Kick-Start the Training Again

Today we started our first training for this year, and where else close to Adelaide but the Waterfall Gully hike to Mt Lofty Summit?

We're excited about our plans to hike the Overland Track, amongst other overnight hikes in Tasmania, in December. So today for some training we hiked from the carpark at Waterfall Gully to the cafe on Mt Lofty summit, where we discussed the other hikes we wanted to do whilst we'll be in Tasmania. We'll be there for 3 weeks across Christmas, so we have decided to start off with a 2 day Walls of Jerusalem hike, followed by 6-7 days on the Overland Track, perhaps 2 days on the nearby Frenchmnas Cap walk, then travel to Hobart for some coastal walks - 2 days on the Cape Pillar track and finishing off with 2 days on the Freycinet Peninsula Circuit.

A popular training hike, Waterfall Gully to Mt Lofty Summit it short but tough. As you can see from the stats below, it's a lot quicker coming back down. We'll use these stats as a benchmark, as we plan to do regular hikes each fortnight on this trail and other challenging hills, perhaps in Morialta and Ambers Gully.

Tim and Kate also tested out their new hiking boots. Both passed, a little bit of lamb's wool around one toe and all good. I took one of my new trekking poles to try out (taking just one, does that make it a walking pole instead?), but didn't need it - I only need one when I injure a knee, which has been often in recent months, but not today. I use two trekking poles when hiking with a full 20kg-ish backpack so I was glad to purchase my new trekking poles which are very cool, lightweight, and a lot better than the two really cheap, heavy, ugly - and quite rattlie - ones I already had.

I have done some hiking over the past few months, however I have been lazy and not uploaded each to my blog. Here is a list of them, dating back from December to now, although the stories with them are a bit slap-dash given they are not quite so fresh in my mind now:

• Belair National Park, 9 February, 2008
  
• Lavender Federation Trail, 20 January, 2008
  
• Lavender Federation Trail, 13 January, 2008
  
• Old Beechy Rail Trail, 27-28 December, 2007
  
• Deep Creek Conservation, 22-24 December, 2007
  
• Heysen Trail: Pewsey Vale to Kapunda, 1-2 December, 2007
  
• Morialta, November, 2007
  

Stats:

Uphill: Waterfall Gully to Mt Lofty Summit Distance: 3.88km Moving duration: 55m Stationary duration: 25m Moving average: 4.2km/h Overall average: 2.9km/h

Downhill: Mt Lofty Summit to Waterfally Gully Distance: 3.88km Moving duration: 43m Stationary duration: 3m Moving average: 5.3km/h Overall average: 5.0km/h