Fraser Darcy

Rusted on blog readers will be aware of the Self-Supported-Southern-Flinders-Fastpacking-Frenzy (SSSFFF) from around this time last year (a month earlier than this time last year to be exact). If you don’t have fraserdarcy.com running through your veins, short story is Chad and I went on a big walk from the northern end of the Heysen trail aiming for Crystal Brook. We made it to Quorn before my foot started hurting and I wimped out even earlier and walked the last section in on the road.

As such, I had not walked the Heysen trail from between Buckaringa Gorge and Dutchman’s Hut (I’ve ran Dutchman’s Hut to Quorn many times). It had been a gap I was looking to fill since even before September last year technically because I started planning the SSSFFF earlier in 2022.

I hadn’t prioritised the time to fill in the gap mainly because I was highly focused on running over the past year and less mainly because the weather wasn’t quite right or I wasn’t in the mood basically.

After 13 months of putting it off though it was starting to really get to me that I hadn’t closed the gap. Summer (and the end of bushwalking weather) was approaching and there was space in this second week of holidays for me to finally close the gap. My body had been warmed up by the bushwalking along the Wild South Coast Way during the first week of holidays and I was in search of some good low volume training to kickstart my next training block. I’d been thinking and scheming over the past month what route would be best, how would I shuttle myself to the start, was it better to do it as one day or an overnighter to the point of infinitum. On Wednesday around midday this week I decided to just pack a bag with overnight supplies and start. I’d figure out the rest provided I brought enough clothes, food and gear.

The route I settled on was the OG-lite version. Instead of starting at Buckaringa North campsite I planned to start at the section of the trail where it heads into the Argadells property. Last year I walked along the road for this part and the trail pretty much follows the road just about 400m closer to the cliff so it’s really not much difference. To get to my starting point I parked my car at Dutchman’s and rode my bike the slight downhill all the way north. Unfortunately it was also a hot northerly on Wednesday so this was a torrid 1.5hr start to my little adventure. I contemplated turning back but like in any good adventure story I found the stubborness within myself to just keep going and see where that got me.

It got me to Buckaringa Gorge. Very thirsty and much more tired than I would’ve liked. Oh well, I’m here now ready to start walking and it’s only 3:30pm. I’ve got 4 hrs of sunlight left, plenty of time to walk the approximate 13km’s to the Mt.Arden South Campsite. Put some more sunscreen on first though, be sun smart…except the sunscreen I packed wasn’t in my bag anymore. Great. No option but to just get walking.

The start of this section of trail wasn’t too bad, it was mostly following a 4WD track and I was trying to relax into it but it was pretty hot and windy (33 degrees and about 20-30knots) so wasn’t ideal walking weather. Yeah, sometimes the weather lines up nicely with planned time for things and sometimes it doesn’t. This didn’t. The trail started to follow a creek bed and things got more interesting. These creek beds would’ve excited me a bit more 2-3 years ago but now having lived in Quorn for 2 years I’ve come to be quite familiar with this style of topography.

At the end of the creek the trail reconnected with some 4WD tracks. It was getting past 5pm and I had started heading south along the trail so the wind was actually advantageous to me now. I found a rhythm as well as I punched along the 4WD track looking out over the rest of the Southern Flinders Ranges. It was easy to walk fast along the top here because I was also in desperate need of water. As a major waypoint on my travels, Mt.Arden is one of the tallest peaks in the Southern Flinders, stands out very easily due to it’s massive telecommunications towers and has a water tank on top. I reached it just before 6pm and smashed a good 1.5L of water. All downhill from here.

And it was. A nice little 30 minute sortie into my intended campsite and I was starting to feel a bit better about my adventure. The heat and wind had put me on the back foot but now I was in the golden hour, had finished the walking for today and there wasn’t much wind around I was a bit more upbeat. I considered punching out the next 12km’s after a bit of dinner but by the time I had sat and eaten I actually got more value out of reflecting on my day than I would’ve by just getting the next bit done.

The reflection at dusk or night time while bushwalking can sometimes be the best part. I alluded to it in last week’s post about the Wild South Coast Way and I’ll say it again here; having the time to sit and think about things without distractions from anyone else is very possible and easy after a long day of bushwalking. And highly worth it. So I’m glad I did that instead of just rushing the next 12km’s.

That’s where the ‘high’ ended for a while. The heat of the day made sleeping difficult and the wind picked up a bit from the north again. I did my best at trying to get to sleep but felt like I wasn’t making progress. The wind would die down and then come up again in a big gust every few minutes and without a tent, I felt it hit my sleeping bag and disrupt me. (I went lightweight without a tent knowing there was no rain or dew forecast). As the temperature dropped, the wind shifted from the south AND INCREASED! I turned my body around so the protection I was offered from the water tank was a bit better but it was still a terrible night’s sleep. The consoling thought I used to get me through as much as sleep as possible was that this was training for if I ever went big wall climbing or mountaineering. Videos of people sleeping on those trips looks pretty rough and here I was, on ground floor, having a ‘similar’ experience.

Despite mentally staying sane enough the whole night I decided to just get up at 5am to get on with the walk. Stuff waiting any more. I made a coffee and breakfast, tried not to have anything blow away in the wind (very difficult) and got moving. On the original SSSFFF I went real lightweight and didn’t pack a stove which was doable but life is much more enjoyable (which is why I do these things, to enjoy them) with one and I had the room this time. Without the stove this time the enjoyment factor would’ve been very low at this time. By 5:30am I was walking/stumbling through a creek bed again not really following any defined trail but just poking my head torch up and keeping an eye out for any reflective trail markers.

I’m not very big on walking through the night, mainly because you don’t get to see what you came there to look at but also because it feels kind of sketchy when you’re not on a defined track. But, it was a worser evil than trying to sleep in till the sun rose. Plus, because I had lost my sunscreen somewhere the more time I spent walking before the sun became intense the better.

I carried on for a couple of hours along the creek bed and for a little bit a 4WD track. I wasn’t doing much thinking about life or enjoying the walk. I was more in a mood of ‘just get this done’ because of the shit sleep. It was a nice area to walk in though, almost felt gorge-y at times, a few waterfalls along the way and some big trees so on reflection I award it the most scenic walking of the adventure. By 7:30am I had made it to Eyre Depot, the culminating point of this creek and the area where early settlers visited to ‘depot’ their gear before making further expeditions up north. It was an impressive area where in flood, there’d be a lot of water around.

I kept cruising though, and the cruising got easier. I had joined a 4WD track that took me to the Eyre Depot campsite and the site of a well-deserved break just after 8am. Water, check phone reception (which there was) and a few pictures and then I was off again. The walking got easier, just following a fence line, but the wind had returned. I whacked in some headphones and started listening to Alex Hutchinson’s book Endure which seemed fitting and is now free on my Spotify account. There was nothing sexy about the next almost 2 hours of walking, just following fence lines and more 4WD tracks until I was deposited in one final creek bed. This creek bed would take me to the Dutchman’s Stern fire track that I’ve regularly run on since moving out here 2 years ago. Every one of those runs on the Dutchman’s fire track I’ve looked at the Heysen marker leading into the creek bed and wondered what that section would be like. Finally I was finding out.

I could’ve bypassed this final section and continued following a nice fire track but again, the stubbornness in me told me it was better to stick to the Heysen trail and finish it properly. I knew deep down the chances I recreate this journey are very slim so this would be my only opportunity to investigate the creek bed (whereas I may check out the fire track anytime by following the fire track from Dutchman’s). Fearing this creek bed would be as undefined as the section between Mt.Arden and Eyre Depot I was instead pleasantly surprised that for most of it there was a faint footpath to follow making it relatively straightforward. I was able to maintain a pace pretty close to my average pace of about 5-6km/hr and the wind wasn’t roaring into my face. Life was getting better again.

About forty five minutes later, I popped out onto the fire track. Thank fuck! I celebrated with an Up’n’Go I had been carrying for about five minutes and then just kept going. That’s how it is when you go bushwalking by yourself. No big happy dance or people congratulating you like in a running race or when other people are walking with you. There’s just more walking to do. So that’s what I did to finish off the final 3.2km’s along the fire track. I eventually finished around 11:15am, took a few pics and then jumped straight in the car to get away from the wind. Done. Now to get my bike, have a shower, eat some food and then get on with the rest of my life now that I’ve finally closed the gap in the SSSFFF. The universe’s way of rewarding me for finishing my overnight adventure was that as I rolled the Triton out of the carpark the first thing I see is my little tube of sunscreen. Not even more than 50m away from my car. Great that I have it now but jeez that’s embarrassing to lose it so early.

Driving back to get my bike I was able to relax a bit. I was out of the wind and didn’t have to really do anything for the rest of the day. Energy wise my body was pretty good and I didn’t have any sore aches or niggles (unlike last time) so besides my sleepy-tiredness from my terrible night, I was actually pretty happy with how my body felt. I guess it’s either a good sign of my fuelling, fitness or pacing strategy along the little adventure. I felt as if I could go for a run but was also tired, moody and it was still blowing a gale outside so what was the fucking point.

Now that it’s done and I’ve finally got it off my chest, with two seperate fast packing adventures under my belt am I fan of that movement of travel?

Not sold on at this stage. Would rather go for a run (move faster) or a proper bush walk with others (move slower). That being said, if I only had 3 days to do a 5 day walk in an overseas or far away place then perhaps I could see the reason to enjoy fast packing more.

Compared to bushwalking what do I enjoy more?

Bushwalking. I think it’s nice to have a reason to slow down and enjoy the scenery a bit more. I did that at night time even with my fast packing set-up but not in the morning because I didn’t have a tent and lots of warm clothes to keep me comfortable for long in the morning. It was out of my sleeping bag and into the clutches of the cold immediately and the ‘get on with it’ life. Bushwalking also, just a theory, could have more of a training effect than fast packing for running. The extra weight and therefore strength your legs gain from bushwalking with a heavy pack is better than just walking a little bit faster (and not really changing your perceived rate of exertion or heart rate) when you’re fast packing. Bushwalking also allows you to bring along more fun foods, books, nice things to have etc. Which all lead to greater enjoyment.

Expanding that training theory comment though one thing fast packing does bring to the table is the fact that you’re in a rush for a long time (like in an ultra). No one is chasing you and you don’t really have to rush but it’s nice to go as quickly as comfortably possible. I found it easier to break the walks into little section like any muppet would tell you for how to pace yourself in a running race. The more practice I get at doing activities that last longer than 4 hours (like the second day of walking) the better I’ll get at running for longer than 4 hrs (which I’m still far from mastering). So that’s one big benefit of this fast packing experience I guess, I feel like I’m better equipped to just keep going.

Would I ever fast pack in place of doing something else (like running)?

Nah. Running races are more enjoyable and have more connection with people. Fast packing in the Flinders by yourself or with one other person is great but if it wasn’t for this blog post or my subsequent Insta post no-one would’ve known about it and therefore no-one would’ve gone ‘oh jeez, that sounds cool/interesting/different, I wonder if I could do that’ and becomes a fast packer. Yes, I may have brought it up in conversation with people and motivated them to fast pack and also I will receive the benefits of having completed an adventure like this (sense of accomplishment, sense of knowing my backyard, confidence in my ability etc, confidence in my ability to outlast the weather) but that is a minuscule affect on the community compared to entering a running race.

In a running race it is scientifically proven you are supported by other randoms to push yourself faster leading to you getting closer to reaching your potential (which should be one of everyone’s goal in life). That support and encouragement isn’t present in fast packing or in most outdoor sports for that matter, especially if you’re alone. If it’s not clear already one of my biggest motivators to doing things is to motivate other people to do cool stuff as well (hence why I talk about it on this blog) and from these points I think it’s clear that running races are better at that than fast packing trips. Hence I would run a race over a fast packing trip (at this stage of my life, things can always change).

The devils advocate to this theory is two-fold though. One, running races can cost a lot of money to enter and can be prohibitive to some people actually getting to experience the area (especially when the value of the entry fee does not correlate with the value the runner receives in return). Two, my enjoyment of running races does stem from consistent training and being successful in competition amongst others. I don’t train for fast packing specifically and there is no competition so those two main drivers are absent (hence my enjoyment is absent?). If I trained more for fast packing and tried to improve on the standard of any Fastest Known Times might I then be more interested? Yes probably, but there is not enough hours in the week to train for that and running so perhaps I’ll leave those inclinations till when I’m retired from raging with the running.

Overall summary please, you’ve waffled on quite a bit and I’ve lost the point somewhat?

For a less than 24 hour door-to-door adventure, this was a not bad walk in not great weather that yielded some good insights into what I want from the outdoor world over the next few months. More running, less fast packing. I’m glad I finally closed the door on the SSSFFF as well so I can get on with the rest of my life without that failure from last year hanging over me.

Thanks for the summary, what’s next now?

Finish off school holidays, get a haircut, try to get some consistency in my running and settle back into a routine. Thanks for reading all the way to the end and I hope you gained something from it!