Six Foot Track - Going All The Way

After running the section from Megalong to Pluvio return earlier this month (as documented in the blog's initial entry below), today marked my first journey over the full length of the Six Foot Track. A plot of track is below:


My preparation started a little later than usual, arising at 5am (mind you, this was the first morning of daylight saving, so maybe it wasn't later!) to grab a tin of creamed rice and a cup of strong coffee. Finish packing, quick surf of the net, couple of visits to the toilet, pile of tape applied, and I was out the door about about 5:45. Stopped at the BP on Parramatta Rd at Five Dock, bought some food and used their toilet, picked up Mister G at Concorde a touch after 6, and we were headed west.

After a couple of stops on the way up, we met Spud at Explorer's Tree, took some photos, and we were on our way at about 7:45 or so (7:48:26 am, to be exact).

My observations on the run are as follows

• the stairs at the start (well, after a bit of a steep decline) are steep, slippery (thanks to the plant life it's always wet there) and treacherous. If you're at the back of your starting back, be grateful you're being forced to walk down this section - if you're even slightly clumsy, you'd be a DNF with a broken limb before you can say 'it looked stable'
• the going's quite good through the next section as the road evens out on the run out to Megalong, as you cruise along with properties on the left. As you approach Megalong Valley Road, the road deteriorates into a more 'rustic' type path, with a few stiles to be crossed. Keep an eye out for white pegs on the left, which have accurate markings from the course measurer's efforts. The course remains like this until Megalong Valley Road, where it becomes decent road for a short period before cutting through farm land and running alongside Coxs River, where it becomes particularly 'technical'.
  
• it's all very cruisy until Coxs River, and then it starts to get fair dinkum. The course was notably more eroded than when I went through on October 5, so stones underfoot were an issue. The run's quite hard on your feet. It does widen into a proper road through here, though.
• the steep sections run up to Pluvio, although there's quite a nice section through the Alum Creek after Mini Mini. From there, the road rolls more gently, although there are some shorter steep inclines, and certainly from what we saw the road deteriorates notably as you continue your run through to the forestry section near Deviation, with quite large rocks and broken up sections underfoot.
• once you get to and cross Caves Road, it becomes a much more traditional trail, with a few steps to negotiate (doubtless exciting the Striders' STaR planners). It is quite technical through here, with runners on shot quads and not concentrating fully presented with numerous opportunities to fall.
• you'd think it'd get easier from there, but it doesn't. The descent down into Jenolan Caves is probably the worst battering you cop during the event. Initially it isn't too bad, with the track surface okay, but as you continue the rocks seem to increase in size and sharpness until it's somewhat akin to running on smashed up tiles - one thing that struck me through this section was the sound of the rocks under foot as we ran, the 'tinkling' sounding almost as if the rocks were the smashed remains of fired ceramics. This would be a particularly bad place to fall - straight down would be a long slide to numerous stitches and ruined race clothing, to the right, and I doubt you would stop until Caves House, with plenty of hard trees and pointy rocks to clip on the way down.
• the steep footpath after Carlotta's Arch is actually a relief after the above section. The incline isn't so bad, and the surface is reliable.
• the food at Caves House is awful and expensive, feelings exacerbated by the wait. The milkshakes from the bar are acceptable.

I had a great day out with Spud and Mister G. We caught Meaghan just before Alum Creek. There were a few highlights, which included:

• numerous horror stories of doubling back towards the end of Twelve Foot from Spud and Mister G during the early stages past Nellies Glen
  
• painfully slow rock river crossings at Coxs and Alum Creek. I of course finally accidentally dunked my feet literally on the last rock hop of the last crossing. I had packed spare socks anticipating such an event - heh, sometimes you win
• Spud's disappointment at the non-event that are the rain collectors at Pluvio
• a curiously solo bull standing next to the track watching us go past on the way up to Mini Mini. I don't know about the others, but my escape plan involved scaling an eight foot high stone wall - I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been a problem, unless the others had the same plan
• some silly sections of typical male competitiveness coming out over the last 15km or so. There were a few sections where it got a bit silly, where I think none of us wanted to be the first to say 'ah, screw it, let's walk this uphill bit'. We weren't a lot over 2 hours from Pluvio
• the big finish. We all just went for it after Carlotta's Arch, flying down the steep descent to the finish, earning a cheer from some of the 'diners' gathered at Caves House. Mind you, the three Coolrunning Tritops were fairly eye-catching
  
• Mister G's mum taking the time and trouble to pick us up from Jenolan Caves. That was brilliant, and saved a hell of a lot of time and logistical work. Thank you!!!

So, very good day with excellent company. Can't wait to get out there again next month!