CBC continues to attract younger members
Saturday 26 January: South Orroral Ridge of Stone and Orroral Valley – M/R,ptX. In town for the long weekend and want a short walk? Drive the Orroral Ridge Road from Honeysuckle Creek to the collimation tower site car park and walk south-east. Find geocache GC819AA Lego Land III. Visit the Belfry, then take a footpad leaving the area to the south. Hopefully this will take us to the Cloisters, another rock-climbing site (but who knows). Exit, then drive to Orroral Valley. A short walk in the valley to the tracking station sewage ponds to find geocache GC7Z6WT Space Sewage. Then off track with a 200vm climb from the Nursery Swamp Walking Track to find geocache GC7ZJY3 Nursery Creek Views. Early start to beat the heat. Expect back in town early afternoon. Around 10km and 200m climb. Leader: John Evans 0417436877 john@johnevans.id.au . Maps: Corin Dam and Rendezvous Creek. Transport: ~$15.
Further Information
With a forecast 40degC, we started early and did the climb first.
Summary
Distance: 8.7km | Climb: 370m | Time: 6.45am – 12.20pm (5hrs 35mins), including geocaching time and driving between walks | Grading: M/M-R,ptX; M(9)
Photographs
Photographs are available, where you can start a large sized slideshow.
Video
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
Walk 1
We met opposite my old folks home at 6am and were ready to walk at the Nursery Swamp Car park by 6.45am.
Up the track for around 500m. We could feel waves/pockets of hot air as we climbed. Then a 1km leg, generally SE and rising 170m. Light scrub at first, then a few patches of bursaria and cassinia. I was wondering why anyone would walk up here; we were sweating heavily by just after 7am. But pushing through the last of the scrub, we came upon our objective, sited on a lovely open slab with views.
With 4 geocachers (and 2 muggles) in the party, someone – not me – found geocache GC7ZJY3 Nursery Creek Views.
A couple of the guys were also after GC41FGW Kids in the Nursery, so we headed down towards it on a leg a little south of our inward one. THe scrub seemed a little thicker and pricklier – it may have been easier to retrace our initial climb and walk but along the NSWT. Anyway, success. And at least this entire walk was on the shaded side of the hill.
Back down at the cars we enjoyed a Zooper-Dooper, then drove to the Tracking Station car park.
Walk 2
A short stroll down the open valley followed, all of 750m, to find and log geocache GC7Z6WT Space Sewage. Lovely views to the green Orroral River fens and up to Orroral Tor (where we were on 12 Jan 19).
Walk 3
We next drove round to the Honeysuckle Creek camp ground. Thank goodness the gate of the Orroral Ridge Road was open (it wasn’t at 8am last Saturday after a total fire ban ended 8 hours previously). So we drove up to the old collimation tower site/Tower Rocks car park.
A small oops as we followed a footpad SW down towards Tower Rocks was corrected and we set off SE towards The Belfry. Another geocache for IamCoust and MJW1 on the way, then onto the main objective (for me), geocache GC819AA Lego Land III. Duly found and logged. I enjoy the Orroral Ridge of Stone geocaches because most are just off the crest footpad and provide marvellous views down to the Orroral Valley.
On to The Belfry, where I was happy to pause on the footpad to admire the tor whilst other went in closer to find GC168Y0 Bats in the Belfry.
To my surprise, the horribly scrubby push into the bottom of the tor has been cleared and little cut tracks make easy access. So I went in too.
A couple of years ago we came up the spur from the Orroral Valley to this crest and I’d seen a cairn marking a route heading down in a westerly direction from just past The Belfry. So today’s last objective was to find where it went.
As it turned out, the footpad/route circumnavigated The Cloisters. Picked up a couple more cairns to add to the last trip’s waypointed ones (see track map W3).
After our little circle, we headed back along the crest footpad to the cars. A blue tongue lizard nearly got trodden on.
Getting hot by now, so straight back into town, where it was already 40degC.
Thanks, good friends, for your company and indulgences.
Track Maps
Track W1 and W2
Track W3
Party
6 walkers – Roger E, Janice H, Alex N, Neil W, Matthew W, me.