WOJ - Chicks who Pee Standing up, Snow & Swim on same day

[Son of a Beach]

I've just spent 3 great days in the Wall of Jerusalem. I've been there more times that I can count, but it's never let me down.

I went with 4 ladies this time. During planning, one of them mentioned the Whiz Biz and they had a look and all decided to get one for the trip. (BTW, this Whiz Biz advert is worth watching). They all practised a bit before the walk, but only two of them ended up using it while out bush, with the others preferring the familiar of the toilets at Dixons Kingdom.

I have to say that it is funny watching a woman peeing off the edge of Mt Jerusalem standing up. It's also rather odd popping behind a bush with your wife while you both stand side by side to pee.

But enough of the toilet humour... on to the trip.

We walked in via George Howes Lake and the Golden Gate to Dixons Kingdom last Friday. It had been raining all the previous night, and there was a lot of cloud and mist around which looked beautiful, even though it obscured the peaks. We got a few light showers towards the end of the walk, but it stopped again by the time we got to pitch our tents in the pine forest. For dinner, we had a fantastic fried rice, made fresh (the girls carried all those fresh vegies in, and I wasn't complaining!).

After getting up at about 7:30am (which is a big sleep in for me), it started snowing. It was just the tiniest flakes, and only the occasional small flurry, but it was definitely snow drifting and not rain falling, and when it landed on me, I could see that it was flakes of ice. But it didn't last long, and the weather cleared up completely.

So in a nearly cloudless morning, we walked up Mt Jerusalem. It was one of only a small number of times where I've got to the top of a mountain and the weather has been so perfect that I just wanted to stay there all day. We ended up sitting around on the summit admiring the views for what must have been nearly an hour, and nobody felt the need to put on the jacket's they'd carried all the way up. The wind died completely on the way up, so it was perfectly still and sunny.

Mt Jerusalem is one of those mountains that is excellent value. As in, it's a very easy walk (about an hour from Dixons Kingdom, nothing steep), and the views are panoramic, with the nearby WOJ mountains, and all the ranges along the Overland Track on one side, and thousands of lakes on the other side.

We eventually tore ourselves away from the view, only because we wanted to get back to our lunch at camp. After lunch, most of the girls stayed at camp just relaxing, or reading, or just enjoying being there. However, Amanda and I headed off to Lake Ball for a swim. Apparently Amanda always likes a swim in a freezing cold mountain lake, and I occasionally have a go.

Lake Ball is only about 30-45 minutes from Dixons Kingdom, so I walked barefoot all the way there and back - hey, that's what you do if you're just going for a swim. The wind had gotten up a bit again by then, but it was still mostly sunny. The water at Lake Ball ended up being nowhere near as cold as I expected (still very chilly, but not as much as other lake and tarns I've been in). There is a very large shallow area where the sun beats down on the mud, and warms the water up considerably. So I was actually able to stay in the water for more than just the usual couple of minutes.

Mind you, we had to wade out for ages until the water was deep enough for swimming. But it was beautifully clear. We swam out to where the shallow water dropped off suddenly to deep water, and it was like standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down into black nothingness.

Amanda managed to stay in the water for must have been at least 15 minutes. I've no idea how she could last that long. It was still pretty cold.

When I first put my T shirt back on afterwards, it tingled everywhere it touched my skin. Amanda said that she couldn't fee her skin at all.

For dinner that night we had an amazing pasta, pesto, salami and vegetable meal. Sooooo good. I want more even now!

Then yesterday morning, we packed up our tents in light drizzle again. But by the time were were ready to go, the rain had eased and it was fining up.

On the way out, I told the girls to go on to Wild Dog Creek tent platforms, and that I would meet them there after walking up Halls Buttress (now Solomons Throne) and across to King Davids Peak. I was hoping to get there not long after them, and I could see them walking alongside Lake
Salome as I was between the two peaks, however, going up King Davids peak got a little rougher, and then coming down the other side, I've no idea where the correct route is. I found my own way down to Wild Dog Creek, but it was very rough scree for the first quarter of the way down, and then scrub for the rest of the way. Not terribly thick, but quite steep and fairly slow going. I ended up meeting up with the rest of the group about half an hour after they got there.

None of them had seen the large tiger snake just next to the track a few metres back.

We then continued out via Solomons Jewels.

I'll post some photos soon.

[Son of a Beach]

Here's a few photos from the trip.

The flowers on the tea trees were fantastic in some spots

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There were a variety of beautiful wild flowers

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Cushion Plants competing with Coral Ferns. I'm not sure which is winning

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Fried Rice for Dinner

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One of Several Tarns on the way up Mt Jerusalem

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The Gang on Mt Jerusalem

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Tiger Snake at Wild Dog Creek Camp Site

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Solomons Jewels with yellow flowers amongst the lily pads

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[Nuts]

Nice report Nik, fine weather and snow! Woks are the go! Lake Ball lived up to its name lol, that Whiz Biz is just Wrong...

[Liamy77]

theres also a funnel like product called "She-Wee"
their web blurb is HERE you'd want a firm grip in the cold though?!

[Son of a Beach]

Here's a quick stitch up job panorama from Mt Jerusalem. Can you name all the peaks visible in this ~180° snippet of the view from there?

Here's the ones I could pick:

Mt Olympus, Mt Byron, Mt Gould, The Acropolis, Mt Geryon (just poking out behind the rest of the...) Ducane Range, Paddys Nut, Mt Ossa, Halls Buttress (Solomons Throne), Mt Pelion West (just poking out behind the West Wall), King Davids Peak, Barn Bluff, Bensons Peak, Cradle Mtn, Little Horn, The Temple, Clumner Bluff.

I'm sure there's more... is that Mt Moria, down near Lake Ball - I can't be bothered checking the map right now.

Mt Jerusalem sure is a great value-for-effort mountain!

I could see even more from King Davids peak the next day, but it was rather cold and windy up top that day, and I was under pressure to meet up with the rest of my group as soon as possible to didn't hang around to take as many photos from there.

Mt Jerusalem Panorama

(click to see larger version)

[Son of a Beach]

Another stitch up job of Lake Salome from King Davids Peak.

Lake Salome from King Davids Peak.

(Click to see larger version)

[Phil]

Thanks for the report and pics Nik, great shot of the snake!! Look like you got similar views to me when I was on Mt Jerusalem 15 months ago, as you said, an extraordinary view for the 'little' effort to summit!!

[SueOfTheSouth]

Thanks for the great report and photos Nik, we are planning a trip to the WOJ next week so it sounds like Mt Jerusalem may be on our agenda.

[Son of a Beach]

I should add that I was VERY impressed with the track work up Halls Buttress (AKA Solomons Throne). Constructing steps out of large rocks in a steep scree slope must be a very difficult job, but it makes walking up there VERY easy, and makes much less impact on the look of the mountain than any other track work would. In fact the track is pretty much invisible from the bottom, but very clear and easy to walk on when actually climbing it. Fantastic work to PWS for that job!

[eggs]

Well... since you asked:

my additions in {} and corrections in []
Mt Olympus, Mt Byron, {Goulds Sugerloaf - Cuvier - Manfred}, Mt Gould, {Guardians with Rogoona in front and Moriah in front of that}, The Acropolis, Mt Geryon (just poking out behind the rest of the...[actually just over Castle Crag]) Ducaine Range, {Cathedral Mt}, [not Paddys Nut - that is the south ridge of Ossa], Mt Ossa, Halls Buttress (Solomons Throne), {Temple is in front of Solomons Throne}, Mt Pelion West (just poking out behind the West Wall), King Davids Peak, Barn Bluff, {Mt Ophel in front}, Bensons Peak{merged with Mt Emmett}, Cradle Mtn, Little Horn, {Mt Campbell}, [not the Temple- you may be looking at Zion Hill], Clumner Bluff, {Western Bluff}.

Really lovely spot
Brian

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

Howells Bluff and Deception Pt also visible.

[Son of a Beach]

Well... since you asked:

my additions in {} and corrections in []
Mt Olympus, Mt Byron, {Goulds Sugerloaf - Cuvier - Manfred}, Mt Gould, {Guardians with Rogoona in front and Moriah in front of that}, The Acropolis, Mt Geryon (just poking out behind the rest of the...[actually just over Castle Crag]) Ducaine Range, {Cathedral Mt}, [not Paddys Nut - that is the south ridge of Ossa], Mt Ossa, Halls Buttress (Solomons Throne), {Temple is in front of Solomons Throne}, Mt Pelion West (just poking out behind the West Wall), King Davids Peak, Barn Bluff, {Mt Ophel in front}, Bensons Peak{merged with Mt Emmett}, Cradle Mtn, Little Horn, {Mt Campbell}, [not the Temple- you may be looking at Zion Hill], Clumner Bluff, {Western Bluff}.

Really lovely spot
Brian

Good stuff eggs! I'm not great with all the peaks, and I was really stoked that I recognised so many while looking from the one place when I was there. But I knew other people here must know them better than I do. You put us Taswegians to shame. It sure is an amazing view from there.

[Nuts]

Were the images taken from your phone Nik?

[Son of a Beach]

Were the images taken from your phone Nik?

No, not this time - I actually had batteries on hand for the real camera this time, and could be bothered carrying it. Just as well, as it was a great weekend. The camera is an old second hand Fuji thingy, that looks like an SLR but isn't really - it's just a point-and-shoot. It's very irritating, as the "view finder" is really just another LCD screen that's even worse than the main LCD screen on the back, it takes the picture about half a second after you press the button, and it resets the date every time the battery runs flat. Oh yes, it also resets to 1 mega-pixel every time the battery runs flat (and I have to change it back to its maximum of 6 mp).

It's a pretty ordinary camera, but still a lot better than the phone. I did carry the iPhone for the sake of easy access to maps, but that's about all I used it for on this trip.

[Nuts]

I was thinking they were pretty good for an iphone.... you wouldnt need the GPS/maps up there by now lol

[Son of a Beach]

you wouldnt need the GPS/maps up there by now lol

That's true. I was trying to plan the best route between Zion Vale and Daisy Lakes from the top of Mt Jerusalem (for a future through-walk one of these days). The view from there, and the easy access to maps on the iPhone made route planning really easy. Especially with the new version of Bit Map (still in beta) which allowed me to add waypoints and drag them about on the map on the screen.

[HitchHiking]

Yeah that is a beautiful snake. Nice to see!

[shazcol]

Nik - many other people around while there?

[Son of a Beach]

It was rather more crowded than I would have liked. We camped near the Dixons Kingdom hut. There were at least five other groups there ranging from 2 to 8 people each. There were also at least two other groups in the forest further away. Judging by the amount of other traffic, I'd guess that Wild Dog Creek would have been quite crowded too.

I didn't realise at the time that it was a long weekend in Hobart.

It was quite a shock to me. I'd expected it to be crowded, but had never actually seen it like that before. All my recent trips up there have been in the off season, or have avoided the populated areas.

[Genesis]

Love the title of you walk log!! Classic.. Got my attention...

[tasadam]

Nice report Nik.
That snake looks pretty angry with its head / neck flattened like that.Threat display number 1.
A lot of people seemed to have forgotten about the long weekend for Regatta Day in Hobart.

[Taurë-rana]

During planning, one of them mentioned the Whiz Biz and they had a look and all decided to get one for the trip. (BTW, this Whiz Biz advert is worth watching).

Sold! They should give you a commission.

[abowen]

Hi Nik,
Missed you by about 40 minutes or so. Met your lovely wife and the ladies at the top of the descent into Wild Dog Creek. I think your wife muttered something about you wanting to get away from the ladies and do a macho walk across the top.
I was one of the mad &*##%** who came from Hobart for the southern long weekend. You would have passed my tent at Solomons Jewels. That's as far as we got on Saturday evening. We drove up very late and walked under headlamps up to about 9.00pm before it started spitting rain. Then we looked for the nearest clear spot and pitched the tent. Didn't realise until morning how close we were to the Jewels.
We to were very surprised about the numbers of walkers in there and it would have been difficult to find a clear spot in Wild Dog Creek had we pressed on.
We had nice weather in the end. Sunday was clear and reasonably warm and Monday was bordering on hot later in the afternoon. My car registered 29 degrees at the car park as we left.
Also caught sight of a few tigers. Didn't see the one at Wild Dog. Saw a nice big one near the car park and another more lively smaller tiger on Halls Buttress. Liked the track so much that it did a 180 degree turn and came back out on the track after we thought it had disappeared. I was watching my steps after that!
We also managed a couple of swims. Found one of the Jewels to my liking. One is very deep and perfect for a cold brisque swim. The others are too shallow and weedy.
Next time I go in, I plan to camp at Wild Dog and head straight up onto King Davids Throne from there and then along the West Wall. Would rather do the scrub bashing and rock hopping early in the day and have a cruisey walk back along the boardwalks. I am assuming that there is some sort of pad along the Wall. As you say the trackwork is excellent in the valley below and on the climb through the gap at Solomons Throne.
Cheers
Andrew

[Son of a Beach]

Sorry to have missed you by so little, Andrew.

It was not so much getting away from the ladies that was the issue, but rather that I'd been wanting to climb those two peaks and walk that little traverse for years, but never managed to fit it in before. I actually asked if the ladies wanted to join me, but they declined... and it was good to have a stretch of walking at my own pace.

Yes, there is a fairly clear pad much of the way along the top of the wall. It is quite difficult to find anything worth following at the King Davids Peak end, apart from an occasional small carin, and it is rougher rock hoping at that end also. But once off that peak and onto the main stretch of the wall, it is quite easy to follow most of the way.

[frank_in_oz]

Just found this one Nik,
Looks like a great trip, weird but fun.

[corvus]

This may be of interest
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Prom ... 40122.html
corvus