Day 7: Chapter Lake
This is expected to be an easier day than our skip over to Lake Artemis and back. A gentle gradient up the valley floor to Chapter Lake with a steep but short section up to Tent Tarn if we’re keen. The forecast for following days is good so we can wait until then before getting up high again. Well, once again, this day has more challenges than the statistics might suggest, but is also filled with amazing lakes and marshlands.
7 km, with a gradual 200 m climb.
Junction Lake, still windy and wet. From this point onwards, we see no one for four days!
This first section is an uncairned route north through the valley.
This bit in the photo is lovely, but I find that I get a bit anxious whenever we are offtrail in a remote area, even when our maps and gpses tell us we’re less than a hundred metres off. It’s illogical and Geoff always remains calm, but even one hundred metres can be exhausting when you are fighting through chest high scoparia with hidden deep potholes and logs. This is the only part of the day that remains Type 3 fun, but it is almost certainly because I’m still tired from the day before!
There are no pictures of the scoparia battle but bunting appears after a kilometre or two and at last we reach some lovely beech forest.
More beech oranges.
Another misty lake! It’s still raining and we stop for lunch in a slightly less wet spot under a pine at the southern end of Cloister Lagoon.
Numerous logs to clamber over. I want to take a shot of them so I ask Geoff to climb over these. He looks at me strangely and does so, then waits for me. When I get there I see that the path hooks right just before the logs! But in any case, you get the idea! There is a lot of clambering today! The track is also quite overgrown with head high scrub.
The mist is moody and really quite beautiful as it swirls over the hills.
A cosy Chapter Lake campsite with Grail falls crashing nearby. It is a push to find a spot for the Stratospire Li’s enormous footprint (bigger than our 3 person Triplex!). But we squeeze it in. Here at the very bottom of a shady, narrow valley at the head of the Lake, it is very cold.
A hot filling dinner is something we look forward to enormously.