within the limits of the food and water I can carry between service locations (i.e. towns) when I have any kind of headwinds--an all too common occurrence it seems. And to grind out long days to stay "on schedule" against the wind (the schedule thing being a safety issue not a vanity thing) then bush camp in the heat/flies just isn't fun (I'm on a public machine or I'd use stronger words). Bottom line, a change in plan is needed but you'll have to read the next post to find out what!
As to Flinders Ranges, it is a very nice park and the two hikes I did, especially the second to St. Mary peak were quite scenic. That second hike was pretty a strenuous 14 km trek with about 700 meters of vertical rise (on a very steep rocky trail). It was too windy to use my camera timer and I was the only one on top so the "peak shot" below has only my hat! I think cousin Cathy, you did this hike in 1992 didn't you?
Because the wind was forecast to shift the day I hiked (from a tail to head wind based on my direction of travel--I was just thrilled to see that forecast), I mounted my bike almost immediately after finishing the peak hike and eating lunch. Got about an hour and a half of tail wind averaging nearly 30 kph(!!!) before it shifted to pretty much in my face yet again--arrgghh--and I slowed back to my more usual 15-18 kph. The town I planned on camping at--Craddock--turned out to be pretty much deserted (no services) so I had to get water from the rainwater tanks of an unattended home then ride down the road a bit and bush camp in nasty scrub. No cooking (too tired, too windy, too many flies, too dry that I might start a wild fire) so had a (surprisingly tasty) cold dinner in my tent--that's cookies, cold spaghetti sauce, crackers, and water (see picture). I was actually quite proud I held it together with the afternoon/evening's events and other than tent being very hot (had to put on fly/cover because rain threatened), I even had a reasonably pleasant night.
I know it's an artificial transition, but that will do it for this post. You'll have to jump to the next post to hear what happens next (hint, the key words begin with H and W). Cheers all.
Day 9 (11/12): Hawker to Wilpena; 55 km; 15 kph; Hills Homestead Hike; Campground
Day 10 (11/13): St. Mary Peak Hike; Wilpena to Near Craddock; 86 km; 20 kph; Bush Camp
Hi all. First a quick, hopefully interesting story. On 11/10, evening before leaving Pt. Augusta I was watching a movie about rebuilding of Marshall University football program after team/staff/etc were killed in 1970 (?) plane crash. The new coach could not remember the names of all his new players so he had an assistant write their last names on their helmets. Apparently a relative tried out for that team because they showed the assistant writing "Meckstroth" on one of the helmets--spelled correctly I might add. I found that a compelling connection to the past especially being so far from home.
Ok, on to "business." This segment of my trip was a bit of a test in that I wanted to verify that riding long distances across the "bush" (i.e., the outback) might not be the wisest plan. Continuing the trend for this trip so far, I once again battled the wind for two days riding the 160 km up to the Flinders Ranges National Park. These days were not too bad since I had towns/services at reasonable stopping distances along the way (Hawker was actually a quite pleasant caravan park/experience). The second day's ride to the park was only 56 km meaning I arrived at lunch time and had time to do a nice 4 mile--sorry--7 km hike to an old homestead and view point.
Anyway, the above two days ride clearly demonstrated that my original plan to continue out of Pt. Augusta by bike the LONG ways to Ayers Rock/Alice Springs and points north would be foolish at best. I just can't make the distances I'd have to within the limits of the food and water I can carry between service locations (i.e. towns) when I have any kind of headwinds--an all too common occurrence it seems. And to grind out long days to stay "on schedule" against the wind (the schedule thing being a safety issue not a vanity thing) then bush camp in the heat/flies just isn't fun (I'm on a public machine or I'd use stronger words). Bottom line, a change in plan is needed but you'll have to read the next post to find out what!
As to Flinders Ranges, it is a very nice park and the two hikes I did, especially the second to St. Mary peak were quite scenic. That second hike was pretty a strenuous 14 km trek with about 700 meters of vertical rise (on a very steep rocky trail). It was too windy to use my camera timer and I was the only one on top so the "peak shot" below has only my hat! I think cousin Cathy, you did this hike in 1992 didn't you?
Because the wind was forecast to shift the day I hiked (from a tail to head wind based on my direction of travel--I was just thrilled to see that forecast), I mounted my bike almost immediately after finishing the peak hike and eating lunch. Got about an hour and a half of tail wind averaging nearly 30 kph(!!!) before it shifted to pretty much in my face yet again--arrgghh--and I slowed back to my more usual 15-18 kph. The town I planned on camping at--Craddock--turned out to be pretty much deserted (no services) so I had to get water from the rainwater tanks of an unattended home then ride down the road a bit and bush camp in nasty scrub. No cooking (too tired, too windy, too many flies, too dry that I might start a wild fire) so had a (surprisingly tasty) cold dinner in my tent--that's cookies, cold spaghetti sauce, crackers, and water (see picture). I was actually quite proud I held it together with the afternoon/evening's events and other than tent being very hot (had to put on fly/cover because rain threatened), I even had a reasonably pleasant night.
I know it's an artificial transition, but that will do it for this post. You'll have to jump to the next post to hear what happens next (hint, the key words begin with H and W). Cheers all.
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