Kate, Matt, and Hannah were doing the three-day Wilson’s Prom Eastern Circuit, so, literally never having hiked the Prom after 20+ years as a Scout in Victoria, decided to come in and meet them at Sealer’s Cove for the final push. Luckily, I have a bit of flexibility with my working hours on a Friday, so a twilight solo trek in sounded like a good use of late summer.

Friday

Start: 6.30pm
Dusk: 8.30pm End: 10.00pm
Weather: Clear, night

• From Telegraph Saddle, I bravely headed into the unknown - with nothing more than the very-well marked trail to guide me. As I started my way down the eastern side of Mt Ramsay, the sunlight was ebbing away - but with such a well-maintained and wide path (and a nice bright moon,) I was able to continue along for quite some time before stopping to pull out my headtorch.

• By the time I reached the boardwalk, night had truly fallen and there was very little to see. Except for when looking up, a wonderful star-filled sky was looking down on me from above. I ran into a little trouble when I reached the Cove, not realising that the campsite was still some distance away, I wasted a fair bit of time scurrying around looking for the campsite before checking the map and seeing that I still had a bit of a walk along the foreshore.

• The tide was up, but not too much. I was able to make my way along the foreshore easily enough, and despite the darkness I was able to ford Sealers Creek without difficulty. My final problem was then trying to find my friends! I had anticipated that they would still be awake, but the campsite was very quiet and asleep by the time I got in so I strung up my hammock not far from the toilets and resolved to deal with the problem tomorrow.

Saturday

Start: 8.30am
Lunch: 12.00pm
End: 1.00pm
Weather: Sunny

• My gamble paid off next morning, finding my friends in short order.

• We headed out earlier than planned, instead of spending the morning lazying upon the beach, but that was ok - I hadn’t seen this end of the path.

• The boardwalk turned out to be a very nice little path through a charming wetland, and I appreciated getting to see it both at night and during the day.

• Heading up the rough-hewn staircase at a group pace was much more of an intense experience than casually making my way down at my own pace with my headphones for company.

• After three days’ hiking, my friends were very excited to have my memories of the major landmarks although I wasn’t able to give any useful measure of how long it was from there to the end of the trail.

• At the last major feature, a very prominent switchback, we made friends with another pair of hikers and were able to swap photographer duty from some nice scenic group pics (which are on Hannah’s phone so I can’t share)

What I Learnt

• When you’re going to meet up with your party on the trail, probably have some kind of system.

• Night hiking can be fun.

• That if everything you’ve read about a hike talks about fording a creek, they probably would update that if they put a bridge in.

• Some people are happy to take your picture for you, but not so keen to take advantage of returning the favour.