4 Night Kosi Main Range Trip
Posted: Wed 01 Feb, 2012 7:35 amHad a great trip up around the main range in Kosi last weekend.
Day 1:
Started at Charlottes Pass around 1pm (parked the car at Perisher precisely in the middle or the huge mother carpark and hitched up to main range track start)
Walked across to Kosi first via Seaman's hut. WOW isn't Mt Kosciuszko an uninspiring place... doesn't even feel like the highest peak in OZ. That and the masses up there all on the phone and wanting group pictures etc.......
Anyway, I couldn't get off that bump quick enough !! Interestingly there were a few hundred crows flying around up there ?? I mean, there are crows everywhere up there but there were heaps and heaps on Kosi.
Finally set up camp for the night about 750 meters from Muellers Saddle just under the footpad to Mt Townsend.
Now that was one nice campsite, it was even flat too on lovely soft green grass with a small trickle of water off the rocks behind us. The view down over Wilkinsons creek was very specky with all those big far hills around.
Spent the afternoon wandering over/up to Mt Townsend and across Alice Rawson Peak, Muellers Peak etc.
At least Townsend feels like you have climbed a larger mountain.
Couldn't get over the few groups camped in the no camping zones that are mapped around the place. Does anyone actually police that ??
Not sure what the camper thought in the big RED tent pitched right on the edge of Lake Albina ?? Gees, talk about a stealth camp......
Anyway enough of my rant.....
Right on sunset a storm front rolled over for a little while. The light was really weird with the sun setting and low cloud etc. Made everything turn a bright orange colour.
Was something to behold and a great finish to day one.
Day2:
Dawn was really nice with the light over the mountains. There was a lovely trail of mountain mist pouring over Muellers pass and flowing down towards Wilkinsons creek before dissipating. Looked nearly fluid like.
After breaky we were off back along the pad out to the main range walk. Followed that around to the saddle below Caruthers Peak on the Blue Lake side where the foot pad leads off towards Mt Twynam.
Heaps of people on the main range walk that morning and I say good on them !!
Yes, there are plenty of people about and it's definitely no full wilderness experience..... BUT you cannot fault the vista and it might just be the start to something more for some !!
Lunch on Twynam was nice followed by the walk across the range and we set up camp in the basin between Mt Anton and Mt Anderson.
Another nice spot with great views. It had looked like rain was building all afternoon but surprisingly it was a very clear, calm night and the only occasion I experienced decent condensation in the Hexamid.
Dinner was a treat.... That was the night the platy bottle of 2008 First Creek late harvest Shiraz appeared from my pack.......
The mate was spewin as my fully loaded pack weight at the trip start was only 10kgs..... he didn't realise that was including a bottle of wine !!
Day 3:
Another nice dawn followed by breaky then we were off again. (Mate was over me up at Dawn but it's a bit hard when your in a cellophane thin tent)
Over Manns Bluff, Mt Tate and into/across the Rolling Grounds, past Granite Peaks and we dropped down onto Whites River hut which was our night's destination around 1pm.
I ended up having a quick bite for lunch then running over to Schilk Hilton Hut and back for a look as I haven't seen that one before. Gees the toilet is larger than some huts !!
Same deal again, plenty of cloud built up but no rain that night. Spent it in the hut this time as it's now very nice after being rebuilt last year.
By this point I was way way over the March flies, evil,little things they can be. Discovered they can bight through any taunt parts of my RAB Meco 120 shirt.......
I think the fly kill tally must have hit about 5000 at the hut alone.
Day 4:
Easy day planned, just walked out via Disappointment Spur trail. Bit funny when the mate nearly stood on a 10" long baby snake... Shouldn't laugh but the shuffle movement thing he did was priceless.
Had a nice lunch at Guthega powerstation then the long, hot walk up the road towards Smiggins Hole.
RAB MeCo 120 merino shirt was unreal in the hot sun. Sweat + Breeze and it was like portable aircon !! I'll be sticking to this set-up from now on.
Probably could have walked right out but we had planned 4 nights and had been granted leave passes from the ministry of finance........
So we camped down near Canal Hut just above a small waterfall with a great view of the valley which was very pleasant.
A few light showers blew in that evening but we managed to get a gap to boil some water for dinner and a hot drink.
The mate was constantly ripping off my little piles of bushbuddy wood anytime it appeared from the pack.....
Day 5:
Wow, what a morning that was.........
Absolutely flogging down with rain and 75km/h wind gusts over the tops. Apparently jamming in earplugs overnight to minimise the rain hammering didn't make things look any better that morning. Great weather to pack up camp in (not) but at least we only had about a 6km walk out to the car.
I actually managed to stay dry in the pack-up phase so the system's working. Also the Hexamid bucked the wind very well, the bathtub floor works well and I didn't even have any misting getting under the 6 " raised pitch. I think the angled back/sides on the solo plus greatly deflects the wind, as the back was pointed at the weather I hadn't even closed the beak. My poor mates tent had slowly collapsed on him overnight as the winds and rain increased.......
I think he expected to find me huddled in a blue paper thin ball of shreds..... sorry didn't happen.
Anyway off we trudged up the river.... actually I think that had been a track yesterday.......
We received some very strange and compassionate looks from the few vehicles and workers that drove past as we walked up the road from Smiggins to Perisher.
And a big yabbie crossing the road tried to latch onto my now wet Inov-8 runners.....
All of a sudden the amusement of parking the car a precisely in the middle of the huge Perisher car park wasn't so funny.....
Between the wind and sheet rain we couldn't actually figure out how to open the car without it filling full of H2O in 3 seconds.
It was a bit of a.....Okay, waist belt off, chest strap undone......GO, door open, throw gear in boot, slam boot, tear off rain jacket, drop rain pants and jump into drivers seat at the same instant the door slam's behind you and the wind rocks the car.
Long drive back to Maitland and a huge shock to leave Kosi in 3°C windy/rainy weather and exit the car into 33°C weltering heat !!
Day 1:
Started at Charlottes Pass around 1pm (parked the car at Perisher precisely in the middle or the huge mother carpark and hitched up to main range track start)
Walked across to Kosi first via Seaman's hut. WOW isn't Mt Kosciuszko an uninspiring place... doesn't even feel like the highest peak in OZ. That and the masses up there all on the phone and wanting group pictures etc.......
Anyway, I couldn't get off that bump quick enough !! Interestingly there were a few hundred crows flying around up there ?? I mean, there are crows everywhere up there but there were heaps and heaps on Kosi.
Finally set up camp for the night about 750 meters from Muellers Saddle just under the footpad to Mt Townsend.
Now that was one nice campsite, it was even flat too on lovely soft green grass with a small trickle of water off the rocks behind us. The view down over Wilkinsons creek was very specky with all those big far hills around.
Spent the afternoon wandering over/up to Mt Townsend and across Alice Rawson Peak, Muellers Peak etc.
At least Townsend feels like you have climbed a larger mountain.
Couldn't get over the few groups camped in the no camping zones that are mapped around the place. Does anyone actually police that ??
Not sure what the camper thought in the big RED tent pitched right on the edge of Lake Albina ?? Gees, talk about a stealth camp......
Anyway enough of my rant.....
Right on sunset a storm front rolled over for a little while. The light was really weird with the sun setting and low cloud etc. Made everything turn a bright orange colour.
Was something to behold and a great finish to day one.
Day2:
Dawn was really nice with the light over the mountains. There was a lovely trail of mountain mist pouring over Muellers pass and flowing down towards Wilkinsons creek before dissipating. Looked nearly fluid like.
After breaky we were off back along the pad out to the main range walk. Followed that around to the saddle below Caruthers Peak on the Blue Lake side where the foot pad leads off towards Mt Twynam.
Heaps of people on the main range walk that morning and I say good on them !!
Yes, there are plenty of people about and it's definitely no full wilderness experience..... BUT you cannot fault the vista and it might just be the start to something more for some !!
Lunch on Twynam was nice followed by the walk across the range and we set up camp in the basin between Mt Anton and Mt Anderson.
Another nice spot with great views. It had looked like rain was building all afternoon but surprisingly it was a very clear, calm night and the only occasion I experienced decent condensation in the Hexamid.
Dinner was a treat.... That was the night the platy bottle of 2008 First Creek late harvest Shiraz appeared from my pack.......
The mate was spewin as my fully loaded pack weight at the trip start was only 10kgs..... he didn't realise that was including a bottle of wine !!
Day 3:
Another nice dawn followed by breaky then we were off again. (Mate was over me up at Dawn but it's a bit hard when your in a cellophane thin tent)
Over Manns Bluff, Mt Tate and into/across the Rolling Grounds, past Granite Peaks and we dropped down onto Whites River hut which was our night's destination around 1pm.
I ended up having a quick bite for lunch then running over to Schilk Hilton Hut and back for a look as I haven't seen that one before. Gees the toilet is larger than some huts !!
Same deal again, plenty of cloud built up but no rain that night. Spent it in the hut this time as it's now very nice after being rebuilt last year.
By this point I was way way over the March flies, evil,little things they can be. Discovered they can bight through any taunt parts of my RAB Meco 120 shirt.......
I think the fly kill tally must have hit about 5000 at the hut alone.
Day 4:
Easy day planned, just walked out via Disappointment Spur trail. Bit funny when the mate nearly stood on a 10" long baby snake... Shouldn't laugh but the shuffle movement thing he did was priceless.
Had a nice lunch at Guthega powerstation then the long, hot walk up the road towards Smiggins Hole.
RAB MeCo 120 merino shirt was unreal in the hot sun. Sweat + Breeze and it was like portable aircon !! I'll be sticking to this set-up from now on.
Probably could have walked right out but we had planned 4 nights and had been granted leave passes from the ministry of finance........
So we camped down near Canal Hut just above a small waterfall with a great view of the valley which was very pleasant.
A few light showers blew in that evening but we managed to get a gap to boil some water for dinner and a hot drink.
The mate was constantly ripping off my little piles of bushbuddy wood anytime it appeared from the pack.....
Day 5:
Wow, what a morning that was.........
Absolutely flogging down with rain and 75km/h wind gusts over the tops. Apparently jamming in earplugs overnight to minimise the rain hammering didn't make things look any better that morning. Great weather to pack up camp in (not) but at least we only had about a 6km walk out to the car.
I actually managed to stay dry in the pack-up phase so the system's working. Also the Hexamid bucked the wind very well, the bathtub floor works well and I didn't even have any misting getting under the 6 " raised pitch. I think the angled back/sides on the solo plus greatly deflects the wind, as the back was pointed at the weather I hadn't even closed the beak. My poor mates tent had slowly collapsed on him overnight as the winds and rain increased.......
I think he expected to find me huddled in a blue paper thin ball of shreds..... sorry didn't happen.
Anyway off we trudged up the river.... actually I think that had been a track yesterday.......
We received some very strange and compassionate looks from the few vehicles and workers that drove past as we walked up the road from Smiggins to Perisher.
And a big yabbie crossing the road tried to latch onto my now wet Inov-8 runners.....
All of a sudden the amusement of parking the car a precisely in the middle of the huge Perisher car park wasn't so funny.....
Between the wind and sheet rain we couldn't actually figure out how to open the car without it filling full of H2O in 3 seconds.
It was a bit of a.....Okay, waist belt off, chest strap undone......GO, door open, throw gear in boot, slam boot, tear off rain jacket, drop rain pants and jump into drivers seat at the same instant the door slam's behind you and the wind rocks the car.
Long drive back to Maitland and a huge shock to leave Kosi in 3°C windy/rainy weather and exit the car into 33°C weltering heat !!
