Three of us had the job to go out and clean up all the markers put out for the SES SAREX exercise back in August that I missed due to our big trip away. The SAREX was dogged by heavy snow falls and bad weather that made the disks impossible to find. We had the job of going out and collecting them all to remove them from the national park.

We headed off Friday evening and after a few stops we arrived much latter than anticipated at the Dove Lake car park. We headed off and in the moonlight we did not need any torches till we hit the shadows behind Cradle. It was a late night and we arrived at the Lake Will area and setup camp around 1AM on Saturday morning.

Up early we ate and packed up then headed down to Lake Will and the Innes Falls area to pickup 2 of the disks. Back at camp the packs went on for what turned out to be a VERY LONG day. Our route took us over the button grass and hills towards Lake Ellen. Picking up another disk along the way we eventually attained the hills above Ellen and another disk. A great spot for lunch with fantastic views from Cradle right around to Oakleigh.

It was a scrub bash from here around Ellen and McRae to the high point at the southern end of McRae. We had been here before on the way to the Hyrdro Hut and the tarn on the other side looked magnificent on this still day. We grabbed another disk here and headed for the overland track on the route we followed out from the Hydro Hut trip. The crossing of the Agnew outlet creek was a breeze this time unlike the troubles we had last time.

Back at the Lake Will junction we decided to have an even bigger day even though we were very tired and headed to Waterfall picking up another disk along the way. The final disk was at the base of Barn Bluff so we dropped our packs at Waterfall and got them all knocked off on the Saturday. Back at Waterfall with heavy legs much food was eaten and then it was straight to bed after setting up the tents again.

Sunday was another magnificent day and we walked out in about 2:45 stopping on top of Marion’s for some photo’s and testing of our new radios that had very poor battery life. Three tired bodies hit the car and were very pleased to get a coffee at ETC on the way home. It was a big weekend of walking but the scenery and weather was just perfect. I can never get enough of those cliffs around Ellen and McRae.

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