The three peaks (the lazy way) continues… the final slog
As we crept into our tightly sealed sleeping bags (just in case snakey realised he left something behind), inches from the babbling brook of Kanangra Creek, we all tried to sleep with the knowledge that our bloody leader was going to wake us up at 5am to get going. Oh, hang on… that was me. As my alarm went off after what felt like only an hour, I was grasping to answer that question myself.
Anyway, I knew that the breathless ascent of Marooba Hill (700m) was going to feel better in the dark as the promise of a new day started to envelope us as we slowly trudged up the steep ridge. The air was cool and it truly was perfect walking weather without the sting of a hot sun, but with a gentle breeze to keep our sweat from overtaking our enthusiasm.
Although the promise of breakfast half way up wasn’t met with that much enthusiasm the night before, I think that everyone (well, maybe everyone) could see the appeal of it once the brekky fire was going and the billys were boiling. It also gave us the chance to stop and look around us and enjoy the views looking deep into Kanangra country, up out of the depths of the valleys.
This view looking north was one that I’d never seen before and having become used to the usual Kanangra suspects and skylines, this breathtaking aspect was like a gift from a long lost friend.
Mount Marooba Karoo called us on, with it’s rocky formations and Picnic at Hanging Rock moodiness (Miranda! Miranda!), before we crossed over Mt Goowong and onto the familiar footpad at Roar Knoll. Briefly shaken by our encounter with the strangeness of finding a track after 2.5 days of no such luxury, we sped on upwards to Mt Cloudmaker, our third peak and final logbook for the trip.
With celebratory snaps in the can, we turned to head for home like horses who’ve been given their head. As we did though, the full circle of our trip met us with steadily descending clouds and temperatures, to find us finishing our trip at the Kanangra carpark in the same weather that we started. The views were, well… the video explains it all.
As I explained in part 1 of this series, The Three Peaks is a serious undertaking and not for the average weekend warrior. Even though I called this version, ‘The lazy way’, doing it the way we did, over 3 days, it’s still a chunky physical undertaking in serious country. Although we can’t claim to have done it in 48 hrs from Katoomba Station, we still had a huge sense of achievement and certainly a great sense of journey.
I’ll be doing this trip again!
