Shanti reports…

Mum had had a bee in her bonnet all winter. She wanted to take me winter camping! Whether I wanted to go camping didn’t actually feature in this plan… but it turns out I was okay with tagging along. It is better than the alternative - and I didn’t pull the long face I used the last time I was given a pack to carry.

So this trip repeats the Mystery Lake trip we did - but Mum wanted to go further. Her initial plan was to try to walk to Potts Hut, but she hadn’t walked with a full pack for a quite a while and decided that shorter was better. I wasn’t going to complain when she set up camp on the Dogs Range instead. As Mum will explain at length, it is pretty silly to go chasing after hares with a 3kg pack on your back and a long way to walk… but a dog has gotta be a dog!

It didn’t take too long to get to Mystery Lake - just over two hours or so. We had set off just after a hail storm and Mum was dressed for the weather forecast which was below 10 degrees, but it was well above that - so she was overdressed and muttering… AND I wasn’t allowed near the water in case I decided to swim… which would have got my sleeping bag wet, and also meant a wet dog in the tent with Mum.

After a short lunch stop we start up the Dogs Range to join the Potts Hut trail. It is a long detour, heading off to the right and then meandering back left - and Mum said that next time she would cut up the Dogs Range going off route.

The wind arrived during the night as expected. Mum was up early and packed up as fast as she could. I had breakfast but Mum decided to wait until there was more chance of getting the gas stove to work - so we headed off at sunrise.

Mum decided on a short cut stright off the dogs range, planning to join up with the Mystery Lake track. We have now done quite a few off-route walks, and Mum was confident that with good visiblity and her InReach for any extra help needed that we would manage that just fine - and we did.

By 10am we were about an hour from the car and Mum fancied a coffee. She still couldn’t get the Jetboil stove to work. Mum said it was a combination of the cold and the wind. So after a little muttering we were back on the trail. The signpost that says 1km to the car park is wrong. Mum told a chap called DoC that several times during the hour it took to walk that section. I’m sure poor DoC had a warm ear!

The good news is there were treats for me and coffee for Mum at the car!