Heysen Trail Completion
The Heysen Trail is THE long distance walking trail in South Australia. It runs from Parachilna Gorge in the Flinders Ranges to Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula (or vice versa, depending on your frame of reference). It passes through many of the state's most beautiful scenery, including a large number of conservation parks. The trail is maintained by the Friends of the Heysen Trail.
A goal of mine is to hike the full trail. Not this month, not this year, just sometime. Estimates at the trail's length vary, depending on the inclusion of side-trips into towns and campsites and your precise measurements of all the little switchbacks on hills, but I'm going to go with 1,200km for my percentages.
Below is a log of my walks, and on the left is a bar showing my current completion.
| Date | Distance (km) | Cum. Distance | Nights | Cum. Nights | Description | Companions | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/10/2004 | 18 | 18 (1.5%) | 0 | 0 | Aroona - Parachilna day walk | Anton, Callum | Too long ago to remember much of note. |
| 15-18/4/2007 | 65 | 83 (7%) | 3 | 3 | Myponga to Kuitpo HQ | Heather, Anton, Chris | Missed a small bit SE of Mt Compass |
| 19-20/6/2007 | 13 | 96 (8%) | 1 | 4 | Kuitpo HQ to Dashwood Gully Road. | Minky, Amanda | Rain was a pain and some sections of the trail were a bit swampy. |
| 24-25/6/2007 | 20 | 116 (10%) | 1 | 5 | Dashwood Gully Road to Mylor. | Heather, Mark | Impressive infrastructure in swampy sections. |
| 1/7/2007 | 10 | 126 (11%) | 1 | 6 | Tank near Racecourse Camp to Melrose. | Sneaky, Anton, Minky, Heather, Amanda, Caitlin | Had to jog a bit in here. Made climbing Mt Remarkable far more interesting :) |
| 17-23/4/2008 | 122 | 220 (18%) | 6 | 12 | Hawker-Parachilna Road to Parachilna Gorge | Anton, Nat, Jess, Kate | Ramblers component of my BP award. Dropped water along route and food in Wilpena. Camping at Bridle Gap was the highlight. |