Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog

Monday 28 February 2022: Misery Point and nearby hills ! – S/E. A short trip to Misery Point and nearby Bold, Ryan and Barrer Hills, with a little geocaching thrown in.

Summary

Distance: 10.8km | Climb: ~230m | Time: 3hrs 20mins total time including caching | Grading: S/E; E(6).

Photographs

Photographs are available here.

gpx File

Download the gpx file (missing the final bit to Misery Point aka Barrer Track) recorded via AllTrails here (in AllTrails, activate …, Download Route, Select a file format, OK). Download the gpx file with the patched Barrer Track shown in AllTrails here (in AllTrails, activate …, Download Route, Select a file format, OK).

Track Notes

AllTrails trip report (missing the final bit to Misery Point aka Barrer Track). AllTrails trip report with patched Barrer Track. An electronically poor trip to an increasingly interesting area. GPSr rechargeable batteries ran out of charge early on and so did the spares I had with me. But they’ve done good service so they can go to a good home in the e-waste bin. Old man user error with AllTrails which caused it to not record the final bit to Misery Point (Barrer Track). I won’t bore you with the track patching details. I last went to Misery Point on 24 Dec 07, a solo trip like this one. However, I’d now recommend a trip there to see the regenerating plantings, track signage, sculptures and the Molonglo River at Misery Point. By the way, not a mention of the old map marked name ‘Misery Point’. Fair enough I suppose, not very inviting. The whole area is now known as Barrer Hill, with a Barrer Circuit, Barrer Summit and Barrer Track (the peninsula to the river) defined. “In 2014, Barrer Hill was named in honour of the late Canberra-based ecologist and environmental advocate, Dr Peter Maling Barrer (1942-1997).” Parked beside Weston Creek Pond via the road at the end of Kirkpatrick St. Headed north to cross Clos Bridge. There is a geocache on the far side but I only gave a cursory, unsuccessful search. It seems like I can only find difficulty 2 or below hides. A zig and a zag along the fire trails and a climb through the weeds to Bold Hill and a log of cache GC8YBJ6 Barra Bold. Back down on the fire trail I continued north. Then east and north to the supposed Ryan Hill. I circumnavigated the supposed location on the AllTrails OpenStreetMap finding nothing but walls of blackberries on the ground that sloped down to the east of the fire trail. A similar look at the AllTrails track at Barrer Hill leads me to think that a couple of these hills are slightly mis-positioned on the OpenStreetMap. Near the next intersection I logged GC8ZGTH Boundary Bison. Turning west, I gained Barrer Hill and logged geocache GC80PNW Barrer Hill. The top is a well done area (apart from the thistles), with lookouts to the east and west. The top photo below shows the Misery Point peninsula. Leaving Barrer Hill by returning on the Barrer Summit track, then across the north of the hill (too many blackberries to take a direct line), I got a bit mixed up at the next track junction. A couple of false starts and a cross country recovery had me on the Barrer Track. It’s here the AllTrails recording faltered – my bad. One of the signs says that “Since 2012, more than 50,000 seedlings have been planted at Barrer Hill, including 10,000 trees and shrubs.” Great work! The Barrer Track has some magnificent signage. It culminates with a huge sculpture! The track ends there, but it’s an easy, non thistled walk down to the Molonglo River. The return was east back towards Barrer Hill. Around this point was the signage that explained it all. Then SE and S to Southwell Crossing. It was impassable. So east and back over Clos Bridge. A dragon on the little bridge over Weston Creek. Back to the car.

Track Map

The AllTrails recorded track map is here. The patched track map on AllTrails is here. And here’s the patched track laid out on the TopoView 2006 map segment.

Party

Just moi.