Thought I'd share some pics from a (relatively) recent evening trail run to Mt Campbell and Mt Kate, which had been missing from my list of completed Abels for too long I'd felt
Mt Campbell is a relatively trivial affair to navigate (follow the signs/path) so I won't go into it. Such great views though, even in less than fantastic weather.
Mt. Kate's an interesting peak... I'd heard it was a bit tedious and boring, not exactly scenic or a challenging climb, not well tracked either despite it's location and that finding the 'start' of the trail from Ronny Creek could be tricky. Sure enough, I wasted a good 20+ mins walking around east of the Alpine Club hut trying to find the start of the old logging trail The Abels book describes while light was fading rapidly. Eventually, after giving up and heading back to Ronny Creek I 'found' the trail, clear and well marked with ribbon too.
Against arguably better judgement I hurriedly made my way to the summit... it's only a couple of kms and even in dim evening light pretty easy to follow. Following the old trail quickly brings you up to the low southern knoll which is cross about 30-40m to the west then you drop onto the plateau and follow the well-worn pad northwards towards the highest point. The pink tape in the area appears to be a recent addition and certainly aids in picking out the most efficient route as in many places the pad as braided from past misdirection.
Sure enough, the summit is probably the least interesting in the area, save maybe Brewery Knob and Recondite Knob, but it was rather pretty to look upon at sunset.
It did make for a rushed decent however and a dark and wet run back to Pencil Pines to my car. Remember kids, always pack a head torch
If you're interested, more details can be found at http://www.benderandxing.com/2019/10/08/mt-kate/
Cheers, Ben.
