Not much luck with the weather.

[Onestepmore]

Gahhh. Sitting here on a dull Saturday watching taped Foxtel shows and some DVDs. We've not had good luck with the weather. When we have a weekend trip planned (around kids' activities, seminars, visitors, weddings etc) something seems to happen. I had a solo Six Foot Trip planned with a nice Sat night at Caves House planned with hubby to pick me up - bushfires! Another weekend in the Nattai - heat wave and > 40 deg temps. Now this weekend at Blue Gum Forest in the Blue Mts. Hubby texted me from work ' Can't find the snorkels and flippers, so trip cancelled'. I think I need to sacrifice some children for the weather gods.

[nq111]

I feel your pain Onestepmore.

It is stupidly hard to get even one whole day free. Just gotta hope dem knees hold out til retirement!

[Lindsay]

Of course some ultra-rugged outdoors types would say there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad preparation. But those of us who live in the real world know that this is not always the case. Bad luck OSM, the Blue Gum Forest is a great walk. Perhaps the child sacrifice will help. I have a trip planned along the Cox's a couple of weekends from now, wondering how this rain will affect the water levels.

[walkon]

Armagedan is about to arrive. EVERYONE in this household has been warned not to book anything that requires ANY possibility of my presence/involvement/knowledge/awareness for next weekend. Fair @#$&# dinkum how hard is it to have a weekend off! One damn thing after another I've even told extended family anything including deaths wont get my attention next weekend. Weather bring it on! I'm going bush

[michael_p]

We camped at Coolendel near Nowra and the rain poured down all weekend.

[GPSGuided]

We camped at Coolendel near Nowra and the rain poured down all weekend.

And?

[weekend-hiker]

I also had yesterday (Saturday) lined up some solo hiking in the Blue Mountains- weather was atrocious, but was too stubborn to put it off!...
Ended up gritting my teeth and getting up at dawn to tackle the Mount Solitary traverse. Started by leaving the car near Queen Victoria Hospital at Wentworth Falls at 8am, scrambled up the Col, across solitary and then back down to the golden stairs in Katoomba before through town to meet my wife in Leura, who gave me a lift back to the car.
By the time I got back to the car the legs were sore, was damp from head to toe (despite raincoat & rainpants) and discovered after taking off the muddy boots a dozen leeches having a good feed of me. Hot shower, pizza and the couch never seemed so attractive!
It was a great challenging day walk- would love to complete it as a big circuit one day (to avoid needing a lift back to car); linking up with fern bower trail- has anyone tackled this?, I think i will need to work on my fitness!
Although my walk was without a glitch, I can definitely appreciate the increased risks (poor visibility, slippery surfaces, hypothermia) choosing to hike on cold, rainy days- particularly for solo hikers.
Let's hope we have some better weathered Autumn weekends coming up!

[wayno]

my last holiday i told the family, i'm not coming back early for any family disasters.... life had conspired to stop me getting outside of australasia my entire life. only the end of the planet was going to stop me...

[walkon]

Lol wayno!

Yeah you have to do that at times but what a problem with a statement like that. I gather that your still traveling around then or did you hit the end of the Earth

Good trails wayno and to you all. May nothing halt the next step or impede the vista of your dreams

[wayno]

no it was only three weeks, but three weeks that i'd never managed to get until then.. previous holiday, dad had the grace to wait till i got home from overseas before he died...

[walkon]

Sorry to hear about your ol man but I hope that you were in a better place to cope with it

[DaveNoble]

I think you need to be flexible with the weather and planned trips. A lot of places are very enjoyable in wet conditions - the colours of the trees and rocks seem more saturated. Its a good time to walk in forests and see waterfalls that are often just a trickle. If it is very wet, then a daywalk can be an alternative to a longer walk where you could get cut off by flooded rivers. In extreme heat - why not go to a place where you can swim. In very cold conditions - it is always nice to camp high, away from frost hollows, and have the early morning sun hit the tent or fly.

Dave

[nq111]

I think you need to be flexible with the weather and planned trips. A lot of places are very enjoyable in wet conditions - the colours of the trees and rocks seem more saturated. Its a good time to walk in forests and see waterfalls that are often just a trickle. If it is very wet, then a daywalk can be an alternative to a longer walk where you could get cut off by flooded rivers. In extreme heat - why not go to a place where you can swim. In very cold conditions - it is always nice to camp high, away from frost hollows, and have the early morning sun hit the tent or fly.

Dave

+1

When I think back to my favourite trips most had at least some bad weather, many exclusively.

And the views and sights are often better - sometimes the clouds clear for a second and you get scenes like this

mtanne.small.jpg (125.97 KiB) Viewed 3884 times

[walkon]

Just come off the wellington high plains with half the trip clouded in, 3 to 30 meter visibility. Everything was dripping wet, me included and everything looked so alive. The leaves and grass are greener, the snow gums are just so dynamic their bark livened up with striking earthy colours. Briefly the clouds lifted giving me a glorious view of which I was happy but something seemed missing, the intimacy seemed lost. Soon enough I was fogged in again and the small things around you seemed to jump out.

The next day on the walk out you could see forever. A bushwalker I met was elated about finally getting to see something. I tried to explain my observations of the day before to her, as far as she was concerned the day before was drudgery.

When I walked off the snow gums color was mute, the little birds seemed fewer. With all the bigger veiws drawing the eye out, it seemed that less was happening around me.

Maybe I had to much time to think about things but what a weekend! It gave me everything and more.

If I think about it too much more i will have to write a trip report and well you've seen what happens when I do that

[north-north-west]

While I agree with that toa fair extent, there is no way I'm going into places like the Franklands, WArthurs or Southern Ranges without a good chance of decent weather for the bulk of the trip.