Mira's Belated B'day Hike - Day 2

We woke to the noise of pitter patter of rain on our tent which was not unexpected. Thankfully we left all our gear inside Derschko's Hut so it remained dry for the moment! It was really good to be able to cook breakfast inside the hut and prepare for the day's walk. Much to our surprise a fellow walker who was drenched appeared at the door of the hut. He was doing the Round Mountain / Mt Jagungal Loop, usually a three day loop but due to the low cloud and wet weather, he opted to start walking at 4am, skip the climb up Jagungal and walk straight out! Crazy we thought!

Our route today was originally to climb Mt Jagungal then head cross country over the area known as the strawberry fields before joining the track heading into Valentine's Hut. However the inclement weather made us revise that route and instead taking the safe and slightly longer track option.

The rain had set in for the morning. It was grey and wet not much fun for walking but we had no choice really. We stopped at Grey Mare Hut for lunch. We dried out somewhat and warmed up too. Hot lunch was good. We noticed in the hut logbook, there were a group of ladies, The Murray River group, who were on the same route as us but taking a few more days to cover the distance. Their itinerary suggested that we might catch them up at Valentine's Hut.

From Grey Mare Hut there were a few steeper climbs and descents although we were kept distracted when  one of the girls pointed out a massive bug in the grass. Then we couldn't stop seeing them and both girls were freaked out a little. Katy also noticed a blue coloured worm! We encountered too many deep river crossing in this section. In order to keep our feet a little dry, we took off our shoes and socks for several of these crossing. Poor Katy though was walking in sneakers and her socks were soaked through. 

Eventually the rain dried up but the clouds remained. The km's clicked by slowly and eventually we crested a hill glad to see the little red dot of Valentine's Hut in the valley below! On the way down, we chatted to a couple on their bikes. They were leaving the 'two crowded' Valentines Hut for Grey Mare Hut! that's interesting we thought...

On our arrival at Valentines Hut we were finally met the Murray River ladies group (some of whom were in their 70's!) plus a Canberra walking group who had come in from Guthega. There were a total of 19 people camped around! It took us a bit of scouting to find a flattish spot in amongst the heath and out of the wind.

Dinner was a quick affair to catch the last of the daylight and to beat the wind that was whipping the clouds along bringing in fine misty rain. We were all rather tired and cold so it was straight into our warm sleeping bags after that for a well deserved rest. It was a 19km day.