1
This time I was not enthusiastic about an overnight hike as a long weekend approached.
I had been tired the last whole week and so was Suze especially with her work stress.
On the other hand Eddie was getting itchy feet for a real good hike.
I decided to do one night camping hike to Mt Dingo and they agreed to do it.
It's not an easy trek for one day but divided it into two days sounded not too bad.
Only capable hikers would come there which meant a relatively quiet hike would be guaranteed.
The sun rise would be spectacular on top of Dingo Mountain.
This was our third but Suze was not with us.
Wild Dog Mountains areas are overlapped with K to K in the Blue Mountains NP.
When we did K to K we passed around these treks and after that we hiked there
in various ways a lot of times last year when Suze was in Hawaii.
I wanted to share a memory there with her this time.
2
We planned to leave home around 7 am on Saturday but we made it half an hour later than our schedule.
As usual there were extremely heavy traffics north bound on Friday for a long weekend.
But on Saturday morning it was relatively quiet on the way to Blue Mountains.
We grabbed simple take away wraps with coffees at Blackheath for lunch and kept driving via
Megalong Valley to Dunphy's camp ground.
We had to pass private farms along the way which involved opening and closing three gates
in the middle of the route.
Horses and cows were leisurely grazing on the open fields.
I was terribly scared about this unpaved road condition as it was uneven filled with horribly big holes last year.
This time to my happy surprise gaps were mended and it was more or less smoothly passable which made
me feel relieved for our old car.
It was already around quarter to midday when we finally started walking on the trek.
After parked our car at Dunphy's camp and ate our lunch under the shades.
We chose a trek down to Carlon's creek and then via Mobbs Swamp where we would get our water bottles
filled before we headed to Mt Dingo.
It was a very steep downhill first and then a small narrow path with tall grasses grown both sides.
I remember we spotted mamma wombat and her baby wobbling up the small hill around there last year.
Due to a long dry season this year creek stream was completely dried out near the trek.
Soon after we were at the entry of creek we met a couple of people and they warned us
about snakes.
Of course it's spring when snakes started moving out of their hibernation.
We slacked a little this time and didn't wear our gaiters.
Suze was preoccupied with a lot of thoughts as usual in front of me and then suddenly screamed
and flopped onto the ground.
She twisted and sprained her right ankle for some reason.
OMG
I wished she had exaggerated it as before but unfortunately this time it was not.
I gave her my sticks and we checked her foot a little bit later when we could have a proper look at it and
simple treatment if necessary.
We put on a big bandage on the spot fastened by a micro pore tape tightly and found nothing else
could be done except constant checking verbally and threatening her to be careful in the future.
Luckily she managed to walk after a big cry out which meant it was not a fracture.
However it was a second serious injury after Eddie's fall over a slippery rock at Green Gully Trek in our hiking history.
Once again we were reminded it was very crucial to keep ourselves safe.
By concentrating on keeping ourselves safe with protective gears and our own mindful walks.
I realized how lucky we had been so far as well.
We climbed up again to the ridge when we arrived at the bottom of the creek.
It was a seriously vertical ascent and Suze was doing ok to my huge relief.
I was worried about the next day as most likely her foot would be badly swollen
than the first day.
Once we reached on top of the ridge from where we walked on a relatively smooth path
until we met a junction.
We met a big group of people resting there who turned out to do K to K.
(K to K refers to Katoomba to Kanangra or vice versa.)
They must have started quite early to reach there at the same time as we did.
They stayed at Mobbs Swamp that night and we diverted into a westerly direction
40 to 50 minutes' more walk after that.
Sometimes if we knew the treks it felt much longer than a new one to me.
I told Suze it would be quick from there to Mobbs Swamp and then to Mt Dingo.
But it took much longer than my memory.
Even though our pace was steady.
There were so many spots where huge tree trunks or dead trees fell down to block the route
which could cause our speed slowed down as well.
We got to Mobbs Swamp at around 3 pm and then when we were at the top of Mt Dingo
it was already 5 pm.
Scrambling up to Mt Dingo on the precarious rocks was a very hard task especially for Suze
and I also felt my back pack heavily pressing my back and head when I pull myself onto the rocks.
We didn't expect anyone there but two single tents were set up already side by side at our favourite spot
just before the Splendour Rock at the southern end.
The sun was still warm and bright while we were setting up our tent.
After dinner we were already in our sleeping bags cos we had nothing else to do.
It was not overly cold overnight but at mountain top temperature usually dropped a little lower
and gales resided permanently.
At least they made a big noise on top parts of the trees even though it didn't impact our tent too much.
Inside my sleeping bag I was cocooned in my liner, my skin was sticky warm but my face confronted
a cold wind from the mesh door of our tent.
I always felt this tent was not good enough for cold weather because of this even though they told us so.
At least one thing was good for it made condensation free the next day.
Around midnight three of us came out of the tent to pee.
Outside was warmer than inside strangely.
Or was it my imagination?
I saw dim bluish darkness wrapping us under the bright star lights and nearly full moon.
And millions of thin gum trees swaying in the winds.
It was peaceful.
3
Sunday morning daylight saving started when we were at the top of Mt Dingo.
We got up in time for the Sun Rise.
No one else was there on the Splendour Rock to gaze the Sun Rise except us.
There were gold dots appearing above horizontal like flat and linear mountains
before the sun came out.
It was magnificent.
The 365 degree's view looking down mountains after mountains without any human traces
always made me feel ache deep in my mind.
Before we set off we checked Suze's ankle again to find it a little bit more bruised and swollen
than the day before which I expected.
But it turned out to be not too bad and luckily she managed quite good after taking painkillers.
We changed her bandage and fastened with a bigger handkerchief this time.
Morning walk was always a gem during the hike with fresh air and mind.
We saw almost everybody left at Mobbs Swamp on the way back except two tents still erected there.
We assumed they were not meant for K to K.
Sun was getting hotter after 10 am as usual.
We had lunch at Medlow Gap under the strong sun very bravely and turned our direction to Dunphy's camp ground.
Eddie's ambitious plan to come back through Iron Monger's hill couldn't happen
due to Suze's condition but we were very much happy Suze was managing the whole hike
OK without further complication.
I was very impressed with her mentality this time.
We all learned a very good lesson via this hike but once again all's well when ends well.