I just can’t believe this weather we are having, woke up to yet another balmy Autumn morning of 16C with not a cloud in the sky. Another nourishing and healthy breakfast and we were on our way to our drop off point at Side Road 22 car park or so I thought. Susan knew a better route and dropped us off about 1.5km further out than planned. This works out great as it shortens tomorrow's hike correspondingly.
Straight into some low lying marshy ground with long overgrown grass and mixed vegetation that scares the hell out of both of us, not for the usual critters, snakes etc. but Poison Ivy. We are still learning to identify the damned stuff so anything with a 3 leaf pattern is suspect and has us treating them all with caution. Initially there was a good section of boardwalks but once past the marshy bit it was back to a narrow path through mixed woodland and grassy meadow. As if the poison ivy was not bad enough we found ourselves in a few clumps of what we thought was Giant Hogweed with dead flower heads. This is another problem plant the causes severe skin issues in the sap contacts your skin. We dodged our way around and through this until w came to a sort of road continuing ahead but still overgrown with all kinds of vegetation. I later researched the Hogweed and established that it was probably the harmless common Hogweed.
Once through this first stretch of bush path we were now on to some of the extensive road work for the day. We spotted some wild Turkeys belting through the fields whilst walking along a straight tree lined gravel road with a short bend before going bush again.
Surprise, Surprise we were back at the Escarpment but this time not on or above it but walking along below and beside it. A fabulous change seeing it this way. It was a rocky trail but not as much as I had expected with all the scarp face eroding and falling to lower ground. There were some tricky bits but generally it was easier going. To answer the proverbial question “Do Bears Shit in the woods”? I can categorically answer yes as we came across a mega pile of Bear Scat. Apparently they like eating a lot of the native apples that we have seen loads of throughout our wonderings. We have even sampled a few on our way and they for me a the perfect apple as they are not too sweet with an almost dry finish. Hard to describe but delicious.
Sadly the off road bit ended way too soon and we were back onto a long stretch beside the very busy highway 26 then a major sideroad. There was another brief interlude away from the big roads where we ducked around the KOA camp ground then back onto the road for a short bit. Now back below the scarp again we came to our highlight for the day where the trail enter a crevasse in the scarp for 10m the a sharp right for another 10m before coming back out. This part of the trail then left the scarp to go through woodland. After another short road section to the centennial tower. Sadly we were pressed for time as we had an appointment to get to and chose not to spend time in the Devil’s Playhouse or Palisades.
We chased around town looking for "ROC" tape to tape up our injuries / stresses. We can find loads of it in town, all sorts of brands but for some reason they only sell rolls of precut tape of 20 pieces at 25cm. This is not ideal as at imes you need longer lengths to do the job. As we only have the taping App to go by we try to stick to their recommendations. So far the taping has worked marvels for Lari's bung Knee and shin splints. So we would love to keep it that way and keep strapping as recommended. We will just have to try to work with the stuff we get.
Had to do a double take on the way home as there was a guy out walking his pig on a lead down the high street. Sadly I could not get my camera out in time before we went around the corner. Apparently the Taxi driver knew him and called it in to the Taxi control room. Sure gave us the laugh of the day.