Day 2: Deadhorse Gap to Cascade Hut via Cascade Trail

Today marked the official farewell from my daughter and Tim. We all found that quite hard!

The day before, we tested our gear on Mount Kosciuszko, covering 20km. Afterward, we made a few adjustments to our setup. We decided to leave behind the food we’d planned to cook for lunch—it turned out that cooking took too much time, and with water being scarce, cleaning our pots and pans was a challenge. Additionally, we realised we couldn’t carry enough fuel to justify firing up the Trangia stove three times a day.

The Cascade trail proved to be quite steep. Although the distance was only 10.5 km, it took us until the afternoon to finish, as we were tackling elevations of 1500m. We took regular breaks to manage the weight of our 20kg packs, each containing a 3-liter water bladder. My feet started to feel the strain, particularly the ball of my foot due to my high arches, and the rocky terrain meant I had to adjust my gait to keep going.

We finally reached Cascade Hut around 4pm and were eager to find water. We were relieved to discover a creek nearby. While Cy explored the area, I took the opportunity to clean up a bit, as the dust from the hike had accumulated. Along the way, we had spotted plenty of brumby tracks, a reminder that we weren’t the only ones out here.

The Cascade Hut offered shelter, but it was incredibly cold, and the thought of mice possibly scurrying over me wasn't exactly comforting.

For dinner, we made dehydrated pasta and called it an early night. I kept waking Cy during the night, asking, "Did you hear that?" or "What was that sound?" as I tried to adjust to the unfamiliar bush noises and the distant howls of dingoes. It was unsettling at first, stepping out of my comfort zone in the wild.