TRAIL RUNNING before heading back via the faster , more touristfriendly route . As we passed Barry , Kerry and Gerald , some fast-moving hikers the guys had met the day before , they mentioned something about the river being in flood , and that we should take an alternative route going back . Apparently , the experienced Gerald ’ s life had literally been hanging on a thread as his feet were washed from underneath him whilst trying to cross the river , leaving him clinging onto the safety cable with only his fingertips . Luckily , he made it through . we reached the furthest point from camp , when the “ should we head back or push ahead ?” questions started to surface , that all of a sudden the footpaths were overgrown , if even visible , with spear grass everywhere . I haven ’ t been that close to crying in ages , as the bruises of the previous days ’ shortcut were still fresh on my legs , and I was in for a second dose of torture .
Soon , we reached a point where we decided to just head directly to where we wanted to be and ignore the winding contour route altogether . Down a steep embankment and up the other side , then another one , and another . At this stage , even Johardt started to have this subtle little laugh . It was a typical dog show of a day ! Finally , around the next little bend , we reached some sort of civilisation . A group of four hikers was sitting joyfully in a riverbed below us , having some brunch . ( In retrospect , the thought of how far they still had to go has crossed my mind a lot . It must ’ ve been one very long , difficult day !)
Just as we left the brunch party , it started to rain . We were moving inside , over , left and right of the river we were in , just trying to reach the T-junction with the river containing Marble Baths . It felt like ages , and we were soaked , collecting the rain from above and scraping the water from the abundant tree branches . There was simply no way our rain jackets could keep this amount of water out .
Flooding Challenge
When we eventually reached our halfway destination , three hours in , we shared two small nougat bars
We were tired and soaked , and just wanted to get back to a hot shower at the campsite . We ’ d crossed a lot of rivers already that day and were confident that we could do it again , and besides , we crossed this particular river the day before at the exact same spot , without even getting our pants wet . So , being stubborn , we ignored the hikers ’ advice and pressed on . Only once we reached the river crossing did we realise how much , and how quickly , things had changed . The water was thumping down , and it almost turned into a disaster .
Being close to four hours into our run , Johardt attempted a routine crossing while I was capturing the moment on camera . After a few scary seconds , though , he was in the middle of the river but not going anywhere . He couldn ’ t match the pure strength of all that water battering down , so I switched off the camera and stepped in a bit closer for assistance . He made it back , but we were stuck , so we assessed
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