View the gearlist for this trip here.

If you missed part 1 you can read it first at this link.

The rest day seemed to have passed so quick that my enthusiasm for departing today wasn't enormous. But, we had to do it, so rising early at 6am, we started the repack. It was windy but the rain was staying away for now. This was good as it meant we could pack up in the open without having to worry about getting wet. After a slow brekky and pack up we hit the button grass plains to the north of the camp a bit before 8am. Today was probably the one I had been most dreading the entire trip. From most of the reports we had read, it didn't get rave reviews with some people talking of several river crossings, very thick scrub and difficulty getting up on to the Denison Range. We had spent a bit of time analysing the route and had decided we would pretty much follow Gerv's route. We exited camp and headed straight across to the Gell river (which exits from the Lake). An early morning dip was in order and we found a narrow spot in the river and waded, knee deep across. We now made a bee line north east to the bit of an opening at the head of the valley that the river flowed through. At this point we rose up off the plain and sidled around the base of the Mt Curly ridge high above the river. We continued around and were greeted with a view of our route ahead across Badger Flat. We picked a line towards the distant ridge that led up to North Star and headed for it. The next section took us down to the flat and was a mixture of low scrub but mainly button grass. The going was pretty good until we hit the swampy section of Badger Flat. We now picked our way through some deep sections of water sodden button grass and creeks for a few hundred meters eventually rising up on to a small plain on the other side. The weather was ok with some drizzle occasionally blowing through. There was a constant breeze though. Perfect walking weather. I was well layered up and was now actually too hot so I stopped for a few minutes to take a layer of thermals off. The others plodded on while I mucked around. It was off with boots to remove the bottom thermal layer. A bit annoying but necessary. I didn't want to overheat.

Back on the move, it wasn't too much longer before we were rising up to the North Star ridge now in some high scrub amongst the button grass. We had already decided we'd give North Star a miss today as we were just keen to get up to the Denison Range. We moved along over the ridge and then down again crossing some more scrubby sections and a creek in the small valley on our way to the second ridge leading to the North Star. We'd now been moving around 3 hours since departing Lake Curly. We were happy with our progress. Climbing up out of the creek through some thicker scrub we gradually crested the ridge with a good view across a broad valley to the final small ridge before the main climb. Gerv had taken a wide approach to the next ridge as there was obvious scrub and forest straight ahead. After a bit of discussion we decided we were keen for more scrub so headed on straight ahead. We moved quickly through the valley and then climbed up through what was lighter scrub and sparse forest to the top of the final ridge. We were greeted now with a grandstand view of the big climb of the day up to the Denison Range. We stopped for a decent rest at this vantage point pondering the route. We had been walking for 4hrs 15minutes. There was a big, gentle drop off below us, which was unavoidable. Then we'd be heading up through button grass before cresting the long ridge leading up to the range. We hoped to find 'the pad' that people spoke of on that ridge as it was going to make or break our day.

After picking our line we headed on down through the button grass to the bottom of the valley, crossing another small creek. Now the climb began. Again, it was up through the button grass and light scrub towards the ridge crest. Rain continued to come and go and I reckon I took my rain shell on and off half a dozen times during the climb. Progress was good and about an hour after leaving our rest stop we found ourselves on top of the ridgeline we'd now follow to the top. Just needed to find that pad. We split up a little walking along the now extremely scrubby ridge crest looking for some sign of a pad. I could see on my Garmin watch's map that the pad was appearing as a track. I headed towards it while the others checked another spot. I penetrated some very thick forest and just as I landed on a virtual track on the Garmin map, I looked a little to my left to see what looked like a track. I pushed on through and sure enough I had found a solid pad hidden below the scrub overgrowing it. I called out to the others and they now excitedly found their way over to where I was. We were on our way! The pad was very, very handy. I really don't know how we would have progressed well up this ridge without it. The scrub and bush either side was what can only be described as 'diabolical'. A couple of points along the way it became a little faint but largely we stuck to the pad the entire way up. About 40 minutes after starting on this route, the forest and scrub began to open up to lighter alpine stuff and we briefly lost the pad here. But now in the open this didn't bother us and we picked it back up a few minutes later. We were now flying up the ridge as it became more rocky and open and finally 6hrs 50 minutes after departing camp we arrived on to the Denison Range. It had been about 1hr 50mins since our rest stop down the bottom.

As we arrived at the top of the ridge we were greeted with the stark reality of the bushfires that had torn through the area two years prior. Throughout the walk, we had largely forgotten about these as we hadn't seen any sign of them. But now, it became all too real. As we walked up the last section of alpine grass to crest of the range we arrived to a view of Lakes Wugata and Malana. The entire scene was of utter devastation. I felt like I was standing on the moon looking at the lunar surface. The fire had obviously concentrated itself on the valley and lakes to the east of the range and had avoided spreading to where we had come from. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was gutted. We hadn't decided where we would camp tonight, but we decided to make our way down to the lakes and have a look. As we headed down, we could see some signs of new life with some pineapple grass re-emerging but it would be years, if not decades, if not centuries before this area returned to its former glory. The wind was howling and we found some shelter as we descended off the ridge first to Lake Wugata. The campsite here, with no scrub to protect it, was completely and utterly exposed. I stood here for a moment before heading on to Lake Malana. A few minutes later we were on the shores of this second lake and reluctantly, with the time being 3pm, we thought we had better stop here tonight as the next option was Lake Rhona and maybe a touch too far. We looked around and saw how bad the fire had been. It must have been an inferno. We looked up to Bonds Craig above to see that every single bit of scrub in every nook and cranny had been burnt black...

Crawf and I found what we thought to be a decent camp spot next to the lake while Beaui and Woolza wandered off looking for another site. Setup was made difficult by the wind that seemed to be getting stronger, and we eventually had the Mutha Hubba setup with rocks in place to hold the guy ropes. The other two had found a spot close by but it was sheltered by a large rock. I thought that looked like a smart option. We spent the rest of the afternoon recuperating after what felt like a long day. Our moods were all a bit depressed given our environs at the current campsite. The wind was picking up more and more and we didn't really see the other two for the rest of the day. We communicated on radios between tents and had some vigorous discussions about the next days route. We had two options: 1. follow the Denison Range along to Stepped Hills, then the day after do a day trip to Mt Wright and back from there. 2. Follow the range to Reeds Peak, then descend to Lake Rhona and walk the Vale of Rasselas before finishing on the summit of Mt Wright. Option 2 sounded like a big ask for 1 days walk but we all felt we had it in us and as we retired to bed for the evening the consensus was swinging this way.

We were off to bed early with a big day in mind. I fell asleep quickly and enjoyed a few hours sleep before being woken at around 2am to very loud wind gusts. The wind had turned up while we slept and you could now hear it roaring over the ridge above before slamming down onto our tent. With each gust the tent was contorting itself and it was giving me flashbacks to a similar experience on the Frankland Range. After an hour of listening and wondering what was going to happen an almighty gust hit us. 'FAR OUT!?!?' or something similar came out of my mouth as Crawf exclaimed something along the same lines. We were both now a little freaked out. I thought of the others in their little sheltered spot. Nice and cosy. After a few more big gusts I decided to head out and check the guy lines. On with rain coat and head torch I braved the wind and rain and did a check on the tent. One guy rope had completely ripped off the tent and blew loosely in the wind. No fixing that. Others were blowing around so I re-secured them and then went and fetched some more large boulders from another nearby camp site and secured the remaining guy lines as best I could. It was then back in the tent back into warm sleeping bag. The rest of the night was spent in fits of sleep in between checking on the tent. A rough night to say the least but we made it through.....

After a rough night, we woke at 6:30 am to howling wind and mist. Deciding on a big day, we aimed for Lake Rhona, then up Mt. Wright. By 8 am, we were on the trail, battling wind towards Bonds Craig. We took misty summit photos and moved on, walking along the rocky ridge. The fire hadn't touched the top section of the ridge.

An hour and a half later, we reached Reeds Peak, took quick summit photos, and started the descent to Lake Rhona. The terrain became more sheltered and revealed evidence of past fires. After passing the lake turn-off, we followed the vale route out, stripping down to shorts and t-shirts as temperatures rose. The track was better than expected, but burnt forests were a constant reminder of the fire's devastation. We met a group of four hikers, the first people we’d seen, before reaching Gordonvale.

Arriving at Gordonvale after 6.5 hours, we enjoyed an extended lunch in the beautiful, largely untouched forest. We relaxed for an hour, drying gear and recharging.

At 3:40 pm, we departed Gordonvale, crossing regenerating button grass plains towards Mt. Wright. The climb was steep and unrelenting, but we finally topped out around 6:00 pm. We found a perfect campsite near a small tarn about 50 meters from where we stood. The sky was clear, but a cold breeze prompted us to set up camp quickly. Noting the fire's reach, we went to bed early, exhausted but content. The end was now in sight.

We woke on our last day on the track to a very calm but misty morning. It had been fairly mild and dewy over night and our sleeping bags were quite damp. We knew we had plenty of time so slept in to 7am and started the breakfast and packup routine. By 8.30am we were ready to go and just as we were departing we stopped by another Mt Wright Arch near the campsite for a photo. We now headed north towards the summit of Mt Wright and progressed up the final, gentle slopes to the peak arriving on the summit in just under half an hour from our campsite. We were glad to be here and took the obligatory photos before proceeding off the summit and down through the thick mist to the next valley.

We made our way down the boulder fields off the peak descending slowly and cautiously to avoid any mishaps. We followed the boulders through small stands of burnt eucalypts and arrived at the base of the descent 1.5 hours after leaving camp. The mist was now lifting and ahead of us lay button grass. We began across the broad valley towards Stepped Hills and pretty much headed in a straight line. It took about 50 minutes to cross the plains before arriving at another burnt out forest which we had to descend through to the base of the next climb. At the bottom we traversed through some scrub to a creek and then commenced our final climb of the trip - to the top of Stepped Hills. Very much like the climb up Mt Wright yesterday, it was steep going but probably a slighter gentler incline. We pushed on and reached the peak in clear skies an hour since starting the climb and 3.5 hours since departing camp. The view was brilliant and it was a relief to know that we had just done the final  ascent of the journey. With little wind, we sat down and took some time to enjoy the views. Mt Wright was now in full view as were The Thumbs, Clear Hill as well as Lake Gordon. We could make out where we had started the trip and way down below us we could see our little dinghy on the lake shore awaiting us. It looked a long way off. With a bit of lunch in the belly, after about 40 minutes, we reluctantly started the walk down the mountain. We had decided to try and follow the Abels route off the peak to Lake Gordon. Gerv had followed a similar route so we expected it to be pretty straight forward. We followed the ridgeline south before finding a saddle which we then descended into. From here we decided to follow the saddle straight down into a gully that led off it and thus the descent proper began. Initially we were again hopping along large conglomerate boulders moving slowly downwards. The entire area was entirely scorched and burnt with regrowth beginning. It was hard not to brush up against the burnt limbs and after 40 minutes of descent we were painted head to toe in black soot.

The sun was now shining high in the sky and in our chosen gully it was getting very hot. This descent was taking longer than I had hoped and looking at our view to the lake below, we still had a very long way to go. As we dropped lower it also became scrubbier with more burnt out trees and bushes scratching us. This was not enjoyable. We were now on solid ground but it seemed to go on forever and became increasingly steeper. Finally, about 2 hours into the descent we arrived at a point where we could start to make a line towards where the boat was located. With the descent largely behind us, we changed direction and headed towards a series of low ridges that we would cross before arriving at the lakes edge. After crossing a creek, we then started the last couple of kilometres. The terrain opened up a bit and we made great progress and finally after another 40 minutes we arrived at our boat! It was just the way I had left it. Tied up, cover on and well protected. We couldn't contain our excitement. As we all arrived, we looked at each other and laughed. All completely black from the soot we looked an absolute mess. Peering back up at Stepped Hills we wondered at what we had just done. 'That was a pretty crazy descent' I exclaimed. With pats on the back and even a few hugs, we took a few minutes to contemplate the journey. Over the next 15 minutes we readied the boat and then started off under motor across the lake back to the cars. We took it very easy and 20 minutes later, after a very enjoyable cruise, we arrived at the boat ramp. With a beer or three cracked we said 'cheers!' and packed everything up. It was now late afternoon and around 8 hours since departing camp. We had decided to move on to Maydena for the evening to recuperate and have dinner at The Giant's Table (a must dine at in Maydena!).

The Walk by Numbers (Whole Trip):