Mt. Warning

So obviously if youve read the post below this you would know that yesterday was a quite eventful day. I already reached a level of tiredness that resulted in eviction from a bar. So the next morning, what do we do on our day off? Rest? Never. We climb a mountain. Mt. Warning is a Mountain that you can see from all over the surrounding region. The peak is well above the cloud line, and to be exact the summit is 1,100 Metres. We left the base at 9, got to the mountain at 10 and set off about 10 minutes later. The hike is a steady incline for the majority. This is the view from halfway up

and when you reach about 1 Km elevation. The last 100 meters is a literal rock climb up. They have a chain in place to make it easier, but of course we didn’t use it. From the top, the sight was amazing. Hes some photographic proof. We also took a series of photos that we fixed into a panoramic shot, but unfortunately i cant upload it to blogger. So yes, we all made it to the top, safe and sound. And ate a well anticipated lunch. According to our friend who lives here, it takes an average person 2 hours to hike it. Our fit crew did it in 1 (we took breaks a photo opportunities: pythons, gnarley trees and lookout points)

This is us at the summit.

but it was mostly passing people the whole way up. this photo is on a tree hanging over a steep decline. (and i only bother to add that because i know how much my mom loves when i do things like this)

Also according to Erika, They say it takes an average person 1.5 hour to descend. This is where our story gets interesting. As soon as we got back down the steep chain part, four of us. Colin, Jordan, jon and I decided to run it down. The run turned into a race, which turned the running into sprinting, and the stairs into leaps, and the tree trunks into hurdles. Long story short- We sprinted the entire way down. In 18 minutes! This was quite possibly the most physically exerting thing i have ever done. Which adds to why I am very proud of this result. And not to brag, but as a comparison point the Byron dts also “ran” down and they were proud of their 34 minute time. Granted they are not a sports dts, and they don’t hail the scrapes we do from sprinting so recklessly and wiping out a time or two. But in my opinion. It was more than worth it. So back to the story, the four of us get to the bottom. Extremely pleased with ourselves and elated that the treachery is over. And that we made it, for the most part, unscathed. So we to off our shoes, followed the creek of the path to a little spot with a trickling waterfall where we could just sit, chill and put our feet in the water. So we had a chat in this picturesque setting for about an hour or so as we waited for the rest of our mates to return. And when they did and lacey came and found us that when the ‘not fun’ began. We all tried to get up about the same time and all got instantaneous leg cramps. My quad cramped first forcing my leg to go straight stiff. So i punched behind my knee to bacically get it to unlock, ...and that when the hamstring cramp came. For the four of us this was basically a scene of utter disarray and agony. The moaning mixed with the laughs at the irony of the circumstances made for quite an interesting situation. We all decided we better tough it out and force our way back to the path before we could lterally not move. So we made it back, to the van safe and sound, attempted to stretch. Failed to stretch, and left for home. That was the end of that adventure but luckily enough, the beginning of another one.

*pause story*

During our dts we have come to an unstated agreement, you see a hitchhiker, you pick him up.

*Resume story*

So one the way home, driving through the mountain valley of wallahwimbie what do we see? A hitchhiker. And As Nabsi the 50 plus shaggy hippie is getting into our van we had no idea what to expect. But as we chatted with him we were way surprised and totally intrigued with all he was on about. We learned that he, like steve and Woodstock move in here 73’ but the rad thing was, it was only when he moved here did he find the Lord. He was telling us about the 20 acres of land he owns out in the mountains, and we asked him if he has a house there? He proudly said nope, but he built a shed, with no windows or doors, and he lives in that. He also told us that he shares his shack with birds and snakes, possums and wombats. so basically hes homeless, but rockin out on life. Someone asked him if he was afraid of getting bit by a snake (reminded of the python we saw earlier) and his response was 100% biblical. He brought up the time when paul was bit and the venom had no affect on him because he had gods protection. About this time, his stop was nearing so we pulled over and he got out, we prayed for him and he was off. With still a 4 mile walk into the mountains ahead of him, we wish him all the best and that was the first and last time we’ll ever see that man. All in all the day was a great success.

Ps. As i post this almost a week later, i can still feel it in my legs from running down that mountain. Verdict: way worth it.