Great South West Walk - Day 004 - Moleside Camp to Pattersons Camp

Day: 004

Date: Friday, 09 November 2018

Start: Moleside Camp

Finish: Pattersons Camp

Daily Kilometres: 31.8

Total GSWW Kilometres: 108.3

Weather: Mostly cloudy with occasional showers

Accommodation: Tent

Nutrition:

    Breakfast: Muesli

    Lunch: Trail Mix

    Dinner: Rehydrated Thai Chicken Curry

Aches: Very sore feet

Highlight: Feeling healthier today, and apart from tired feet, enjoyed the walking and scenery..

Lowlight: None really

Pictures: Click here

Map:  Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Apart from one very unfit looking student who sneaked up to the “Walkers Camp” to have a smoke away from prying eyes, the student campers were not a problem and I slept relatively well. I woke at 6am and was hiking by 7am, which was just as well, because it started to rain shortly afterwards.

The pleasant and well-maintained trail generally followed the bluffs that bordered the Glenelg River all day. Usually, the river was out of sight, the trail frequently gave glimpses and occasionally passed by overlooks. In places, the river was bordered by impressive limestone cliffs, while elsewhere it looked a little marshy.

The river mouth is not far away (in fact, I thought I could hear surf breaking at times during the night) and the river is calm and probably tidal. There have been a number of boat ramps and camping grounds along the river, but apart from a few parked cars, very few people. It probably gets a lot more popular in the warmer wewther. The rain continued on and off all day and was annoying in that I didn’t want to keep stopping to put on my rainjacket, but if I left it too long in the hope the rain would abate, I ended up wet and cold. In between, it was too warm to hike wearing the jacket.

Wildlife was limited to some wallabies and kangaroos and the usual birdlife, and I did see another school group paddling eastwards on the river, but apart from that, saw no people until I reached the Pattersons Camp, my destination for the day. There were a young couple there, walking the same route as me and we had a pleasant chat over dinner. Shorter day tomorrow and a motel bed tomorrow night.