The next day agenda is to practice more of our new skill, we will work out on our own the route going to our lunch spot where everyone will take turns to navigate and lead. We consulted our map, pointed where we are and where our lunch spot will be. We decide on the best route to take by considering landscape features on the map enroute to our destination. We breakdown our route into a series of bearings, pencilled the lines on the map.
So we take turns, I know I have to volunteer soon as the route would probably get hard and rough. True enough, I had my turn when we are about to push ourselves through the heavy scrub. I had a hard time to decide promptly what path to take as there’s no path at all, so it comes down to which part of the bush I can get myself through. The pressure is on. I know my pacing is a little bit slow but it’s really hard to get through while I have to consult the compass from time to time to know if we are still “on track”.
As the heavy scrub grew up I get tangled as I pushed my pack through. We are off-track and looks like no one have ever travelled that route before. Sometimes I have to stop for seconds to think where to go, not minding everyone will get stuck behind me. They are also guiding me though but gives me time to decide. And then time came that we have to go through a veeery thick and tall bush that I asked them to lead. As we escaped the bush, we saw a kangaroo hopping away.
We navigated our way to our lunch spot, another beautiful sandstone pagoda. The sun was out but the wind is still so cold. One thing I noticed is that they don’t take scenery pictures a lot or a “group picture ba”. After our lunch we climbed down to cross a small creek and up onto the ridge again. Many of them are beginners but you can’t tell until you asked them because they are really tough. Sometimes I wanted to take a rest when walking uphill but they don’t, so most of the times I push myself not to stop and keep the pacing.
The navigation thing turned out to be interesting to learn especially when you navigated your target destination accurately. So why use a compass when we already have a GPS? Compass can come to the rescue in case of emergency as they say GPS can not always be relied on and compass operates without batteries.
The trip almost went perfectly as planned except for one incident. One of us got lost and night camped alone in the bush. Earlier that day, that guy asked the group to go ahead and said he’ll catch up. I thought it is not a good idea. We lost him on our way to the campsite on day 1. He’s an experienced trekker and we know he got a sleeping bag and flysheet with him so we don’t worry too much, some of us tried to look for him but no luck.
On day 2 when we reached the area where we got a signal, we were able to call his cellphone. From the conversation, we found out that he doesn’t have a map and compass. But his skill on backtracking and he keeps his track near the fire trail made easy for us to locate where he was.
