The Path Less Travelled - Aginau - Shaggy Ridge

Day 4: Aginau Village to Shaggy Ridge

5.30am wake-up call. Where's my morning coffee?
You can tell a lot about a trek leader by the quality of his coffee beans. And Zac did not disappoint!
We were packed up and on the trail just after 7am

This morning our first task is to collect water. This is one of the major challenges of the trek.
There is no water on Shaggy Ridge so part of the planning for this trek involves organising water carriers. Extra porters were engaged to help carry water for the group for the two days we were ascending Shaggy Ridge, traversing the ridge and then descending to a drinkable source, near Kankiryo Saddle.
When we left Aginau Village, our entourage numbers swelled. There were 10 trekkers, 2 trek leaders, the local guide, Titus, 10 individual porters, several extra porters to carry food and equipment supplies and then another dozen water carriers. It really felt like we were setting off on a major expedition into the wilds of PNG!

The Shaggy Ridge track is not regularly used by locals, and maybe only twice or three times a year by trekkers depending on numbers for tour operators. The path varies from old vehicle tracks that we walked on yesterday to a barely visible foot pad. Kunai grass growing up to 2 metres in height is not uncommon with the tropical climate encouraging a profusion of lush vegetation.
The porters were our advance party, walking ahead to find a animal pad to follow and slash a way through the dense understorey for us

The porters were always in possession of their bush knives. The way they handled these knives, which had blades in excess of 18 inches long, without favouring a dominant arm was unbelievable. It was like watching a flash mob of Edward Scissorhands in action.
The children were trained in bushcraft from an early age. We watched 2 year olds running around the villages proudly displaying their knives. No place for overprotective mothers in the highlands of PNG!
Note to self: don’t be a helicopter grandparent!

We hiked to the creek, where we filled everyone's drink bottles and all of the 5 litre water collection bottles for the carriers to transport up to our camp.

From the creek, we hiked uphill through the rainforest reaching a clearing just after 9am. We had reached Don’s Post, from where important landmarks of the battlefield could be easily pinpointed - Geyton’s Hill and Canning’s Saddle to the west, Pallier's Hill and King's Hill to the south east. 
We were approaching the halfway mark of the ascent of the southern ridge spur of Shaggy Ridge.

From Don's Post, we retreated to the rainforest canopy and continued our ascent. Single file was the order of the day as we negotiated narrow tracks and encountered washouts and landslips. Walking poles were discarded at several points as we clawed our way uphill, grappling at tree roots for support. We were setting a cracking pace and stopped for a morning tea break ahead of schedule.

Breaking the ice is often difficult in a group such as this, so it was humour which broke down some of the barriers thanks to one of the porters, David. While we were eating our snacks, he walked off into the surrounding jungle. When he returned, he had embellished his appearance by creating a headdress out of palm leaves that looked like a Mohawk hair design with garlands of moss draped from his hair like dreadlocks. What a sight! We all burst into spontaneous laughter.  

Well, then it was on, the challenge had been set. Not to be outdone, several of the group also joined in, and it wasn't long before it was looking like a Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

This also gave my porter Leipus an opportunity to shine. I asked him to collect flowers and foliage for me and he took it upon himself to find the best examples of PNG flora. He even placed the flowers on my hat, threading the flower stems and vines through the ventilation holes, fashioning beautiful floral garlands. It created a special bond between the both of us.

We continued our traverse of the ridge spur, ascending for another hour. The thick rainforest occasionally parted its curtains to reveal glimpses of magnificent views to the south and west and also provided welcome shade from the heat of the midday sun. We walked past evidence of Japanese and Australian weapon pits from the battle, becoming more frequent just prior to the high point where the shape of the ground narrowed to the razorback ridge top.

An excerpt from my diary reads: “Thursday July 9, 1pm........we reached the southern crest of the ridge top which opened up to a narrow flat clearing and signalled the end of the day's walk. We were on the southern edge of Shaggy Ridge....."

And the entry continues...

"I continued walking along the track. The forest canopy ended and suddenly the views unfolded right in front of me. I will never forget it.

The eastern flank of Shaggy was covered in thick kunai grassland, dropping away precipitously down to the Faria River 600 metres below.

Dense rainforest dominated the north-eastern and eastern landscape, an ocean-like canopy of green jungle covering the hills and valleys to the horizon.

Turning to the southeast, John’s Knoll, Pallier’s Hill and Kings Hill were obvious landmarks in the foreground framing the Ramu Valley in the distance.

The western flank of Shaggy was heavily wooded, with thick, impenetrable rainforest obscuring most of the views of the highlands to the south and west.

My gaze turned to the north. What a sight! Shaggy Ridge - a knife-edge razorback ridge, spread out over 6 and 1/2 kilometres. This was ridgetop heaven!

The key landmarks of the battlefield were laid out right in front of me - The Pimple, Green Sniper’s Pimple and McCaughey’s Knoll.

The history lesson suddenly took on a whole new meaning.

The black and white photographs came to life in vibrant colour.

And the realization, I would be walking along the narrow “one man front” tomorrow following in the footsteps of the 2/9^th battalion……”

This was yet another "pinch yourself " moment!

Our camp was situated on the south western side of Shaggy Ridge summit at 1400 metres. Camp is made amongst the weapon pits, utilising the small level areas cut into the side of the steep slopes by the soldiers. Tents were erected and lunch was served. Reg, complemented by Zac and Simon, regaled us with more details of the campaign, ensuring we fully appreciated the ground we were walking over and the conditions and experiences the soldiers faced.

The afternoon was spent absorbing the "here and now"

I sit in the rainforest, birdcalls echoing though the gullies, diamond light filtering though the canopy, disconnected from routine and reconnecting with nature

There was time for moments of quiet reflection but also plenty of time for spirited conversation, and cheeky humour, the values of Aussie mateship shining through. After dinner, there was another performance by the “troppo orchestra”, the ocarina, recorder and bagpipes all getting a solid workout. Laughter and singing, symphonies in paradise, where else would you rather be!