walkon wrote:Well done Andy. I don't get the whole worried about being solo for days on end thing. I'm very much a people person though I relish my walks in solitude. I'm doing the Aawt next year, most of it solo and the biggest issue with the solo thing is other people dealing with it
Andy what solar charger did you use, did you combine it with a battery pack or just charge the device.
I personally agree about relishing solitude in wilderness. Some people find it harder than others however. I met a lady who walked the AAWT solo in 7 weeks and reckoned for her, the hardest part was the loneliness. Personally, I only get lonely in the city, where I'm surrounded by people I don't know; people I will never know. In the hills, there is too much around me to keep my mind busy.
As for the solar charger, I used a 'powertraveller- powermonkey extreme' initially, which is a seperate solar panel and battery. From this battery you can charge your devices via usb through either 5v or 12v. This set up failed me.
The screws holding the solar panel together gave way 2 weeks in. I taped it together but the panels stopped charging the batteries three weeks in. In hindsight, I may have been a bit rough with the unit, but the product is marketed as an expedition style, durable device, so I was fairly disappointed.
In the end, I got a mate of mine to post me a new solar panel to the Mt Hotham general store, which was again the same brand, powertraveller, but a different model. This one was a panel and battery in one. I was much more tender with this one and had no further problems.
It was great to have it as it meant I could recharge my camera's batteries, phone, water purifier and kindle. It needs a lot of sun though, a perfect sunny day in the open would generate just enough to recharge my iphone two thirds of the way. I guess I had a lot of devices that needed charging though, so that was part of the reason why I was always low on power.
Eljimberino wrote:Hi Andy, thanks for your advice. I plan on walking the track leaving just before new years and expect to be sitting out the worst of the midday sun. I've looked at the temperature graphs for Mt Hotham and Thredbo from the BOM website. The highest avg. temp in Jan is about 25 degrees. For this reason I struggle to imagine 40 degree temps. Im preparing for those temps and swarms of flies.
But I'm still struggling to imagine it being over 35 above 1000m.
What was the highest temp you experienced, and where? Is the Rumpf Saddle section the driest? Is the consensus that it's an okay year waterwise?
In any case, I quite like having to sit out the heat. You kind of have an extra campsite each day.
Ride On
I had a heatwave between Mt Jagungal and Witze's hut, but it could happen anywhere. Obviously, the lower down you are, the warmer it is. To get an idea for the maximum temperature reached, check one of the weather stations further down in the valleys, eg Licola. The hottest day I had was barely over 30 degrees and for me that was enough to take the day off and hide in the hut.
I believe the summer coming up is expected to be a hot and dry one (El nino pattern, I think?). The section from Rumpff to Hotham is the driest, but in summer, you constantly need to be thinking about water, the entire way. A lot of the creeks marked on the maps are likely to be dried up. Expect to spend some time at the end of some days, looking for water. Water drops might be a good idea.
Thank you so much for your advice, it's greatly appreciated, and despite all my research, I learnt a lot from reading your post, for instance about taking extra salt.
Now that I'm less than a year away from going I'm getting into the full swing of training, and have almost compiled a kit list that I'm happy with. I shall also be taking a GoPro camera, so I can document the highs and lows (physically and mentally!) of the AAWT.
Just out of curiosity, how often did you encounter other hikers? And did you stay in huts when you came across them?
Yup, hyponatremia (low blood sodium) should be high up on your list of conditions to be aware of, alongside heat exhaustion,dehydration, sun burn and hypothermia. Its symptoms can be quite similar to dehydration so it can be a tricky one to pick up. Nausea, headache, confusion.
It occurred to me once during my trip, when I was well rested, well fed and well hydrated so I could pretty much rule out everything except low salt. I had a number of hot consecutive days and I simply lost power during one of the climbs and felt faint. A handful of salt fixed me up. Yum!
As for other hikers, the longest I went without seeing anyone was a week, but this was in early spring, before the 4WD tracks are re-opened, so in summer you'll probably encounter more people. Overall however, about half the days on my walk I did not meet anyone, and very few walkers. Mostly the people I met were hunters, drivers, fishermen or campers. The Bogong high plains and the main range were the most visited places. The Mt Howitt area and far east gippsland (omeo highway to cowombat flats) felt the most remote.
As for the huts, they are great in REALLY bad weather. In anything less than a blizzard I always sleep in my tent. The huts are often pretty rustic and are mostly heritage listed so they are only meant to be used in emergency overnight. As a general rule, I found the huts in Kosciouszko NP to be better maintained and more comfortable, however there were some exceptionally nice huts in Victoria as well (Cleve Cole, Vallejo Gantner).
When it's really cold and wet, the huts are awesome though as they usually have a fireplace, wooden bunks and a table with seats. They also have residential rodents, more often than not. If you do stay in a hut, make sure you hang up your food on the hooks that often hang from the overhead beams. I kept my food in my pack one night and in the morning, there was a hole in my pack. At least my food was untouched!
Another thing I was going to mention but forgot was to register your plan with all the local parks offices (eg: Parks Victoria, Kosciouszko NP and Namadgi NP) so they know you're in the park in case there is a bushfire.
Also, when doing your food drops, consider placing some water as well, it may be required in summer.
Best of luck!