Fri 6th Sep – Yanyanna Hut to Wilpena Pound Resort
By DW
Today’s post is informally sponsored by Paddy Pallin Katoomba. Go see Boydo for all your trek needs. Caitlin’s backpack water bladder and our trekking poles are seeing real value in this part of the walk.
This hike broke James. He exclaims every few hundred metres that this is the most steps he has ever taken. Comparing his iPhone fitness app against this same time 2 weeks ago, there are orders of magnitude difference in how many steps. Also, if you look carefully in some photos, you will see that James has stolen my trekking poles for the last third of the walk under the pretence of a “quick try”.
Steps: 42,000
By CR.
Sometimes a leader can push their team too hard. They become accustomed to a high performing unit and forget the fabric has limits before it tears. Sometimes a leader can forget to read the guidebook the night before to ascertain whether there is indeed a shorter route option for the day.
There are a few moments of breakdown from everyone today. At one point Declan and James walk (further) ahead while I do a pee, which is mostly fine, except the track from there quickly dwindles into a dry creek bed and I am not 100% sure this is indeed the track, so after walking five minutes to find them, I stop, yell out at the top of my lungs for a bit, and muddle back to my pee stop for safety. Declan finds me there a few minutes later. This is not my favourite part of the day.
Temperature maximum: above 30 degrees.
I appreciate James taking this photo because at the time there was intense pressure to keep moving from Leader. It’s nice to look at the view now. You can observe how far ahead of the group Declan is here, leading by example. CR.
We were joking that the finish point for today’s walk was the mountains in the far distance of this pic. It was actually further 😭 JRT.
I am consistently five minutes behind Declan and James so I completely miss all Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies. CR.
We got 500 Youtube views on day 1!!! Ready for my new career as an influencer. JRT
This juice box was no better than the last, I am just getting more desperate. JRT
We search for comfortable rocks to sit on at every rest break. A rock in the shade is the dream. It often ends up sitting on the ground. JRT
This happens every trip. Don’t tell Declan but I secretely love it. JRT
Poor Declan. I have heard it is hard to be the leader. Someone described leadership as the art of disappointing people at a rate they can stand. Be gentle on your people.
Was starting to stress about the subtle lord of the flies vibe entering the blog yesterday and today but James’ confession at the end that he secretly does love it has settled my concerns. As someone who struggles sometimes to get up her own driveway I really admire you guys doing this! It is a great achievement 👏 (yes there is an emoji for everything).
Keep plodding Cait you are doing so well. Declan is lucky to have you to lead 😉 on his adventures.
#emuspa now my favourite 😍
Have you ever run out of fluids on your walk
Great photo of Declan walking ahead with the mountains in the far distance.
If I was there and someone told me the destination was beyond the mountains I would have laid down in the foetal position and quietly cried. But only for a short time because I couldn’t afford to lose to much body fluids.
Cait, if a car had passed you on the four wheel drive track I have two questions.
Would you have asked for a lift?
How much would you have paid the driver for a lift?
Saddest photo of all the days is the last one of James. It looks like he is pondering how life has lead him to this moment in time and at the same time wondering if this could be the end of everything.
Did everyone sleep well after returning to civilisation.
We did come to the end of our fluids on this day. It was such a hot day in the middle. It wasn’t a stress as we finished with an hour or two until the end and the temperature had cooled by then.
It was so sad to be absolutely spent and still have 10km to go. It’s hard to stay motivated.
James and I covertly discussed the 4WD philosophical question on the walk about 15km in. We both agree that we would take the lift. I asked James how much we would pay the driver at dinner in response to your question and we agreed probably in excess of $200. I then asked if Dec wanted to walk and I stayed and walked with Dec, what would James do. He said while he would like to think he would stay with us, if he was being honest he would leave the group.
I slept extremely well. We got a bottle of wine with dinner and that put me in the perfect mood to sleep dead to the world. James slept nearly 12 hours, with wake up breaks every four hours to drink water and rehydrate. Declan is non committal about sleep, attesting to the fallibility of memory.
haha
james is the group deserter. if there was a war i want to be with james because he would scheme a way off the front line and i would be his co-conspirator to also get out
love that you had a ‘covert’ chat on the walk to game plan an acceptable exit strategy so as to not upset the leader. Had you worked out who was going to break the bad news to the leader?
i so do not believe the $200 estimate – in the moment you would have paid whatever it took – a bit like uber surge pricing to get you out of a pickle
if you both had abandoned ship would Declan have joined you or would he have soldered on alone?
in the event that all fluids are gone but if someone (maybe with red hair) still had his shitty juice box would he a) share it with the tribe, or b) sneak off for a wee break and finish it off by himself?
has anyone been allocated the official group snorer
As the leader’s girlfriend, the responsibility would certainly fall to me for breaking bad news to the leader. I am also the best trained to handle a leader flare up.
If we had both abandoned ship Declan would certainly have carried on without us. Nothing short of a catastrophic injury would have stopped Declan from completing an unpleasant physical challenge.
James did answer the question about the juice box at dinner a few nights ago but I’ve now forgotten the response.
No one has been allocated group snorer. There was only one night where we had to share a room (cave motel) and everyone was so tired from camping the previous night and a long drive that day that I am pretty confident we all fell sound asleep and probably all snored.