Mt Richardson Walk

On Friday the 13th, the whole of loburn school tramped up Mt Richardson. For the year eights, this was part of our William Pike Challenge, and it was also the last mountain we would climb with loburn school, so everyone was looking forward to it.

The year 6-7 went all the way to the summit, while the younger students went around some loop tracks. At eight thirty in the morning ( too early ) everyone was gathered in the Mt Thomas room awaiting the teachers instructions.

This year my younger brother was climbing to the summit for the first time with the rest of us, and because of this, my father decided to accompany us, again. So there I was, preparing for yet another climb, telling myself, it will be all over soon.

When all the people in cars arrived at the base of the mountain, everyone sat around waiting for the bus to come, then the teachers lined us up and numbered us off. Once everyone was present and accounted for, we were off.

Everyone started off fine, just trundling along, but after a while people started to get puffed and everyone was very grateful for the first stop. That's how it went for a while, we would all walk until we got puffed, then collapse at the next break stop.

After we'd been going for about two hours, we came across a really steep bit of terrain that lasted for ages. I was with a group at the front of the pack, and was just on the point of giving up when the first person reached the summit and let out a shout. After that I forgot about my aching legs and scrambled up the last bit of gravel to the top.

I was so relieved to be back that I almost forgot about the wind that was battling the tussocks, but when my jacket fell out of my bag I put it on, glad of its warmth.

Once everyone arrived at the top and we all had our lunch, we numbered off again and prepared for the walk down.

I must admit, walking down was much easier, and before much longer ( by that I mean another few hours ) we were sprinting at full gallop down the last stretch of track and rolling down the grassy bank at the bottom.

Man, you would not believe the look of relief on some people's faces, secure in the knowledge that they'd completed the walk, and I must admit, it did feel good to tick off another mountain.

So, bring on the next challenge.