4. Sheffield to Mersey river - 29km

 19 Jan 2025

A long 29km with a heavy pack of food. Set off just after 7am. First 12km mostly sealed or gravel roads with views of Mt roland. 10:20am Stopped at a picnic area by a stream 11.5kms in, had a snack. Nice cloud cover this morning (back of my hands copped it yesterday). 

The next 16km was all on forestry roads along the bottom of gog range. Lots of ups and downs, some sections of nice native bushland but mostly pine plantations. Late lunch at 1:30 at the gog rd intersection. 

Camped at the Mersey river campsite which is beautiful, arrived just before 5 and quickly had a dip before I lost my nerve. Dinner is a Ben's rice packet with tvp, dehydrated vegetables and taco seasoning. 

3 echidna, 1 tiger snake 

One plus side to the long summer days and daylight savings time is I don't have to leave super early to get a good number of daylight walking hours. Leaving at 7 still gives me 11/12 daylight hours - a big change from my last long hike where there were less than 12hrs of daylight a day and the sun was setting at 4:45pm.

Some of the locals were short in stature.

Heading towards Paradise with Mt Roland looming.

Minnow River rest area.

Forestry roads below Gog Range.

My bath for the night - the Mersey River.

Camp.


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