A Trip to Solitude

Looking back time has slipped by, as it does so easily, when I was last on the Bibbulmun Track. Basically 5years has passed and life has certainly changed with two children and working remotely.

After the beautiful wife and kids have recently come back from a 14day camping trip over the Easter school holidays to see Uluru, Kings Canyon, Glen Helen, Alice Springs and return. The 4000 kilometer trip has reawakened the desire to feel some earth beneath my feet.

I'll restart the journey where I left off with my friends Megan and Simon at  Wearne Road (on Albany Highway). From there its a three night trip to White Horse Hills Campsite, Mt Wells Campsite and Chadoora, finishing at the Dwellingup Cafe. All up its a leisurely 69.8km jaunt which at this point is likely to be solo as neither Megan or Simon can break their work commitments.

I've chosen to try and go light.. I wish I could go ultralight but as a parent you have to justify your children not eating if I went too mad. As it is I've shaved a considerable amount of weight from my bag.. Currently it'll weigh in around 11.5kg for everything, which compared to the last time is approx 8kg lighter.

So what do you get for 11.5kg? I think quite a reasonable compromise. I can still remember my first hike with the Scouts.. external aluminum framed pack with the luxury sheepskin covering the shoulder pad that had been handsewn by mum at some point. The discomfort on the shoulders from the weight really made for a miserable trip. Fast forward to 2005 and a similar reoccurence but this time from my issued Army bergen though that was due to carrying two peoples gear.. the things you do when you're in love.

This trip not much more can be shaved other than a new bag (realistically could save a further 1.5kg) and I'm still waiting for a new sleeping bag to arrive which should weigh in at 1.2kg. How stupid does one person need to get for a few hundred grams?

This trip will likely be the first time I'll have been truely, remotely, alone in my life, 35km from the closest human and mostly free from telephone. When I stop and think that even this isn't that distant but its more isolated than most people would have been. I can already imagine that it might be a bit of adjustment necessary