Frenchmans Cap 2020 - Day 1

Monday, 6 January 2020

I last hiked Frenchmans Cap in 2017 with Clare and her family. You can read about it here, here, here and here.

This time I did the 4 day walk with my family as well as Andy, Alexa and 12 year old Lyra.   I  knew what I was in for but they didn't, and the first day's walk doesn't really give a fair indication of what the 2nd and 3rd day have in store.

We left the car park at about 11:30, after noting that about 7 people had headed off already that day. I was a bit concerned about it being quite crowded at the huts and campsites as many other trails are still closed from last year's fires. 

The first day is longish - 15k, but quite easy with only a few moderate hills to get over. The weather was nice and we stopped at the swing bridge over the Lodden River for lunch.  It was a good day to get used to hiking with a fully laden pack again - it's been a while since we've done that.

Looking at Frenchmans Cap in the far distance 

We arrived at Vera Hut at about 5pm.  Last time we elected to stay in the hut, but the weather was so nice and sunny that it was a lot more pleasant to camp on the platforms out in the sun.  We even had a swim in Lake Vera before dinner.

 Once the sun went down it got pretty cold. In fact some platforms had frost on them the next morning.  This is us making dinner. I'm the only one who knows exactly what's in store for us the next day..