I have a dream...
Nothing as altruistic as that famous quote implies though, but it is a dream…
Basically I'm hoping to walk out my back door and in my Son and Daughter-in-law's front door in Melbourne. Shouldn't be too hard, right?
I've done a full Itinerary and Map, more of an outline I guess, as the fine details need to be added as they become determined (for example Food Drops and Rest Days has not yet been included, so the following is just the walk days).
- The Itinerary is one of my massive spreadsheets that calculates everything from walk times and day lengths through to nutrition and the shopping list; it's something that has developed over the years, though this one involved a major change to allow Sandi to come and go as she needed.
- The GPS Route uses some of our previous walks (Australia Alps Walking Track, Katoomba to Kanangra Walls, etc) and details from Bill Avery on The Federation Track.
What on earth?
You may be wondering why I'd be considering such a walk. So, in no particular order:
- I always felt I (meaning: we) could have walked the AAWT much better than we did, and would like to have another go.
- I so enjoyed the snow-shoeing when we recently did the last section from Tharwa to Thredbo, I wanted to do it a little earlier in the year to get more snow-shoeing.
- I'm not sure how many long walks I've got left in me, so I wanted to get this in before it's too late.
- It seems like a very neat thing to do… and gives me the ability to allow Sandi to chose to walk with me whenever she likes (or not, as the case may be).
Walk Stages
This is not a published, single walk, but one I've glued together from many other walks.
Our local Blue Mountains walks are well known, though Bruce's Walk is probably the least well known even though it has some tremendously beautiful parts to it. Lindeman Pass is a less walked track as well, but it should be more well known. We've done Katoomba to Kanangra Walls a number of times, but after that I'll be on new ground:
- Uni Rover Trail is an ancient track that nicely connects with the Federation Track.
- The Federation Track is designed as a walking route rather than a marked, built track and it follows existing bushwalking tracks as well as fire trails, beaches, disused railways, footpaths and the occasional road verge. I didn't see that as a reason not to do a track marker... so I did. Bill Avery has put together this track that runs from Sydney to Adelaide.
This Itinerary is published from my spreadsheet, which is not entirely finished or polished, so may include miscalculations (note the Razorback section is listed after the AAWT, when in actual fact is in the middle, but I haven't had the courage to make that change yet–just for one display.), but it's pretty close:
Hike Map
The route has been mapped, and the following has been produced using a GPSBabel 100m CrossTrack simplification. That essentially means GPS points are removed within a 100m error margin – that is, all the minor squiggles are removed. This makes the track shorter (note the difference between the Profile length and the table above), but the shape remains accurate.
Hike Profile
The Elevation Profile, coloured by Track, created by GPS Visualizer. Note: the length is somewhat shorter than actual as the profile was generated from a simplified GPS track.
There is a problem with the National Pass: it’s been closed indefinitely between Valley of Waters and Slacks Stairs [NPWS Alert] – so I’ll have to re-route via Wentworth Pass… not that it will make that much difference.
Other news: we’re walking Lindeman’s Pass this weekend to get a feel / timing for that section.