Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog

Saturday 3 August: CBC’s Come and Try Bushwalking in the Snow – Square Rock – S/M.
Have you ever wanted to try out bushwalking? Or are you looking for a group of friends to walk with? Walk with the Canberra Bushwalking Club to Square Rock. All on walking track, through eucalypt forest, boggy herb field, Namadgi granite, and a dusting of snow near the summit. Also includes a short side trip to the Orroral Valley Lookout. Huge views to the snow covered Brindabellas. Suitable for fit beginners, moderate pace. Members and non-members welcome. You will need to wear water proof footwear, thermals, long pants and shirt, warm jacket, gloves, beanie, and carry a rain jacket just in case. Predicted temperatures between -2 and 10 degrees. Bring lunch and drinking water. Questions to shell@lamingtonmedia.com. 10.25 km return.
Drive yourself to Square Rock Walk carpark on Corin Road. Sealed mountain road, take care in frosty or wet conditions. The walk starts at 10:00am, please be present and ready to walk at this time. The leaders will be waiting at the carpark no matter what the weather. Leaders: Shell D and John Evans 0417 436 877 john@johnevans.id.au .

Further Information

The third come-and-try-it walk put on by the Canberra Bushwalking Club.

Summary

Distance: 10.6km | Climb: 350m | Time: 10.15am – 2.05pm (3hrs 50mins), including 60 mins at Square Rock | Grading: M/E; E(7)

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

We had enormous interest in this Facebook Event advertised trip:

Thank goodness the 66 registered to attend self-selected (foggy in Canberra, no snow?). Although it was a pity that last minute enquirers didn’t get the chance to join in. In the end we had 7 CBC helpers and 22 new walkers. The lesson we learned was that next time we need some sort of booking system.

Driving up Corin Road we broke out of the cloud and fog into a perfect winter’s day for walking – crisp, but blue-sky sunny and no breeze.

Shell gave the walk briefing and we broke into two parties, setting off 10 or so minutes away.

The first group off and away, with plenty of chatter indicating a good time (or else no uphill yet).

A pleasant 4.7km to Square Rock in 1hr 15mins at a very manageable pace set by our leader.

Reaching the objective, our group broke into two sub-groups to safely climb the ladder, jump the narrow slot and admire the views from the edge.

We retreated and ate in the sun whilst the second party enjoyed the views.

At Linda’s great suggestion, most of us explored the slots and tunnels beneath Square Rock as an added bonus.

We returned via the Orroral Valley lookout.

A great time was had by all. Watch the CBC Facebook page and CBC Activity Program – we’ll do another come-and-try-it walk soon!

Track Map

Track

Party

29 walkers – including Peter C, Shell D (leader), Linda G, Mark P, Jay S, Phillip S, me.