Distance: 22.7km
Elevation: +427m -1017m
Time: 7:00
Total Distance: 213.8km
I could eat a whole BBQ chicken.
– Inga
Back in the ACT we descend along a track that frequently crosses boggy ground east of the saddle. Down to Cotter Flat. Somebody has built a pair of small rock weirs that are doing a good job of raising the level of the crossing.
The day is warm. Really warm. Eventually it will get up to 33°. Hard to believe we were crossing snow drifts not that long ago. We dip shirts and hats in the streams we cross to stay cool.
From Cotter Flat the track rises towards Cotter Gap, gently at first, then annoyingly steeply. The scrub to either side tells a story of fire not so long ago, and we talk about where we each were during the various fires that have threatened Canberra.
We break in the shade below split rock, and marvel at how much it resembles somebody mooning us.
And then descend to the Orroral Valley. We’ll drop a thousand meters today. Somewhere around Cotter Gap we cross the 200km mark.
The granite tors and outcrops of Namadgi welcome us home, and Robyn, energised by her favourite stomping grounds, is disturbingly full of beans for somebody who’s been walking for nearly two straight weeks. We find a decent campsite not far from Chapman’s less than ideal one by the Orroral River, and spend the afternoon sitting in the shade, watching the mountains, and lazily trying to avoid the ants and flies.
Tomorrow is going to be a scorcher, and through a series of compromises and negotiations, we settle on waking up a half hour earlier than normal to tackle the soul crushing ascent out of the valley.
I’ve walked through here every year for the last three years, and each time has been a different experience, and I’ve been a different person, shaped by the challenges I’ve put in front of myself. This time it was taking on the responsibility of guiding (I feel more comfortable with that word than “leading”) four others on a moderately long and difficult adventure, and I feel like it’s given me a great deal of practice honing what sort of leader I am. Each long walk brings me more confidence in myself, and this one has been no different.
