howdy,
This is our trip report from september 2006.
Our party of 6 gentlemen in 2 cars arrived at the yanakie gate at approximately 7.30 pm on friday the 15th September. With administrivia taken care of we headed for the 5 mile gate car park where we changed into our walking clobber and dumped Matt's car for the sunday pickup. Lots of wildlife on the 5 mile road into the car park.
A cosy ride in the back of johnno's car 6 blokes and packs headed to telegraph saddle. By 8.40 pm we were walking the track to sealers in darkness with head torches. The track was easy to negotiate in single file though we didn't get a visual on the regrowth from the recent fires. We find nightwalking the first night to be pretty cruisy and the 10km to Sealers was an easy walk. The fine weather helped. We reached windy saddle by 9:20pm. We reached Sealers Cove at 10:50 and made camp, boiled the billy then turned in for the night. Johnno and I slept on the beach in our bivvies whilst the others pitched tents in the tea tree. There was not much wind, but in hindsight I should have dossed in the ti tree as well just to get out of the wind as it sprang up later that morning.
We awoke at about 6 am. Packup, breaky, cuppa's and a walk back the track to get some water for the day's toil. As a group we are still slow to get moving in the morning but perhaps that is where the pleasure is.
We departed sealers cove(where the track meets the cove) at 8.00 am and walked the beach. We noted some small campsites in the ti-tree and potable water flowing over the rocks into the cove. The water is about 60m from the end of the beach when you start rock hopping. It would be a good place to camp in future though I suspect the water would dry up in summerlate autumn. We rock hop around to the large boulder we can see from the shoreline, although I suspect we were about 100m from this point when we decided to go inland. At 8.50 am we burst into the scrub and begin our ascent.
The scrub is extremely thick from the word go and our garden gloves and gaiters held us in good stead. We navigated by feel and were roughly heading towards the large boulder face. Every now and then we thought we were on some sort of pad but it would peter out, only to require more bush bashing. We were ascending quickly and the significant physical effort for little distance was preying on our minds. We probably battled away with this thick scrub for a couple of hours before reaching the main spur and vegetation reduced. Once on the spur we had to deal with the many fallen trees that ambushed our upward ascent. Perhaps we were just out of fitness, but with 19 kg packs we found ourselves having to stop every 100m during one particularly steep section.
Our first good view was a group of large scalable boulders that had a flat upper area. It was not the highpoint of the mountain but it did provide relief and fine views across to sealers and back towards windy saddle. We probably spent 20-30 minutes here getting photographs and footage. We thought we would push on and get to the highpoint for lunch. Once again we came across a lot of fallen trees and we found hiking the ridge through the ti-tree pretty hard going. We reached a small spot near some rocks which overlooked Sealers cove at 1 pm and had lunch. Boots were removed and we ate like kings. Weather was fine, sweaty shirts were hung out to dry. Later, our Nav man Matt K calculated that were on the highest point of the Cathedral. 2:10 pm we departed following our planned route. There was some discussion of sidling the ridge then going straight down. vegetation keeps us on the ridge top. Walking along the ridge was much harder than anticpated, we expected it to be more open and as such easier walking. The ti-tree was really thick and at times difficult with packs on our back. When confronted with some of the large boulder formations we skirted them on the right hand side and found this path really tough. I suspect we reached the cleared top of the larger peak (540m)at about 3.30 pm. It was such as respite to have a small clearing allowing us magnificient views across sealers and beyond. We were all pretty satisfied for 10 minutes. The sun was setting and there was pressure to get down to 5 mile beach. We also had to walk the beach to miranda creek before our walking day was done. Back into the ti-tree and we dropped just off the ridge line about 10-20m looking for our spur down. There was a sense of urgency in the group and as such not much dv or many still photographs were taken. Matt K was the only one who got photographs of 5 mile beach and action shots of the society on our way down.
Following the spur down was pretty easy as you can see the beach to the right or infront of you. Vegetation at times is pretty thick. We strayed off the spur at one stage and righted ourselves by navigating through a gully, tough call but we were rewarded with a good small stream of water of which we filled our bottles and then continued. As we got closer to the beach losing elevation we tended to drift off the spur and just gunbarrelled towards the sand. Our blokes on point, got us to the beach at 6.15 pm. We dropped to the sand elated at our efforts. After a 45 minute break on the beach we mustered our energy reserves and began the 5 mile hike to miranda creek. It was now dark and many of our party tuned into to radios or mp3 players for the long haul. The beach section was no fun. The steep beach and inconsistent surface taxed all members. We were fortunate that we had mild weather, when we stopped for breathers the wilderness was beautiful and confronting. Our party strung out according to abilities and stride. We communicated via uhf radio. By 9 pm our man on point made camp at miranda creek and sought water for dinner. The rest of the group shuffled in at 9.30 pm. Tents went up, boots were cast aside, clothes were changed and meals were prepared. The physically long day was not conducive to eating and a few members cooked their meals but after a couple of bites retired.
Sunday saw the party having to negotiate the relentless jeep track back to 5 mile gate. The group shouted themselves a sleep in and readied themselves for a 10-10.30am departure. Everyone ate a good breakfast, making up for a dropped meal last night. Spirits were good. The campsites in the ti-tree are delightful, we enjoyed being out of the wind. On our way out, as we rounded the inlet we saw our nemisis shrouded in cloud. Collective satisfaction. Not much to report on the jeep track, it's as dull as ever and from the beach to chinaman's creek the weather was hot and walking was a tad uncomfortable. One of our party was feeling poorly so we divided up gear amongst the 6 of us. Lunch was had at Chinaman's creek, where there was good water and bountiful mozzies. We arrived at the carpark at 5 pm. A great walk now that I look back at the photographs and very satisfying. The views are superb.
I made a walkumentary you can watch it here.
https://vimeo.com/20424396