Oh, it was good to be back in this part of the country again.

Five of us hardy souls set of at a sparrows fart for the Baton valley and the clear sky gave us hope that our one day fine weather window was going to happen as promised.

The Cowin spur is an old favourite of mine and with cloud hanging around the high tops it has a real wild, remote, and special feel. The condition of the lower track through the fern and scrub was excellent and well cut (thanks DOC) with hardly a need for the waterproofs which were soon relegated to the pack. The track climbs, and climbs, and climbs up to 950 metres, good to get a lot of the hard work out of the way early. At the high point a short theory session on Naismith’s Theory of estimating trip times proved that you can apply theory to take some guess work out of trip planning, and help the leader to look clever!

The track then ambles along the spur with more short climbs to tackle. On one of these, Chris started suffering some mechanical failure in a knee and wisely decided to slowly retreat to the vehicle. On up to the bush edge and the views, oh the views. They make all the hard work worthwhile.The Cowin Spur looking towards the Arthur range.

The weather was starting to close in. A cold breeze sprang up, so we pushed on along the rolling spur, shaped like a giant reptile’s sweeping tail. We found a lovely, sheltered lunch spot by some dainty tarns just below the main Arthur range.

With appetite’s satisfied and a timely break in the weather, we climbed the last scramble through steep wet tussock to the high point 1497. It is a pity some striking high points have only been adorned with a number. This is where the ‘Cowin’ joins up with the ‘Arthur.’ A convenient rock promontory gave us enough shelter to take the obligatory summit photos

The rest of the journey went like a well-rehearsed play following the occasional markers, stopping for breathtaking photos when the cloud layer lifted. There were plenty of stops to rest the ‘down-hill knees’ during the 1200 metres of descent.

Well, what else is there to it? A quick sandwich and drink to stock up the resources, then off home down the bouncy 4WD track through the Baton valley. After the quiet drive home in the dark, we savoured a well-earned rest for a satisfied but worn-out body.

Braving the trip were Richard Walker (leader), Chris Louth, Astrid Brauksiepe, Grant Derecourt and I can’t remember the other guy - sorry! (Big trip leader fail for not writing down a last minute attendee. Oops!)