Thursday 14 October

Craters of the Diamonds State Park

That afternoon I headed to Crater of the Diamonds State Park. I wasn't really sure what to expect but it was somewhere I wanted to visit as apparently you could find diamonds on or very close to the surface. Turns out you can indeed find diamonds relatively easily but, given that it was the end of the day when I was there and only two diamonds had been found despite what I'd guess was about 100 people looking for them, the chances of you finding one are slim!

After having a look round the site seeing how people looked for diamonds I went for a couple of short walks in the park. On the first of these I saw an Armidillio which was cool having never seen one before. Also on that walk I got warned by a couple of joggers that they'd seen a nasty snake on the path the previous week but thankfully I never saw any. Following my walks I headed off to my primitive campsite (there were drop tiolets and not much else) which was in a nice location and rather cheap so no complaints.

Friday 15 October

The Long Hike - Day 1

The plan for the next day was to start the long backpacking hike, the Eagle Rock Loop, (27 miles) that I had planned. With that in mind I got myself up nice and early, had breakfast while it was still cold and headed off to where I intended to start my hike. Here I run into a small problem - namely that where I was planning on starting did not allow overnight parking. I was aware that camping was still not avaliable, due to a fatal flash flood earlier in the year, but hadn't realised that overnight parking wasn't either. Consquently I had to head two miles down a gravel track to a different starting point. The hike started (at the second attempt - I went the wrong way at first) with a reasonably gentle walk up and over a hill before reaching a river.

The hike was meant to contain quite a few river crossing and I soon reached the first crossing. After a failed bare-foot attempt an attempt wearing sandals was much more effective and I was soon on the other side and as the day had warmed up considerably by now so I soon dried off. I then walked past some interesting rock formations on the other side of the river before getting to a long section besides a stream that turned out to be a little repetive and boring.

Next up was heading up and over some hills. According to the guide I had there were 6 hills that need to be climbed over but I wasn't expecting to do them all that day. The first hill was hard work as I was doing it in the heat of the day and the views when I got to the top of it were a little disappointing because it was pretty much the same in all directions. Also at the top of this first hill I met two other parties of hikersm including one ex-pat from England which was I think a little odd for both of us, neither expecting to bump into another Englsih person while on the hike. Brief chat out of the way I head up and over the next hill to where I was thinking about camping but someone was already at the obvious campsite by the stream and as I had some time left before darkness I decided to head over the next hill and camp there. This was a mistake! When I got to the next stream, a "normally reliable" water source it was as dry as a bone despite every other "normally reliable" source having water. Consquently I had to head over the next hill to the next stream and hopfully water. This was made more difficult by running out of water on the way but eventually I found the stream and then quickly found somewhere to camp as it was getting dark. I thenset up camp, got some water and promptly collapsed into sleep (at 8 o'clock) because I was feeling a bit ill - probably due to dehydration.

Saturday 16 October

The Long Hike - Day 2

I awoke pretty early the next morning so decided to forgo a proper breakfast and get the last two hills done before it was too hat. Just as I finished striking camp I saw a hiker heading in the other direction that told me there were good flat campsites further on. Sod's law as I'd given up on finding a good site and pitched in a bit of a crap and uncomfortable place. Anyway I was soon off on my way and quickly got over the two hills. I now walked besides a river which was scenic, but not spectacular, for several miles before reaching a day use area where I had my lunch. It was at this point that I started to realise that finishing in two, rather than my planned three, days was a possibility so I was soon on my way again.

Immediately after leaving the picnic area was a small waterfall which due to the 6 weeks of virtually no rain was not as impressive as it may otherwise have been. The hike continued in much the same vein as it had before lunch contnuing along the side of the river although this time it also included a couple of crossing of the river which were safely negoiated. After the second river crossing I had a decision to make. I was not allowed to camp near the destroyed campsite so I effectvely had to either camp now or keep going to the end still about 3 miles away. Deciding that I just about had enough time to make it back I kept going. I soon reached the campsite and after one last, hard final push over the final hill I was back at my car.

Although the hike was a little disappointing in terms of scenery (for those that commented on the last year's adventures, don't worry this is pretty much the only time I use that phrase) it was still one of the best bits of the holiday - mainly for the sense of achievement I felt for completing 27 miles in two days, something I hadn't imagined possible before I set out and this more than made up for the slightly disappointing scenery. As I had originally planned still to be on the hike I didn't have a firm idea about whereI was going to sleep that night so headed off to Hot Spring where I though I'd treat myself to a motel. This however wasn't to be as motels in Hot Springs were way too expensive so I headed out and a camped at a State Park were I'd been intending on spending the next night anyway.