That Mad Belgian

[north-north-west]

The blue arrow that is him is now touching the dotted line that is the track. I have been known to fall to the knees and kiss the ground on such occasions . . .

[tastrax]

Lets just hope its well defined and he heads south!

[doogs]

The blue arrow that is him is now touching the dotted line that is the track. I have been known to fall to the knees and kiss the ground on such occasions . . .

Unfortunately he is still a couple of hundred metres away on the satellite view.

[johnw]

The blue arrow that is him is now touching the dotted line that is the track. I have been known to fall to the knees and kiss the ground on such occasions . . .

I can relate to that, albeit not on anything as epic as this. 4:27pm looks like he is actually on it, and heading south?

[tastrax]

YES, YES, YES.... he is heading south on the track - woo hoo!

[tastrax]

The blue arrow that is him is now touching the dotted line that is the track. I have been known to fall to the knees and kiss the ground on such occasions . . .

Unfortunately he is still a couple of hundred metres away on the satellite view.

That's the Gordon River further east I reckon. Hopefully he makes the other 'airstrip' tonight.

[Warin]

The blue arrow that is him is now touching the dotted line that is the track. I have been known to fall to the knees and kiss the ground on such occasions . . .

I can relate to that, albeit not on anything as epic as this. 4:27pm looks like he is actually on it, and heading south?

Yay! .. Hopefully he can stay on the last 1/3rd of it .. Fingers crossed.
Like watching a mouse in a maze after some cheese.

[doogs]

The blue arrow that is him is now touching the dotted line that is the track. I have been known to fall to the knees and kiss the ground on such occasions . . .

Unfortunately he is still a couple of hundred metres away on the satellite view.

That's the Gordon River further east I reckon. Hopefully he makes the other 'airstrip' tonight.

Nope zoom in to get the satellite view layer, he's not on it..

[farefam]

By chance I happened to re-watch The Truman Show a week ago and yes this thread has become very much like the scenes in the movie where the people in the bar are following what Truman is up to, or betting on the outcome. The Truman Show was years ahead of it's time in predicting what reality TV would become. The running into the thick scrub, impeding his progress is a bit like the scene where Truman decides to leave town only to immediately run into a traffic jam that deliberately appeared out of nowhere to stop him leaving the island.

If it was me I would either raft down the Gordon to Gordon Bend, then go across The Thumbs to bypass the Gordon Gorge and then on to Lake Gordon, or I'd go Battlement Hills, Pokona and then down towards the Pleiades Saddle to Lake Gordon.

[Warin]

The blue arrow that is him is now touching the dotted line that is the track. I have been known to fall to the knees and kiss the ground on such occasions . . .

That's the Gordon River further east I reckon. Hopefully he makes the other 'airstrip' tonight.

Nope zoom in to get the satellite view layer, he's not on it..

Where he is now the track does not show up on the satellite view. ..A trace a bit further south but even then it is not that visible.
What shows up on the satellite view to the east is the river .. zoom in on it and you can see water.
I'm at the 30 m scale in the bottom left corner.

As for making the airstrip tonight .. too easy to loose the track in the dark. But I'd not bet either way. He has been walking for 8 hours so far today. If he made twice the speed on this track then it would be another 4 hours to the airstrip.

----------- edit
Now 7.15 pm and he is out of the tree area .. so might just make the airstrip in another 1 hour ..that is one hour less than I said just above.

[doogs]

That's the Gordon River further east I reckon. Hopefully he makes the other 'airstrip' tonight.

Nope zoom in to get the satellite view layer, he's not on it..

Where he is now the track does not show up on the satellite view. ..A trace a bit further south but even then it is not that visible.
What shows up on the satellite view to the east is the river .. zoom in on it and you can see water.
I'm at the 30 m scale in the bottom left corner.

As for making the airstrip tonight .. too easy to loose the track in the dark. But I'd not bet either way. He has been walking for 8 hours so far today. If he made twice the speed on this track then it would be another 4 hours to the airstrip.

Ah yes. I see now.. I hadn't realised he was so close to the river!

[MrWalker]

I've just done some rough calculations of this section of his journey.

He has taken 5 days to get about 40% of the way from Lake King William to Lake Gordon (measuring in a line straight south).
Based on his reported food supplies he needs to do this walk section in about 10-11 days.
So he needs to reach Lake Gordon within another 6 days or he may run out of food before Cockle Creek.
If he can maintain the 9:30am starts and cover as much ground as he did today then he will be OK (barely).

[ILUVSWTAS]

I've just done some rough calculations of this section of his journey.

He has taken 5 days to get about 40% of the way from Lake King William to Lake Gordon (measuring in a line straight south).
Based on his reported food supplies he needs to do this walk section in about 10-11 days.
So he needs to reach Lake Gordon within another 6 days or he may run out of food before Cockle Creek.
If he can maintain the 9:30am starts and cover as much ground as he did today then he will be OK (barely).

Worth bearing in mind providing he uses some common sense from here he should be past the scrubbiest section of perhaps the whole walk now.

[Overlandman]

3 Sept. Sunny but pointless day in the forest. Finally an early start. Hard but now back in scrub/buttongrass. So near airstrip & river. Camping between buttongrass.

No mention of the eye injury so hopefully he is ok.
Keep going with good speed.
Thanks for the airstrip information Jon MS
Regards OLM

[Mountain Rocket]

Seems that early start was a one off as it's 11:30am and still hasn't moved. He's only ~1km from the other airstrip but still has a long way to go from there. Will be interesting to see if and when he heads over the The Spires, or if he changes his mind and heads for Battlement Hills.

[tasmaniac]

Does anyone know if paddling all the way down the Gell to Lake Gordon is doable?

[doogs]

Does anyone know if paddling all the way down the Gell to Lake Gordon is doable?

Yes. Not advisable though! There's a Youtube vid of the Gell descent somewhere.. I'll try and find it so people can get an idea of the country he's in..
EDIT: https://vimeo.com/110120530

[bushwalker zane]

Yes. Not advisable though! There's a Youtube vid of the Gell descent somewhere.. I'll try and find it so people can get an idea of the country he's in..
EDIT: https://vimeo.com/110120530

Birll! I love it. I wonder where they put in? I didn't see Lake Curly in the video. A pack raft is high on my 'want to get' list. So many adventures.

12:11pm and no movement on our Belgian friend. I wonder how that eye is?

[north-north-west]

Does anyone know if paddling all the way down the Gell to Lake Gordon is doable?

Yes. Not advisable though! There's a Youtube vid of the Gell descent somewhere.. I'll try and find it so people can get an idea of the country he's in..
EDIT: https://vimeo.com/110120530

Yowzers!

Given that he managed to get seriously unstuck on a shortish stretch of the Derwent, the Gell is not a good idea.

[north-north-west]

A pack raft is high on my 'want to get' list. So many adventures.

Isn't there one up for sale in the MarketPlace? Spray deck, paddlle, PFD, drysuit and all.

[bushwalker zane]

A pack raft is high on my 'want to get' list. So many adventures.

Isn't there one up for sale in the MarketPlace? Spray deck, paddlle, PFD, drysuit and all.

I saw that one, yeah. Unfortunately the funds aren't in my bank for it... yet!

[north-north-west]

Brill! I love it. I wonder where they put in? I didn't see Lake Curly in the video.

Definitely went in over Reeds, so I suspect they walked to Curly and went from there. Roundabout route, though - north east then east to the confluence, then south and finally west along the Gordon.

[jmac]

There's a trip report to accompany that great Vimeo:

http://packrafting.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3589

That was a job well done, but Lou-Phi clearly needs more skills before he tackles the part down to Gordon Bend, and the gorge beyond would be a terrible mistake solo, at this time of year, particularly with his current level of boating experience. He's been counselled against it. After his scare on the Derwent he messaged that he would go via the Spires route. We should know his intentions when he finally gets moving today.

J.

[north-north-west]

Finally - 1300 hours and he's actually on the move. Only 1km from the southern airstrip, 2km from the river.

[Warin]

Finally - 1300 hours and he's actually on the move.

A watched walker never moves?

1400 hours ..at north end of airstrip. Another couple of hours should tell where he is heading.

[north-north-west]

1415, southern end of airstrip. Though it would probably be easier to reach the river if he'd headed sw from the northern end.
Don't you love being an armchair navigator?

[Mountain Rocket]

Hehe, it is rather great. Can't believe the mental fortitude this guys has to keep throwing himself through the scrub.

This yellow line just appeared, wonder if that is his proposed route?

[doogs]

Don't you love being an armchair navigator?

Can you puhleeze get one of the inreach thingos so we can follow you on your walks?

[Mountain Rocket]

And now this, seems like he's sticking to his Spires plan. Also thanks doogs and jmac for sharing that video and trip report respectively. Can only imagine what those rivers would look like in winter

[north-north-west]

If that orange line is his projected course, he's taking jmac's advice and heading for Innes High Rocky and the Spires. Lucky bugger.

Don't you love being an armchair navigator?

Can you puhleeze get one of the inreach thingos so we can follow you on your walks?

No effing way. Not even if someone else paid for it.
It's bad enough knowing myself how badly I stuff up some of these things. I don't want the rest of you following it in real time.