Long day! Am at the Demon Hut on the Demon trail and it might as well be the Plaza for all I care. I am relieved to be here, as we could not safely cross to McKerrow Hut (it’s on a virtual island and if it floods it’s cut off). So we had to walk another 1.5 hours up the track to Demon Hut (but it turned into 2 hours as it was slow going). Steep spurs and slippery rocks with lots of boulders. I fell over a couple of times (maybe from getting stuck in the mud). Oh the mud on the walk just before the demon trail was awful. It just sapped the energy out of me. It was purely adrenaline that got me along the trail to the hut.

Enjoyed a hot cup of tea at the hut and quickly forgot how awful it was. Oh the mud! Never have I seen the likes, most of the damn way too. It really slowed me down. From Alabaster to McKerrow was rough, very rough. At the start, it’s clambering over wet boulders that are damn slippery. I kept thinking ‘don’t slip, don’t twist ankle’. Not being able to walk was my biggest fear – being stranded somewhere with a badly sprained or rolled ankle would have really sucked. So I was pretty cautious. Probably too much. I discovered that I really need a stick as well, as I am just that little bit too short to confidently step down off large rocks (bit more jolting for me!).

We left Hidden Falls (first part of the track) at 8am. Got to Pyke Lodge and booked the jet boat to come back from McKerrow. We then went onto Lake Alabaster and had lunch at the hut. The lake is just beautiful, and the light was a photographer’s dream. It’s just stunning, and I can see why people do day trips in. If you are ever in the area, I’d highly recommend just walking to Alabaster and staying there a couple of nights if you are into photography stunning moody lakes with multiple reflections!

Lake Alabaster Photo Slide Show

So, today really ‘tested the mettle’ of Michelle Sullivan. I’m quite fit, there’s no doubting that now – I would never have made it a year ago! But I am not yet a confident tramper – at least not confident on slippery boulders and roots and rocks, on steep narrow tracks, as it gets later and later in the day, and the light is getting dimmer and dimmer – and it all seems to scream ‘you are alone, in the wilderness, and no one is here to help you!’. Except of course, if the worst happened, we have a personal locater beacon, and a jet boat could be dispatched pretty quickly (well at least that’s what I kept thinking!).

Well, I really hope I don’t have to walk out, but if I do, I’ll try to be better at it!