Like so many other trips into the Silver Peaks, we started at Mountain Road with a 60m climb up to Green Ridge where we settled into a comfortable pace for the hour walk into Green Hut Site. The track is a little muddy in places after all the recent rain but overall the condition has much improved from previous years. Once at Green Hut Site we stopped for a morning tea break while the group of 5 watched Antony attach the plaque to one of the seats that had been erected at the site, ready for the centenary weekend in four weeks time.
Once that task had been completed, we walked back along the track for about 5 minutes to the Greengage Track turn off which is a short but steep climb to point 588 where we stopped briefly to admire the views. We had wonderful views in all directions with Pulpit Rock in the Silver
Peaks dominating our view with other high points such as Saddle Hill
Swampy Summit and Mt Watkin easily visible. We made the most of this, our last vantage point before dropping down the ridge to Silver Steam at the bottom.
The next couple of hours saw us take our time dropping 400m steeply down Greengage ridge. The track is easy to follow with recent maintenance, however the steepness of it meant that it became a game of moving from tree to tree and making sure of secure footing. Even then, the slippery leaves underfoot meant that an unplanned sit down happened at least once for most members of the group during the descent. The nearer the bottom, the steeper it became until we eventually reached a bluff with a rope dropping down to the stream at the bottom. This tricky obstacle required some careful negotiation as the rope ended before reaching the bottom which meant a bit of a stretch/drop was required while dangling from the rope. We were sadly mistaken if we thought our troubles were over because once at the bottom it was time for wet feet as the stream crossing reached just below the knees then it was a muddy scramble up the bank out of the stream. There was no room to stop as we used the tree roots to pull ourselves up the next 200m near vertical to the ridge. It was quite tiring and we were glad when the ridge was gained and the gradient was not so steep. We stopped at the first clearing for lunch which was the Greengage/Raingage junction where we enjoyed a chance to sit down and rest.
From the track juction, we were onto a fairly easy track that wound it's way through the trees, climbing steadily as we continued towards Swampy Summit. Once out of the trees, we were rewarded with fantastic views looking into the Silver Peaks and back over the area that we had just come through. After about 45 minutes walking we reached the turn off that avoids the top of Swampy Summit and cuts around below the summit. Now the fun really started as the track deteriorated into a muddy, boggy path which had been churned up by wild cattle. While we did our best to avoid the worst of the mud, it was inevitable that we would all end up with mud half way up our legs at some stage.
There seemed to be some sections of the track worse than others and we made good time on the drier parts and during these drier sections, we had time to look around at our surroundings. We watched as the rain skirted around us but gave the Silver Peaks a drenching. We were thankful to stay dry and keep our jackets in our bags while Pulpit Rock and other high points in the Silver Peaks were shrouded in rain.
As we continued on towards the track junction with Green Ridge the mud seemed to get deeper and more widespread until it got to the stage where it was impossible to avoid. Memories of
trip #18 along this section of track back in December came flooding back along with the sight of huge hoof prints from the wild cows that roam the area. Thankfully we didn't see any of the animals that made those large hoof prints but we did hear them.
Just when we had almost given up hope of reaching dry ground again we turned the corner and the ground firmed underfoot. The next couple of kilometres of walking was easy and we made good time around the base of Hightop to the Green Ridge junction where we barely paused for breath before starting the final 1km stretch of track back to the cars. When we had walked along this section of track this morning, we had done our best to avoid the odd muddy patch but now we knew what real mud was so just walked through the mud. All up it was a really good day's walk of 15.3km over 7.5 hours which also included 1000m of ascent/descent
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