South Coast Track - Day 3
Louisa River to Deadman's Bay
- 14 kms
- 8 hours 34 mins
- Total ascent 933m
- Total descent 989m
This day is dominated by one thought and by two activities:
- Will it stop raining?
- Climbing the Ironbound Range
- Descending from the Ironbound Range
We had decided to wake at 6:30ish (sun rise was 6:45) and get away about 8:00am. However, a light rain put all this on hold. There is not much worse than trying to break camp in the rain because pretty much everything gets wet. At about 8am the rain let off a bit and we decided to pack up and give it a go. We left camp about 9am and it drizzled for a bit longer but otherwise developed into a relatively cool but otherwise nice day.
Bushwalkers sometimes say that walking down somewhere is just as hard as walking up. Most of the times I hear this said, I do not believe it. This is one of those times where it is true. While the climb up the Ironbound Range was energy sapping, so was the descent through the muddy, very steep and root bound rainforest down to Deadman’s Bay. The track down seemed to never end.
Day 3 - Hill Profile
The hill profile tells you what this day is all about. It is a steep climb up the Ironbound Range followed by a steep descent. Even the final flatish traverse along the ridge line to Deadman’s Bay was long and tiring. This day is a hard day in the bush by anybody’s reckoning. Fortunately, most of the day was relatively free of rain and strong winds.
