Mt William

The path up.

Mt William, or just Willy as I now call it, stands just over 1000m and can quite easily be seen from most parts of cairns by looking north west towards Redlynch. I was not aware of any actual track leading to the summit but had seen photos of plane ruins from a crash back in 1986. If there was a track I surly didn't find it. I managed to find a service driveway to a broadcast tower at the end of a Close in the suburb. I started out at 10am with a 20kg pack with everything I would need for an overnight stay near the top including over 5kg of water. The weather was very clear and expected to be for the next few days as a cyclone had drawn all the moisture into the Coral Sea.

It was bone dry going up the spur and little more pleasant after 500m altitude with a lot less spiders and spiky plants to run into while forging ones own path through the bush. I took enjoyment in knowing that regardless I was on the right track as there really was only one way up, in saying that there were seldom and vistas to take in and a little wind would have been nice.

Summit day

By 4pm I was 920m and had settled down for the night. It was slow going at only 5m per minute on average. I snacked on a boost bar and got around 10 hours of ordinary sleep on the thermarest. I figured It would take an hour to reach the summit which was on top of a broad ridge that another lesser peak can be reached. 

I woke up at 7am, the same familiar birds were chirping away making a real noise, I planned to get out of bag at 6am but it was a little chilly which is anything less than 20C where im from lol. I left the tent set up and plodded along and got to the junction after around 10 minutes and made a left turn. I really loved walking along the ridge and could have done it all day. It was nice and cool with lots of gaps and rocks to use as stepping stones, far from the dry and sharp bush below. I couldnt believe I had not seen a snake down there.

Finally I saw a rock I could scramble up to take what was the first decent Pic of the trip. I also saw other good spurs I could have taken up.Then after about another half an hour was the Plane crash memorial site which consisted of some parts of the plane and a plaque. Within meters was the survey marker which made me wonder where the actual site of impact was on the mountain.

I managed to find my way back down to the tent and started to pack everything up. Perhaps I would visit the lesser peak another time.

Decent

Everything was going according to plan on the way down, It was a really hot day at 34C but I knew I had what was a chilled 600ml bottle of water in the bag for when I got around half way down. I got to about 500m feeling a little exhausted but thought I would carry on a bit further until I had a rest.

I stopped at about 400m according to the suunto. I swung my pack off and sat down to get the bottle of water out only to notice that I had not zippered the bottom of my pack up and a bottle of water had escaped out. I couldnt believe that I had not closed it. It crossed my mind if a twig may have forced it open when walking through some thick sections. It was the fact that it was gone that was unideal. Lucky the camera was wider than a bottle of water as it may have gone too. I cursed myself for not noticing the weight loss and It would have been futile to power on back up the hill to look for it.

Its sad to say that I was feeling very week with only 150m to go and I stopped to relieve myself when shortly after I began throwing up. I then thought it might be best to go for the path of least resistance which was down the back of someones unfenced acreage. I was soon spotted by the house owner who was a very considerate chap who offered me a bottle of water which I drank a bit fast and started yakking up again. In a sensible move he suggested me getting a check over before riding home and after a couple of bags of fluid via a drip I was feeling right as rain.
Its also fair to say Iv worn my shoes in well this time.

Images

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