Kanangra walls
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I wondered what it would be like in the mountains after dark many times before.
Dusk, and then total darkness after sunset in the mountain.
Followed by the quietest moments.
Free from any noise made by human world.
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Day one we mainly walked on the long mountain ridges.
Views were majestic and expansive.
I was immensely impressed by Kanangra Walls and dramatic surroundings which appeared soon after we started walking.
Winter morning sun was weak and we were tense with the expectation about the adventure.
As expected tracks were faint already from the beginning.
We were confused after we came across a cave.
It was when we walked around 2 hours.
A rocky cave itself was the top part of a hill where you naturally go round it because you can't surpass it
and that was easy enough but in fact we were round and round it to no avail.
Also it was before we got our GPS and Eddie tried to figure out where we were by measuring the map with the compass.
But he read about the direction from other hikers' record on the internet and he had this wrong impression.
He thought we should go downwards straight after the cave so we did.
But we couldn't find the track.
I obviously started feeling uneasy and worried.
Soon we realized we got lost.
While we were trying to go back up from tall grassy strange parts to the right track we met a big group of young people.
They goggled at us with the looks,why were you walking from there?
We lost one hour in total trying to get back on the track.
When we were having lunch just before Mt Cloudmaker we met a big group of hikers too.
They were all doing different tracks only around Kanangra Walls.
One very old wizened man explained us how to get to the Dex Creek Camp from there.
He added if we got lost keep it on the ridge with the valley on our left hand side.
It was a good tip.
We started at 8am and arrived at Dex Creek Camp site at 4pm which means it took 8 hours for us to finish 13km's distance including lunch.
I think we managed it quite ok because we covered several high steep uphills with rugged rocks considering the hour we wasted.
Whenever we came across junctions there were small stacks of stones which were called cairns indicated to us the right way.
Cairns looked inconspicuous like just part of nature.
When we got to the camp site I could notice there was a hidden small creek behind shrubs and next to them flat areas with traces of wood fires.
We chose one suitable spot for us.
I assumed lots of people would do K to K during long weekends because that Monday was Queen's birthday.
I remember when we did 6 Foot Track second time, it was Easter holiday when millions of people came hiking as well as four wheel driving cars to some parts of it and it was overcrowded which happened rarely in Australian mountains in my experience.
But there was only one more group of 4 people with us doing this K to K at that time.
When we finished setting up our tent they arrived an hour later than us.
On the first night out of home I usually have difficulties in sleeping.
At night it was freezing cold as predicted.
I heard strong winds and wandering animals around our camp at dawn.
I was in multiple layers in the sleeping bag on top of air mattress so it's sort of bearable spending a night in a tent at that cold winter.
I was struggling to fall asleep tossing and turning all night.
Luckily I felt totally refreshed the next morning even though I felt I was awake the whole night.
Day two we walked in the woods mostly.
I felt more relaxed and comfortable due to the previous day's successful progress.
At the beginning we still could overlook some part of valleys and majestic rocky faces of mountain ridges we passed the day before far away on my left hand side.
Soon the track turned to East North way where tall trees were blocking the views and even the blue sky.
In deep forests ancient rocks were covered with mosses and lichens.
It was too quiet to be peaceful in some cases.
I liked when I stepped on the thick fallen leaves in the woods.
Birds sounded as if water was dropping rythmically on the pond filled the mountains.
I couldn't hear noisy and squarking parrots or cockatoos there which are dominating major cities.
Just after endless cruel vertical downhills around noon we had lunch and then crossed Cox River.
It was said that if river was chest high or higher you should go back.
I hated to imagnie going back your almost one and half day's walk fruitlessly.
We were so lucky we could cross it without much hassel that day.
We took off shoes and hanged them around our necks with two shoe laces tied up together.
Water was icy cold and it was not easy to keep my balance with my bare feet on the uneven slippery rocks under the water.
During 3 days we had had very good weather which was very fortunate.
One week before our hiking there came torrential rains which made streams and creeks in this track flow enough water for us by then.
I heard it could be dried up many times too.
Top of Mt Yellow Dog
Hikers' circumstances and schedules vary.
That's why I could see many makeshift camp sites with wood fire traces and ashes around the track
while I was walking even though we had two almost official camp sites for this track.
I might have made mental preparations seeing them.
We failed to make it to the second camp site called Mobbs Swamp on the second day.
After crossing the river we spent almost over an hour finguring out the way looking at the maps for some reasons.
Once we were on the right track we hurried but the winter sun went down quickly before we reached Mobbs Swamp.
I saw the short winter's sun lingering over the mountain tops tantalizingly before it set down finally.
We were at the top of a small mountain called Mt Yellow Dog at that time exactly.
First I was devastated with the fact we lost the team of last night and isolated ourselves in the deep mountains.
I was confused with the fact we didn't make it to the camp.
How? How could it happen to us?
We started walking at 9am till 5pm and covered approximately 14km.
We should have left the camp site at least one hour earlier that day.
I was worried if it was too windy or cold on top of mountain during the night.
I was worried about everything in my mind but tried to calm myself to do the best things for the moment.
Literally there were only two of us in the middle of deep primitive mountains far away from home and civilisation.
We set up our camp and cooked dinner with our water we carried when darkness wrapped us completely within an hour.
Unexpectedly it was warmer that night compared to first night and I felt less dank coming from ground than in Dex Creek camp.
I heard winds howling like first night but it was all in all peaceful.
I had a chance to wash my face at the creek the previous day but we skipped it on the third morning.
Water's precious.
We woke up at 5am and just quarter to 7 we managed to leave the camp.
When we arrived at Mobbs Swamp in an hour and 15 minutes we saw the group of first night.
I felt hugely relieved that we were not that behind and finally on the right track of schedule.
They had to push through to the camp the night before because they didn't have water and one of them had his head torch broken which was hard for all of them all the way to the camp.
So I thought it was rather better for us to settle in that cute mountain top just before dark.
We filled up our water bottles there and suddenly I felt very cheerful and happy about our last day's adventure.
Day three it was divided into 3 parts I could say.
First, from Mobbs Swamp to Medlow Gap.
Second, from Medlow Gap to Taro's Ladder.
Third, Taro's Ladder to Katoomba.
It was a total of 18 km's distance and we walked from around 7am till 3pm.
First part of the third day,paths were clearer because more hikers accessed from Katoonba to this part over the years.
The walking on this part was uneventful.
It was a little misty and drizzly in the early morning before it was cleared up soon and sunny later.
When we arrived at the junction of Medlow gap we could see a high terribly steep hill was ominously waiting for us.
And there was a first sign I saw after I left Kanangra Boyd National Park two days before.
We went up and up and climbed the daunting Taro's Ladder.
We needed to go up to reach Katoomba of course I realized.
Climbing through Taro's Ladder required big courage and strength.
Pulling your body up over the rocks with a heavy backpack was not an easy task at all.
Your back was exposed to open air, you needed to have a strong head for height for sure.
After this dramatic climbing we had lunch around a cave which was one of the best meals I've ever had.
It felt like a reward after a harsh trial or a temporary rest before a big challenge you could imagine.
I didn't know what would be next and then that was it.
All these challenging routes were suddenly finished to my disappointment.
Except only ridiculously long fire trail to Katoomba or Golden Stairs to be exact.
We had fantastic views overlooking both sides from the trail all the way to Katoomba.
Eddie liked this trail very much.
I couldn't deny its view was fantastic.
You could overlook down Megalong valley areas on your left hand side all the way
and you were with typical symbolic rocky faces of Blue Mountains
around you like huge natural screens of walls under the seamless blue sky.
We walked for around 3 hours under the strong sun and then finally we were there!!!!!
We've done it!
We've done K to K!
We were tired and smelly but our hearts were soaring to the sky with indescribable happiness.
The end