Day 3: The Day That Wouldn't End

The guide said the walk would take 6-7 hours. We took 10.

We looked so happy back then...

Walking with a new friend, Adele from Perth, we were lulled into a false sense of security early on in the day with beautiful, flat grasslands and views far off into the distance. 

Amazing, right?

Cute guy I met on the trail.

We covered about 4 out of 16.75kms in 2 hours and though this would be cake. Stopping to feast on lunch (salami, cheese, avocado and crackers) we stopped for far too long, resting on our laurels, enjoying the spectacular view. It was a great break and a very memorable lunch but we would soon be wishing we had skipped it and just got the hike over.

Back on the track! My favorite part of the whole hike.

We walked and walked and walked. It seemed like forever. Eventually we came upon a little creek with a big platform (looked like a tent platform) next to it and we thought it must be the halfway point (Frog Flats) because it looked like a place to tent. Wrong. It wasn't. We didn't know that though. We stopped, filled our water bottles, chatted, enjoyed ourselves. And continued on. and on. and on.

Refuelling with the help of our handy Steri Pen!

The track was muddy, there were tons of roots and rocks to navigate through, and we had no idea where we were. The track took such a gradual descent that we really didn't know if we were on the flat near the end of still looking for the halfway mark.

Many obstacles were greater than this. I don't recommend doing the trek without poles, though some people did and made it in one piece.

Elation or sarcasm? I'll let you be the judge.

Even in our despair about the distance, there were still things to appreciate about the journey. You just can't get these views without a bit of effort (I'm not sure I'd have it any other way either).

Eventually we figured it out when we arrived at Frog Flats (a sign told us where we were -- about 4km from the hut) and we were all a bit exhausted from the walk. In a not-so-cheery mood, we trudged on but stumbled onto a large and disgusting mud bog where the slimy stuff sunk us up to our knees. It was really disheartening. There was no way around it, we just had to go through. I broke my trekking pole right in the middle of the bog and Adele fell in. We used up the remainder of our water trying to clean out her cuts and wash her hands, which was a little sad. There were still 3kms left to go, and uphill too.

Not even the worst of it...

This ain't even the worst of it...

We walked into the hut at 5:00 all muddy, dizzy from dehydration, but relieved, greeted with cheers and smiles from our friends. The day was more of a mental challenge than anything but we overcame that obstacle too.

Beautiful setting, right? 

A view like that can make you forget a lot of things, like your name, credit card pin, 16.75km of mud...

The evening was a real delight, watching the sun cast burnt umber colours across the grassy planes and up the Walls of Jerusalem. It was such a beautiful view that I nearly forgot all the trouble I had put myself through that day. For dinner we ate spaghetti with zucchini and carrots, and afterwards settled in for a solid night of sleep.