Equipment List
Always wanting to be in the solitude of nature I am repetitively drawn to the charm and mystique of the blue mountains. The Blue Mountains is a place less than two hours outside of Sydney but feels a million miles away. Gumtrees are dominating the landscape of gullies and freshwater creeks.
Always wanting to be in the solitude of nature I am repetitively drawn to the charm and mystique of the blue mountains. The Blue Mountains is a place less than two hours outside of Sydney but feels a million miles away. Gumtrees are dominating the landscape of gullies and freshwater creeks.
I like to travel solo whenever possible, freeing me from the restrictions you get in groups and allowing me to go and do what I want. Not that I don’t like company but there’s much more excitement in exploring by yourself. Negotiating a cliff face for example may be easier when you are with someone else as your confidence is increased, but the satisfaction of overcoming an obstacle without any support or assistance is much more rewarding. I also like to just take some time out every now and then and take in the small things in life, there is so much wonder to be had with the small thing of this world that are normally ignored.
As always when travelling in the bush, even on popular trails, make sure you write down your planed route including your estimated return time and give it to someone you can trust. This comes ever more imperative when you're intending to go off the beaten track or in very remote areas.
Some basic survival items are also essential if you intend to journey into less frequented areas of the Blue Mountains. This should be split into two groups, what’s on you, and what you’re carrying. Everything you’re carrying should allow you to continue on your route including food, cooking equipment, sleeping equipment, etc... What’s on you should be your survival items.
Survival Items
There are many survival kits listed on the internet but I find the majority simply bullshit. You should have four main areas of concern; Water, Fire, Signalling, and Navigation.
Water, without it you’re as good as dead, so if straying from a water way make sure that you have a good solid water bottle minimum capacity of 1lt.
Fire can be used for a number of purposes including morale building, cooking, purifying water, signalling, and warmth. To cover all of these bases I take the most important item in wilderness travel and bushcraft, a quality fixed bladed knife and flint. To further increase my chances of lighting a fire in any weather I take some tinder, I use a film case filled with Vaseline soaked cotton wool. This can get wet and still take a spark, will burn long and clean helping to get tinder started. After all when you most need to start a fire you will undoubtedly have the worst conditions. Remember to make note of the fire restrictions at the time of entry, a careless fire can kill.
Signalling in the hot and dry conditions of the Blue Mountains is best achieved with a reflective mirror, when safe to do so a smoke signal can be used. I always take a mirror and a whistle in my pocket.
Navigation, to get to the areas I want to explore you can do it without a compass and a topographic map of 1:25000. But there is not much use in taking a map and compass without being able to use them. Practice and learn, but not on your own in the bush!
Pack Items
Due to the abundance of trees and rocky ground I prefer to use a hammock with a simple Aussie hoochie tarp. This is a lightweight and comfortable alternative to a tent. It can take some time to find a suitable spot with trees the correct distance apart with no saplings or other obstructions in the way. For this reason many walkers prefer to use a lightweight tent.
A sleeping bag is essential in the mountains, it can reach high into the 30’s during the day and get very cold at night for this reason I also pack a thermal t-shirt and fleece. It is also important to keep off the ground, whether in a tent or hammock, therefore sleeping on top of some form of insulation is recommended. I use a Thermarest lightweight mattress.
Other items include, a torch, billy can, collapsible 4lt water container, 10m rope, and a folding hand saw.
When on the trail I always abide by the leave no trace policy, meaning just that, leave nothing but foot prints. When packing up make sure that your fire is extinguished, douse with plenty of water. You can only be sure a fire is completely dead when you can pickup the remainder of the ash and charcoal with your bare hands. This is when the leave no trace policy comes in, scatter the cold / wet remainder of the fire into the bush, then brush over where the fire was. If more people did this then there wouldn't be so many restrictions with open fires in NP's. It infuriates me when I see the remains of a fire with burnt out tin cans and foil!
This also goes to the rubbish you take into the bush with you, make sure you take it back out and don't try and burn it.
