Just woke to the Saints v Essendon scores and not happy however nothing can destroy the euphoria of yesterday. Lynda and I rated it right up there as one of the greatest days in our lives. For me personally, the rankings of greatest days start at the birth of my kids, then a few other milestones such as our ’93 Premiership at Werribee. This was definitely in the mix for both the vistas and the physical and mental challenges. Lynda has done a lot more hiking than me, having scaled glaciers in NZ and Alaska, but she was getting so high on endorphins she wouldn’t stop singing rubbish songs or quoting classic comedy!

There are 2 ways to attack The High Line. You can start at Logan’s Pass which has a big car park and fully serviced chalet. To get there you can drive all the way on a road similar to the Great Ocean Road but a bit tighter and windier, with a 1000-2000ft drop-off. The other option is to park at The Loop then catch a shuttle bus to Logan’s Pass, walk the High Line and hop back in your car. Starting at Logan’s Pass is definitely easier as it has more “downhill”. We (or should I say I) on the other hand got impatient queuing for a bus so I convinced Lynda that we needed to harden up, show some “Kokoda Spirit” and start at The Loop. Well, the first 6km of the hike was shockingly uphill to the point where I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to spew, have a lie down for an hour or both. We have been warned about bears, so they have said if you don’t take bear spray you have to make plenty of noise. After 2 hours of intermittent clapping and whistling, I didn’t have the strength to do anymore and was just hoping a bear would appear and take me. Just so long as it was quick I was happy!

We finally made it to the old chalet at the 6km mark which has some accommodation and a little shop. There is no water there to top up your bottles which I thought was strange given there were people living and working there for the summer. This was the greatest example of “supply and demand” I’ve ever seen. 600ml water selling for $6 each. I don’t know how they look themselves in the mirror.

So with 12km to go and seemingly no energy left, we ate our muffins and fruit and took off. The further we got the more obsolete the previous photos became. It was astonishing the beauty and grandeur of the place. There were wildflowers everywhere, a few deer, and lots of squirrels and marmots. The track itself isn’t overly wide but all the hikers were courteous and many stopped to have a chat. Being scared of heights the most perilous parts of the track were contained in the last 5km so I’m glad we did start in the opposite direction or I might have “chickened out”. I’m quite proud of finishing given it took every bit of self-control not to look down at times and focus on one foot at a time whilst taking deep breaths and my toes digging in to the soles of my shoes! Lynda on the other hand is dancing gleefully ahead of me with no fear.

We were literally dragging our feet by the end then got on a shuttle bus to take us down to The Loop. All up the hike took about 8 hours and we have committed so much of it to memory. Below are some photos from the day. Today we are heading out to the east perimeter of the park to Iceberg Lake which is ranked number 4. Hopefully the hills will be kinder because we were in a world of pain last night.