I've spent the past five days hiking the Six Foot Track from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves and back. I had a great time hiking, the weather cooperated nicely and I saw a lot of wildlife. I saw dozens of different bird species on the trip. The campsites were quite nice. They had covered picnic shelters and a large rainwater collection tank for the water source. All and all it was a great trip.
Day 1
I stopped at Norths Lookout which has a spectacular view of the Megalong Valley, the valley that the track goes through. It was perfect weather for hiking, not a cloud in the sky and maybe 80 degrees or so. The track starts off with a steep descent into a rain forest, I dropped about 1800 feet in about 1/3 of a mile. The hike was going smoothly until I took a wrong turn that added another 2 miles to my journey. All was good because the detour offered views of the cliffs and I heard cuckaburras calling. The track then meandered through pastureland which was pretty smooth sailing. Then I got to Cox's River. I tried to ford Cox's River but the water was too high and I fell in. I saved myself before my pack and camera got wet, but I wasn't so lucky. I then back tracked a mile to cross Bowtells Swing Bridge. That bridge is definitely the scariest bridge I've crossed. It is a suspension bridge and you are walking on fencing. The highlight of the day was seeing two wallabies just after crossing the bridge.
Day 2
A day just like the last - beautiful and sunny. Spent most of the day climbing uphill. Almost all of the hiking was on dirt roads. I saw several kangaroos and an echidna. Little lizards were scurrying about at my feet all day. When I arrived at the campsite there was a group of about 6 guys who were hiking the track in one day in preparation for climbing Kilimanjaro in a couple months. They had a support group meeting them every so often along the way to supply them with water and food. The campsite was a popular spot for kangaroos, I sat on the picnic table and counted 12 feeding in the grass.
Day 3
I slack-packed myself to Jenolan Caves and back. The morning started off overcast and mist hung in the trees. It remained cloudy until early afternoon. Today was the coolest of the 5 days on the track. Kangaroos were in abundance again today. Jenolan Caves were pretty impressive. There were several large archways hundreds of feet wide and hundreds of feet tall to walk through. The grounds itself was pretty neat to walk around, there was a little river that flowed out of the caves and along the banks there were a couple species of lizards. I didn't go into to the caves because in my excitement to get on the trail I left my money at the hostel.
Day 4
It was hot today. The kind of heat that doesn't quit once the sun goes down. All the uphills I climbed two days back I descended today. There were just as long and steep going down as they were going up. The only difference was I wasn't watching my feet on the way down so I could enjoy the views the track offered me. I was surprised by how much I missed two days ago. When I got to the campsite I took a nice refreshing dip in the river, clothes and all. I stood chest deep in the river for a bit cooling off. It was so hot that I was dry in no time. I finally had some company at night. A french couple joined me tonight. They were very friendly and nice people to chat with.
Day 5
It was another hot day. I climbed out of Cox's River and looked back to see a wall of storm clouds heading my way. When the wind picked up and the temperature started to drop I knew I was in for it. The sound of thunder signaled the rapidity at which the storm was approaching. As luck would have it I was hiking through pastureland when it hit me. It didn't rain that hard and the cool rain felt great on a hot day, but the thunder was disconcerting. I must have only caught the edge of the storm because it lasted all of 10 minutes. After that the sun reappeared and it was hot again. I was blessed with another light rain as I was hiking through the rain forest and ascending the 1800 feet to finish the trail.
I leave Katoomba today to spend five days in Sydney.
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