11 September 2012 Barren Grounds Nature Reserve

View from Cooks Nose

Map: Kangaroo Valley 1:25000

Getting There

This walk was organised and led by Brian S as an irregular CBC Tuesday walk:

Tuesday 11 September - Renns Bluff - L/R/W/pt X. Bungonia SCA - Mt Ayre - Shoalhaven River - exploratory spur - Renns Bluff - Mt Pollock - Rainbow Ridge -Shoalhaven River - return via Mt Ayre. Tracks, offtrack sections mostly open scrub. Nice views, steep descents/ascents, river crossings, some exposure. ~14km, 1000m total ascent. Map: Caoura 1:25000. Leader: Brian S. Transport: ~$100 per car, + park entry fee.

This walk didn't happen. We arrived at Bungonia to find the the area was closed for feral animal control. So we drove via Robertson to the Barren Grounds Nature Reserve.

Walk - Track Notes

Walking by just before 10am, after a long drive. I've never been to this area before. All well made walking tracks, but spectacular views from several vantage points and wonderful wild flowers, even so early in the season.

We took the Griffiths Trail and after 850m wandered in 100m to the Illawarra Lookout. Huge views to the sea out over Kiama.

Back to the Griffiths Trail and continnued E-ish along the edge of the escarpment, but no views due to the heathland shrubs. Saddleback Trig was a substantial concrete trig.

Turning S-ish, the Griffiths Trail took us to the next intersection, with the Kangaroo Ridge Trail. We turned S on it. Beautiful wild flowers as we wandered along at a fair pace. We had no maps (due to the substantial change in walk location), so did as best we could with Google Earth on the iPhone and OzTopo maps on GPS. We were thinking of a cross country to Fox Trig. But continued on, finding a magnificent vantage point on the edge of the escarpment with views along it to Drawing Room Rocks and down over the town of Berry in the distance below us.

This was a return the same way trail, so we headed back up to the intersection and hung a W onto the Griffiths Trail. This took us to the Stone Bridge, a beautiful natural structure. Other party members said the pools up and downstream would be great for a swim in summer - that made me shudder.

At the end of the Stone Bridge Trail we turned left, then made the choice to do Cooks Nose rather than Flying Fox Pass - not time to do both. Good decision - lovely views over boutique houses and blocks down in the Brogers Creek valley away to Broughton Head in the distance.

About turn, returned and finished the last bit of the Griffiths Trail to come in to the car park from the other side.

Thanks Brian S for coming over from Perth to take us here, and to Peter C and Linda G, Eric G and Ian W.

Distance: 22.7km Climb: 200m. Time: 9.50am - 3.20pm (5hrs 30mins), with 30mins of breaks.
Grading: L/E; M(9)