You know what? I’ve figured out that this is the wrong time of the year to be writing frequent blog entries, as I don’t seem to have much time lately with the complete Christmas hoo-hah going on. All I’ve been doing is eating and shopping with a little bit of hiking thrown in. How am I meant to attend to the blog as well?
Anyway, I have been doing some walking and there’s an entertaining hike from last weekend which I’ve been meaning to put together. It’s to one of those signature hiking places that if you haven’t been to, people will say, “What? You reckon you’re a walker and you haven’t been to the Grampians?!” Okay, I’ll admit, other than sight-seeing, it’s one of those spots I’ve never walked in. So a trip has been long overdue.
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
I’ve sat down a couple of times to write up the two days, but so much happened, it’ll be easier to break it down over a few entries. I’m officially going for the ‘drip feed’ approach. All this post will be is something I’ve called Mt Difficult. The prelude. As you can see, I’m really going to stretch out the saga.
By the way, before I get rattling on, I must admit that I’ve had a bit of ‘blog block’ lately. A few times I’ve sat at the computer, staring at the screen with my fingers on the keyboard and nothing happens. After about five minutes of thought and without coming up with any ideas, I tend to just give it away and put the kettle on instead.
I’ve also found that as the blog page views go up each month there comes the dilemma of, “Oh no, people are reading this crap! What am I going to write next?!” It’s the equivalent of blog stage fright and when I do start, I suddenly notice my writing style is stilted as if my underpants are on too tight.
Come back with my apple!
Oh yeah, the hike. This was the plan. I finally came to grips with organising an overnighter up to Mount Difficult. We intended to walk from Troopers Creek Campground up to Mt Difficult and then continue on to Briggs Bluff campsite for the night.
Then in the morning, we’d scoot up to Briggs Bluff and then continue down, passing Beehive Falls until we reached the end of the walk at Beehive Falls car park. Phew. That’s a lot of banging on right there.
It all sounded quite simple, but when perusing the map, I did notice the contour lines are kind of ‘close together’, indicating a climb of some description? I guess one can’t expect much more when the destination of the day is named as Mt Difficult? I’ve been searching for a Mt Comfortable, which is more of my level of walking, but I haven’t found it yet.
I guess I’m not getting it back?
There was an issue though which anyone who’s read this blog over the past year would know and that’s I’ve had an annoying neck injury which has prevented me carrying a backpack. Most of the walks I’ve done over the past six months have been with a tiny Lowepro camera backpack with remotely no weight in it.
In fact I was booked in to have an C6/7 anterior cervical discectomy and fusion operation, which would have removed one of the troublesome discs in my neck. Well, after receiving a call one day to come in for the operation I opted for the manly method of panicking, followed by a deferral with the, ‘hope it gets better on its own’ approach. The end result is I’ve waited and waited for quite a few months before taking a punt on an overnight hike.
So, this was going to be the first walk with a heavier pack and it threw up one obvious problem. There’s no reliable water supply on top of the range, which meant carrying two day of water. In summer. Ouch.
Any worry about pack weight to keep my neck feeling comfortable went out the window as I intended to carry 7 litres for the two days. Oh yeah, by the way, if you’re wondering where these random bird photos are coming from they’re part of the sights from our ‘base-camp’ in Halls Gap.
Crimson Rosella
Well, the plan came together and a motley crew was assembled for this walk. Besides my humble self I managed to drag Ben away from Skyrim for the weekend. That’s not all though as also hopping on board the fiasco train was Smuffin, who’s featured on some walks before. He seemed keen for some fun in the sun. There was even another person, but due to their cloak of anonymity regarding all things internet, they will be referred to for the rest of the walk as ‘anon’.
That’s the introduction over with and the next entry will include the first day of this ‘well prepared’ hike. I won’t give too much away just yet, but I’ll include some photos, which are a teaser of the upcoming post and they involve the following…
There’s blood!
Jesus loves some bloke!
Random obscene graffiti!
More blood, but it isn’t even mine!
Multiple headlamp bling!
These photos are just some of the dubious highlights, but I’ll sign off for the day. Hopefully the rest will come later in the week. I’ve got one more photo and something mellow seems a perfect ending. How about a lady-bug doing laps of my tea cup…?
NB – 21/9/16. During my annual blog clean-up, I came across this entry. As you can see, it doesn’t seem to lead anywhere. What I did do was write about both days spent up on Mt Difficult, Grampians in the summer of 2011. If you really want to read about that saga, I thought I’d be a good bloke and make it easier for you. Here are the links to those relevant posts. Okay, I’m going back to the future now.
Day One. Troopers Creek Campground to Mt Difficult.
Day Two. Mt Difficult to Troopers Creek Campground.
can I add my two cents on the pressures of blogging? I feel your pain. I love blogging so much…but I barley have time anymore. And when the traffic is up…you feel like you have to keep posting to keep the traffic up. If you take time off from blogging…say 3 or so weeks as I have…it seems like all your traffic finds better things to do. And then its discouraging to get it back to where it was.
And then there is reading and commenting on other blogs…if you don't do that…they don't do in in return…well some do…but not many. Blogging…even for fun…seems like a full time job sometimes. *sigh* I guess its a love/hate relationship
I loved reading this post. You had me chuckling the whole time. I can't wait 'til you post the rest of the story… 🙂
Hi Steven, thanks for dropping by!
Oh yeah, you nailed blogging in your reply and I can sympathise! I have been meaning to do a post about just such a thing with a 'fiasco' touch to it.
Writing consistently is the key I think. I know I follow a few blogs that have fallen off the radar in which there hasn't been a post for months. It's hard to keep going back to those blogs when the writer appears to have given up!
It is time consuming though and it really does require some diligence of checking other blogs to spread the word. It's definitely a love/hate relationship…
Hi Linda! Thank you for your lovely comment! You do realise you've put me under even more pressure to deliver a decent follow up entry now?!
I hope I can come through with the goods, but the more I think about what happened I'm sure I can make it entertaining enough 🙂
Thanks for dropping by!
Mt Difficult. I suppose they'd used up all the good names when they got round to doing that one! You have to love that prosaic tell-it-like-it-is quality in Australian place names, don't you?
I went to the Grampians once for a solo overnighter. A good spot. Somebody told me not long ago that the bushfires had rendered it off-limits – but apparently not all of it.
I can't wait to see what happens…with the ladybird.
I have a sudden urge to put the kettle on….
Hey Goat, you are right about our mountain names. To the point I guess?! One day I will get to 'Son of a Bitch Peak' which I noticed on a map. Plenty of blog entertainment there I think!
There's only one overnight spot open in the Grampians. You probably went to the same place? There were fires in the Grampians in 2006 (I think), but the main thing that has closed a lot of the area was the February floods. I've been meaning to get up there all year, but whenever the chance came up it was closed! I do think though that nearly everything has reopened, just in time for summer.
Yeah, the tension mounts regarding the ladybird…
Hi Tennille, surely the Tandoori Warnie hasn't made you feel like having a cuppa?!
No, but I did have Tandoori pizza for lunch today!
Great blog and post, I have hiked this section of Grampians twice now just because I loved it so much.
I also recently started a hiking blog and can only hope I will become half as popular as this one.
Hey there Mexican! Thanks for the visit and comment. You would know more about the Grampians than me as this hike kind of flamed out a little. Hopefully I can get back there in the next few months for a sequel post.
It's good to see another Australian hiking blogger as they're a little thin on the ground. I'll slip over and have a look at yours.
Thanks for the kind words about the popularity of my blog. It's continually up in the air in relation to what I should be writing about. One day I'll work it out!