hikin' the pox valley
well, today i felt even more determined to reach cowpox. after it fizzled late last night, i woke at 1 this arvo (fuck! late waking for me!) ate a little grub, messaged siolo (coz i thought he might be interested in coming) and ended up talkin to amber also, but she wasnt really up for it.
left home at 4, rode up the pacific highway in perfect weather, turned off, passed the hospital and down to the pox valley trail. my motorbike fit nice and snug through the bamboo and jasmine around the gate (which my key didnt work for unfortunately). used my way honed in postie skills from riding up the trail to 25 and 27 quebec down the trail through the badly overgrown sections. trail turned to dirt track and i dismounted, to begin the hike :)
a few years back dtrog helped me and a couple others navigate down to cowpox, he had planned it all out and held a GPS in his hand the whole way. my plan with a whole lot less time and only my senses as navigation was to stay close to the creek and make sure i can hear the F3 whizzing by at all times.
wasnt too hard, ended up skipping along the mossy stones and falling in love with the trees n water and birds and bees n shit.
felt nice and alone, up giant rocks and through crevices filled up with leaf matter, freaked out how much water flows through here in a surge, as plastic bags and styrofoam cups were dangling from tree branches above the creek higher than i could reach.
i was building up a serious sweat, and sat upon a rock beside the stream for a little while, before turning the last corner of the stream where the most wonderfully tucked away tunnel emerges!!
the outlet: glorious happy!
i wandered up and down the baby, it felt just as fantastically proportioned as i had remembered it (with recent findings such as that vent tunnel close to 15m tall i wondered if id had my tunnel gauge thrown off wack). the inversed parabolic shape is so appealing also, has unique sound properties.
bang crackle pop (i am the eeeeeeeagle.. emmie poo :P)
smoke carried up into the pox valley and i managed to capture the beginning of its journey, at the mouth of cowpox doing something pose like i can only resemble to ballet 9check out those feet! im a natural baby! :) here:
with natural light diminishing, i got the fuck out of there! i realized how tragic the hike could be in the dark considering i had not too favorable lighting (a 2m candle torch which would last maybe 5mins and a little led running of a dodgy little watch battery which cant be removed nor replaced). I followed a ridge up high between the creek and the F3 hiking back up to the trail just to be different and (supposedly) save time. squeezed under a barbed wire fence and then smelt cow or horse poo or something... on my scarf. YUK!! hehe ahh well.
came across the trail just in time, the sun was over the horizon and it was... well... night! princess bikehead was waiting for me patiently. i decided to take her ever so carefully back up to the clearing beside the downstream entry to magics.
once again shed have to sit there in the cold and dark alone the poor thing, coz i had more tunnels on my mind!
i hadnt visited ole magics for months! think i was suffering withdrawals or something. the cliffside big metal door entry was left swung fully open. its been unlocked for close to 4 years now :) tops!
trudged through there in new stilletos, breaking them in with quality rockblasted awesomeness. got out my colourful purdies of the non-explosive type. re-found a deep green and a deep purple which id been seriously missing for yonks!! reached my fave section before the crawl:
as my bike was parked at the downstream end, and id already done enough bush and legging for the day i decided against the multiple kilomitre round trip via the manhole, especially in those shoes:
just before i jumped back out into the wilderness
hoorah!! princess bikehead and i were mega happy riding back up the pox valley trail in the dark dark nighttime! we sung and danced our way back down the pacific highway home!
urg. gotta be up tomorrow at 5 for work. ahh well! 6 more hours to sleep :)
left home at 4, rode up the pacific highway in perfect weather, turned off, passed the hospital and down to the pox valley trail. my motorbike fit nice and snug through the bamboo and jasmine around the gate (which my key didnt work for unfortunately). used my way honed in postie skills from riding up the trail to 25 and 27 quebec down the trail through the badly overgrown sections. trail turned to dirt track and i dismounted, to begin the hike :)
a few years back dtrog helped me and a couple others navigate down to cowpox, he had planned it all out and held a GPS in his hand the whole way. my plan with a whole lot less time and only my senses as navigation was to stay close to the creek and make sure i can hear the F3 whizzing by at all times.
wasnt too hard, ended up skipping along the mossy stones and falling in love with the trees n water and birds and bees n shit.
felt nice and alone, up giant rocks and through crevices filled up with leaf matter, freaked out how much water flows through here in a surge, as plastic bags and styrofoam cups were dangling from tree branches above the creek higher than i could reach.
i was building up a serious sweat, and sat upon a rock beside the stream for a little while, before turning the last corner of the stream where the most wonderfully tucked away tunnel emerges!!
the outlet: glorious happy!
i wandered up and down the baby, it felt just as fantastically proportioned as i had remembered it (with recent findings such as that vent tunnel close to 15m tall i wondered if id had my tunnel gauge thrown off wack). the inversed parabolic shape is so appealing also, has unique sound properties.
bang crackle pop (i am the eeeeeeeagle.. emmie poo :P)
smoke carried up into the pox valley and i managed to capture the beginning of its journey, at the mouth of cowpox doing something pose like i can only resemble to ballet 9check out those feet! im a natural baby! :) here:
with natural light diminishing, i got the fuck out of there! i realized how tragic the hike could be in the dark considering i had not too favorable lighting (a 2m candle torch which would last maybe 5mins and a little led running of a dodgy little watch battery which cant be removed nor replaced). I followed a ridge up high between the creek and the F3 hiking back up to the trail just to be different and (supposedly) save time. squeezed under a barbed wire fence and then smelt cow or horse poo or something... on my scarf. YUK!! hehe ahh well.
came across the trail just in time, the sun was over the horizon and it was... well... night! princess bikehead was waiting for me patiently. i decided to take her ever so carefully back up to the clearing beside the downstream entry to magics.
once again shed have to sit there in the cold and dark alone the poor thing, coz i had more tunnels on my mind!
i hadnt visited ole magics for months! think i was suffering withdrawals or something. the cliffside big metal door entry was left swung fully open. its been unlocked for close to 4 years now :) tops!
trudged through there in new stilletos, breaking them in with quality rockblasted awesomeness. got out my colourful purdies of the non-explosive type. re-found a deep green and a deep purple which id been seriously missing for yonks!! reached my fave section before the crawl:
as my bike was parked at the downstream end, and id already done enough bush and legging for the day i decided against the multiple kilomitre round trip via the manhole, especially in those shoes:
just before i jumped back out into the wilderness
hoorah!! princess bikehead and i were mega happy riding back up the pox valley trail in the dark dark nighttime! we sung and danced our way back down the pacific highway home!
urg. gotta be up tomorrow at 5 for work. ahh well! 6 more hours to sleep :)