Lake Guyon 4-5th October 2014

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No. 146

Lake Guyon 4-5th October 2014

Plan A, Head over Lewis Pass to head up the klondyke Track on the Rahu Saddle and camp at the Tarns on Saturday. Lots of snow falls on Friday and Saturday morning and with the forecast for cold southerlies and possible heavy rain on Sunday, somewhere more sheltered looks inviting. Plan B, head up to the Hope Bridge and head into Carlyle Hut, a cool looking hut and looks like a cool place to enjoy the snow. Can't get hold of Glenhope Station to get access permission but Plan C could be to head into Saint Jacobs Hut or Top Hope Hut. Get to just pass the Hanmer turn off on State highway 7 and find the road closed to All Traffic and even though we don't want to go all the way through, they won't let any vehicles through until after 11am.

Plan D, head to Hanmer and see whats happening over the back blocks. Heading north along Tophouse Road we see the fresh snow on the distant mountains and the black clouds to the west and north and with Sundays forecast in mind, decide Paske Hut probably won't be an option and so settle for a far less energetic womble into Lake Guyon,(although the Cow Stream hot pools were considered.

 With and inch of fresh snow on the ground at Fowlers hut, we wrapped up warm and set off around 10:30am on a partly cloudy and slightly windy morning to wind our way up the easy but snow covered track to Fowlers Pass. It was a wonderful winterland that greeted us as we plowed our way through the deepening snow and fought against the gusty winds that blew clouds of light snow into our faces. A photo stop at the saddle as things calmed down a bit before plunging down the zig zag into Smyths Stream and some deeper snow drifts to keep things interesting.The scenery is stunning and very white and the weather stays friendly allowing us to enjoy this winter wonderland as we tramp down the Stanley River to the old Stanley vale hut where we find a very friendly horse guarding the hut while it's master was away.

 We made lake Guyon around 3pm and were relieved to find the hut empty.  Looking to Mt Moki to the North West we could see it was still snowing with the snow occasionally coming close enough to fall on the hut while we lounge about inside. Looking south didn't look too good either as we appeared to be in a little oasis of calmer weather. The afternoon and evening went quite quickly with good company and good conversation(although the rest of the group were probably board to hell with Brian and myself bleating on about Hifi and music all night). We all hit the sack on dark and hopped that we were far enough east to miss the forecast rain on Sunday.
Sunday was clear enough with even more new snow visible on the northern Mountains but considerably less around the hut and lake. The object of today was to head back out the same way we came in. It was a considerably faster trip with only one brief stop for nibbles and much less snow to slow us down. We got back to Fowler Hut in under 4 hours, had lunch and headed home.