View to the west from ‘Lyrebird Rocks’
Butmaroo Range, Tallaganda National Park – M/R. The walk is in the northern section of Tallaganda National Park and starts on the Black Range Fire Trail about 5 kilometres north of the Forbes Creek Road. We’ll spend the day off-track on a meandering route through attractive tall forests on the Butmaroo Range. In the afternoon we’ll visit an interesting outcrop of pink granite boulders and old, gnarled trees. Much of the route is slow going and requires previous experience at equivalent of CBC “rough” grade walking. Leader: Ian W.
Summary
Distance: 12.3km | Climb: 500m | Time: 8.10am – 2.55pm (6hrs 45mins), including 55 mins of breaks | Grading: M/R; M(11+)
Photographs
Photographs are available, where you can start a large sized slideshow.
Waypoint and Track Files
Download the gpx file for this trip (if your browser does not automatically download the file, it will open the gpx file in a new window and you can then save it). To use in Google Earth, do File, Open… and select Gps or All files as the File Type.
Track Notes
A 6.30am meet in Woden, picking up another car load in Queanbeyan at 7.00am. We drove via the Kings Highway, Captains Flat Rd, Briars Sharrow Rd, Plains Rd, Hoskinstown Rd to Rossi. Then Forbes Creek Rd, North Black Range Fire Trail to park at the junction with an unnamed fire trail. Around 1 hour from Queanbeyan.
We walked a little further up the North Black Range Fire Trail to the National park boundary, then struck off to the west along its southern border. Wasn’t long before the first (for me) snake of the season was spotted.
Copperhead snake
We continued west along the southern edge of the Park.
On the southern boundary of Tallaganda National Park
An early morning tea was called at 8.30am. Most welcome.
Morning tea
Refreshed, we continued NW then N down a spur towards an unnamed creek gully.
Descending into a major creek line
The only water we saw all day.
In the major creek line
Up out of the creek, the next leg took us east, NE and a bit more eastbefore turning south towards lunch.
The going north of lunch on the Butmaroo Range
Lovely timber.
The going 200m out from lunch
We passed one of the several lyrebird nests seen during the day.
One of several lyrebird nests seen during the day
Lunch was a well deserved break, as the temperature was up (probably around 26°C at this altitude) and the going required a lot of leg lifting.
A loop to the SW brought us to the feature of the day, aptly named by Ian as ‘Lyrebird Rocks’.
Approaching ‘Lyrebird Rocks’ from the SW at 1140m
Yet another cleverly positioned lyrebird nest as we approached.
Another lyrebird nest near ‘Lyrebird Rocks’
The area contained a wonderful collection of pink granite and Brown Barrel eucalypts.
Granite boulders and Brown Barrel near ‘Lyrebird Rocks’
At ‘Lyrebird Rocks’
At ‘Lyrebird Rocks’
We pressed though the tors, this one from below looked like a shark and, from a distance, a turtle or two.
Shark
We squeezed through a slot and gained wonderful views to the west all the way to Black Mountain tower.
The slot at ‘Lyrebird Rocks’
View to the west from ‘Lyrebird Rocks’, including Black Mountain tower
We circumnavigated the rocks, disturbing an owl. High tors on the western side.
Circumnavigating ‘Lyrebird Rocks’ – the western side
That just about finished the day. A kilometer or so through the bush to regain the fire trail, then back to the cars.
Another great Ian ‘the granite hunter’ trip, well led and a great party. Thanks all.
Track Map
Track
Party
7 walkers – Garry B, Greg B, Meredith H, David H, Terrylea R, Ian W (leader), me.