James, Glenn and Meg
Actually it was 8ft, if you include mine. 8 very wet feet.
At this point in time, a day's notice to go on an adventure is enough. It’s enough because we live here in the mountains and because we have all of the gear and because we know we can just buckle down and get it done.
There was talk of doing the 6 foot track (Katoomba to Jenolan Caves) in one day. 45 km with lots of elevation. I’m sure there are a few people within our club and in the wider community who could smash that easily but I’m not one of them. So instead we settled for doing it in two days over New Years. For some context usually it's done in three.
The day before James and I did a car drop. Driving out to jenolan and back again. A relatively short adventure and one of the perks of living in the mountains. I’d never been to the caves before, it was ery and atmospheric in the mist and its scale and beauty blew my mind a bit.
The next day Meg, Glenn, James and I started off confidently from the explorers tree. One pair of old hiking boots, two pairs of approach shoes and one pair of new balance trainers. The first section is all downhill. Steps through a beautiful gully. Without much caution I leaped down them, later to realise that my knees weren’t too happy with me doing that.
After some morning tea we settled into the dirt tracks and flat section that wound its way through farmland and weedy forest to the colo river. As an ecologist I wasn't too impressed by the weeds but we did manage to find some sick boulder cracks to play around on and some mossy rocks.
Moss carpets
Wasp stalactites
The Colo was by far the highlight. With a little bit of rain it was a playground of water slides and Boulder hopping. We embraced the humidity and became children again, slipping, sliding and leaping.
Cuties in the Colo river playground
Meg on the bowtells swing bridge
After getting a little bit confused by directions and signs (well mostly me being an idiot) we quickly discovered how much up there was. Pushing further and further along 4WD tracks, occasionally being passed by large off-roaders which certainly didn’t envy our slow slog upwards. And then reaching the top, downwards again.
The definition of the 6ft didn’t quite sink in until I realised that most of the track will be wide enough for cars, which always makes even the toughest hiker think “why am I hiking when I could be driving?”. However, once we had passed a family of cars trying to regain mobility of one of the 4WD that had servealy twisted and broken tires I was reminded of the solidity and self sufficiency of my own aching feet.
James in a tree
We camped in a small campground (alum creek reserve) with a relatively new toilet and shelter but with a collection of established weeds. Glenn got to show off his new tent and the other three stayed up till the new year began. I am too reliant on sleep and only briefly work when 2021 started to the sounds of Take me on
The following day started with Glenn losing most of his coffee and more uphill 4WD tracks. And then continued with more flat 4WD tracks. It started to rain at 11
It got wet and cold and lunch was a miserable affair. 23km in the rain tested my ability to just buckle down and get it done. Luckily my hiking boots were keeping my feet relatively dry until the afternoon but the other three were sodden all day, especially the holy approach shoes and the new balances.
Meeting the plantations
We paused to gather some strength in a shelter at black range campground. There were lots of beautiful flowers mixed with the sheddings of New Year’s Eve parties. I'll never understand how people can leave rubbish in such a beautiful place. It's like shitting on your parents' new carpet.
Black range campground
The trail then led us through the rain and parallel to the road for longer than we expected. Widening and narrowing before finally dropping away through a steep party down to the caves. As the path wound down the vein of some spectacular rocks became visible through the weedy undergrowth and rain. Misty black and white swaths of cliff with pockets of inviting darkness. My knee didn’t like the downhill and hobbeling barefoot down the last section of path, I was proud of Meg for sticking with her New Balances and Glenn for surviving with only a small Coffee and James for helping me hobble along. I was so happy to see Barry (our legendary 1997 hyundai excel) and even tired and sore I felt so much love for the other three in the car.
It’s not an adventure if you don’t learn things right? So here is the things I learnt
- One: even shit times are ok with excellent people
- Two: all the best bits of the 6FT can be driven too (or accessed by short day hikes)
- Three: even if you have lots of experience it's ok to not be ok. You don't have to push yourself all the time
- Four: good waterproof shoes, jacket and pack covers are lifesavers.
Photos and words by Mira