King's Canyon

Outback Adventure - Part 6
Another 4 am wake-up call and off we went to King's Canyon.

The first incline of our last hike at King's Canyon is nicknamed "Heart Attack Hill." With our requisite 1 litre of water bottle apiece, we stepped up and up and up.

The canyon peaks look like a series of domes made of pancake layers of red rock. It is as if many years ago giants were covered in mud and the wear of time, wind and water have left their bald heads standing.

We were taken through fossil-encrusted valleys, along the edge of a gorge and down into The Garden of Eden, a hidden valley with prehistoric plants and a singular water pool.

We walked across river beds that would have been full of fish where air now stood all around us. In thinking back to that time where water covered these surfaces, I could imagine the pillows and cushions of rushing rapids banking off a rock outcrop over here, spinning into eddies in a hollow there. The splashing spray of falls, both huge and small.

We scaled the cliffs up and down on precarious (to me) steps. At one point we were up in the heavens, seeing the red pancake heads go on to forever. Next we were at the edge of a cliff that fell away 500 metres into trees.

I said "Wow!" so many times, I think I wore out the "w" on my tongue.

Three hours later it's 10 am we were finished our last hike. It felt like 3 in the afternoon.

Remember how it rained the night before this hike? Given that, do you see anything odd in this picture?
Like perhaps, the wee puddle of water left after a good hour of drenching? This earth is like a sponge.