Day 20 hiking the Australian Alps Walking Track solo

Australian Alps Walking Trail, Hiking, Trail Journal

Tearful farewell with Jane, overgrown trails to Mt Wills, a slip and split chin, then warmth, gin and chatter at Cleve Cole Hut.

Sunnyside to Cleve Cole Hut (23.5km) | TOTAL – 419.1km

We woke at around 6am in the comfort of our double bed and snuggled under a heavy doona, and enjoyed a hearty breakfast of boiled eggs, a hot cross bun and fresh orange.

We took off from Glen Wills at around 7.45am. Jane dropped me to the start of the trail at Sunnyside and walked the first hundred metres with me before a tearful farewell.

It doesn’t seems to get easier.

At first, the trail followed a reasonably flat old 4WD track, but then the upward climb to Mt Wills South (1,670m) began with an overgrown but relatively easy to follow foot trail.

I pushed my way through body height bushes, hauled myself over fallen tree branches and kept an eye out for yellow markers.

By 9am I had reached almost 1600m elevation, with stunning views of mountain ranges covered in white clouds to my south.

I became momentarily off track several times on the final leg up to Mt Wills South, with the track very overgrown and hard to follow. I called Jane from the top.

The route across the saddle to Mount Wills (1,750m) was more discreet, with tufts of yellow long grass disguising the track. Bare grey trees and large boulders covered in dry moss surrounded the trail.

After a quick morning tea break at Mt Wills Hut, I descended to Maddison Saddle on a largely overgrown foot track.

A sign stated there would be an aerial shooting from 29 April (of deer, I’ve since been told). It made me reflect on the fact that I have not come across a brumby since Cowombat Flat near the NSW border, and am yet to see any deer in Victoria.

The descent became steeper as I went, passing through prickly blackberry bushes and ferns. I slipped from time to time on the damp leaves underfoot, and managed to slide on a huge fallen log and put a little bloody split in my chin.

Once I reached the saddle, the track followed a 4WD road and a few long weekend travellers passed me by. Then, the AAWT followed the Long Spur Track, which originally took the form of an overgrown 4WD track then became a thin foot pad as the ridge narrowed.

This part of the spur track offered several flat areas complete with picnic table for camping, and while tempted to pull up stumps, I needed a water supply to get me through the night and next morning.

As I trudged along the aptly named long spur, I caught glimpses of mountain ranges on either side and passed through forests of lifeless grey trees – struggling to recover after a fire in 2003.

Following a gruelling late afternoon slog, I arrived at Cleve Cole Hut at around 4.30pm, quickly setting up my tent. The owner of Glen Wills Wilderness Retreat, Gordy, was at the hut with other members of the Bogon Ski Club for a working bee weekend.

I spent the evening inside the warm hut, being offered gin and chocolates by the members and cooking up my dinner in a tiny bustling kitchen alongside 20 other people.

The hut was unlike any I had experienced so far, with lighting, a gas cooker, sink, mattresses on wall width bunks and a heap of crockery and cutlery.

After two gins and lovely chats in the merry, warm and noisy hut, I retired to my tent for the night.