Mt Ballow

PSA: when Ollie says “you’ll be fine in shorts,” he’s lying. I came out of this hike looking like I’d lost a fight with a barbed wire fence. Wear the damn pants.

It was good on paper: Ollie and Rhett were hunting for range-restricted mountain endemics, and I was hunting for a pretty mountaintop where I could read my book in peace. We all technically got what we wanted, I suppose.

What we also got was mauled by solanum and attacked by stinging trees in 30 degrees and 100 percent humidity.

The Nothofagus stand at the top made it worth our while, but I did decide to hike down wearing my sleeping thermals.

Might stick to the beaten track for the next little while…