Frenchman's Cap - Day 2
Tuesday, 7 January 2020
Ahhh Day 2. Whilst I’d warned the others (not the kids of course, they were better off not knowing the full horror), I was still the only one who had any real idea of what the day had in store for us. It’s only 6k to the next campsite, but that includes 3km of a tough strenuous climb to Barron Pass, and then 3km of difficult ups and downs before descending down steps that are more like ladders, to the hut at Lake Tahune. Due to a long toilet queue, we were the last to leave the Vera Hut campsite at about 9:45. 
getting ready to go Firstly we had to skirt around the lake (which sounds easier than it is, as even that serves up plenty of tricky walking, ups and downs and tree roots to navigate). Andy was NOT looking forward to the next bit.  
From the end of the lake the trail stops mucking around and just starts to head up. And Up. And Up.  
 
Amazingly though, we all survived just fine. Andy was probably the most knocked around by it due to his combination of old leather blister-inducing hiking boots, and ill-fitting heavy rucksack.  
All the kids did really well, although these happy photos are slightly misleading - they weren’t that happy all the time - it often looked more like this: 
Zali nursing a bleeding nose from overheating, and Jett dead-on-his pack. 
everyone looking exhausted Bleeding noses and general suffering aside, we made Barron Pass after about 2 hours and were rewarded with fantastic views. I’d warned everyone about the next section (as the mistake I’d made last time was expecting it to be a cake-walk down to the next hut - so the toughness of it was amplified by the discrepancy between my expectations and the reality). In the end it was fine - in fact with the great views, once we’d got past the most arduous section, most of us were able to appreciate the amazing botanical garden type terrain and incredible views. We could see people up on Frenchmans Cap way above us, and we could see all the way back to the Lyell Highway in some spots. As the weather was so nice we stopped a lot - unlike last time when it was a bit wet to linger anywhere. 
 
 
 
After another 2ish hours we arrived at the beautiful new hut at Lake Tahune. I’ve got photos of both here so you can appreciate how much better it is now. 
There were quite a few people in the hut already but the camping platforms were still free which was great as they are my preference anyway (I have a very low tolerance for snorers). We set up our tents then had a leisurely late lunch on the new deck in the sun. After tidying up our mess we packed small bags the headed up to the summit of Frenchmans Cap. It’s a steep 1.5k track but compared to what we’d already done with full heavy packs, it felt completely doable.  
 
We made it to the top about an hour and a half later - the views were amazing in all directions. We were really lucky! 
 
After spending a while up there absorbing the sun and the amazing vistas we scooted back down the hill again arriving back at about 6. Some of us had a quick swim in Lake Tahune before dinner.  
It was a long, tough but ultimately very satisfying day. |