Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog

Monday-Tuesday 6-7 May 2024: Gentlemen’s overnight walk, Main Range. Guthega, Mt Anton-Mt Anderson saddle, Consett Stephen Pass, Guthega Ridge. Private trip.

Summary

Day 1: From Garmin Connect (recorded on MAP66i) – Distance: 9.50km | Climb: 525vm | Time: 3:06 moving +1:33 of stops = 4:39 | Grading: M/E-M; M(9).

Day 2: From Garmin Connect (recorded on MAP66i) – Distance: 12.50km | Climb: 390vm | Time: 4:15 moving +2:19 of stops = 6:34 | Grading: M/E-M; M(9).

The stopped time is not only a measure of called breaks such as smoko and lunch, but is a measure of every time my feet are still. And there were many such times!

The elevation gain is taken from the recorded track in Garmin Connect with Elevation Corrections enabled. So instead of using height data based on changes in the MAP66i’s barometer, the best available DEM data is used.

Photographs

View photographs here. There’s 85 of them.

gpx file

Download the gpx file here.

Track Map

Here’s where we went.

Day 1

Day 2

Trip Report

I was last snowshoeing on the Guthega Spur on 2 Aug 18, at Mt Tate on 25 Jan 11 and along the top of the Main Range on 26-28 Feb 10.

My dear wife is a real keeper. She let me out on our 52nd wedding anniversary (we celebrated last week).

And Stephen and Max are great friends. A gentlemen’s walk indeed. Picked up from home, breakfast at The Lott cafe in Cooma (I had the Big Brekky, the bacon, eggs, hash brown, baked beans spoilt by adding wilted spinach 😂), a fantastic trip in brilliant weather, coffee and a neenish tart on the way home in Jindy, and dropped off back at home. These guys are Main Range specialists, having walked the area literally hundreds of times!

Left home with a 12kg pack including 1.5 litres of water and my new stool, brought a few things back unused (but that’s better than needing things up on the hills). Used 23gm of 4 season gas.

I felt a little under-dressed at Guthega in my shorts and shoes, as my companions geared up in long trousers and leather boots. Not a walk for boots/shoes with mesh as even in our good weather the going is damp in early morning dampness.

Day 1

Away at 10.25am on the track to Illawong.

The leg from Guthega to the Snowy River bridge was 3.4km in 1:16.

A good footpad rises to the top of the Great Dividing Range. A party of 5 youngsters passed us around lunchtime.

A good water source at the top of Pounds Creek, so maybe not necessary to cart 1.5l up there.

We joined the AAWT footpad just below the crest of the Great Dividing Range. A small cairn marks the junction.

The leg up from the Snowy River, including lunch, was 3.5km in 2:23, climbing 430vm.

Our northerly route was laid out before us.

The pad skirts Mt Anton to the west. Some remains of old snow lease fencing along the top. Substantial ‘star pickets’!

We arrived at Stephen’s selected camping spot, a bit south of the usual AAWT camp site, at 3pm. The leg from the AAWT cairn to camp was 2.3km in 1:00.

The usual drill. It has been cool and the breeze biting during the day, so after setting up we went back down to the water point to get some protection from the wind. Enjoyed a cuppa and some bikkies and bree.

Back up at camp we had to shelter by our tents to cook dinner. In bed at 6.30pm for a 12 hour session. I woke myself twice with snorting snores, but my gentlemen companions were kind enough to say they heard nothing. A windy night, easing before dawn.

Day 2

Breakfast not as glamorous as yesterday.

Took me 2 hours to pack up with my useless right hand. It gets very cold and the fingers stiff so I had a glove on most of the 2 days.

Away at 8.30am and back up to rejoin the AAWT.

The forecast for Tuesday was better than Monday, but it actually didn’t clear completely until early afternoon.

We walked through the usual AAWT campsite.

NE towards Mt Anderson.

The footpad flanks it to the East.

I waypointed a few of the cairns along the way.

The next feature was Mann Bluff.

Great views to the West as we pressed on to the NE.

Foggy as we approached Mt Tate.

We arrived 40m to the east of the trig at 10.35am, dropped our packs and strolled to the top. The leg from camp to Mt Tate was 3.8km in 2 hours. Great views.

Not my country so I struggle to identify features.

Photos all round.

We went back to our packs for a brief smoko.

The next leg was slightly E of N down to Consett Stephen Pass.

1.9km in 0:45. Even on the downhill I was dragging the chain today. I must have aged 5+ years overnight, because our usual order of march by age was now Stephen, Max, me. Some MyDHR blood test results came through during the morning which were pretty ordinary.

Great views down the Guthega River.

From here, Stephen gave us the choice of E up over SH1993 or to sidle to the crest of the Guthega Spur. Our OpenStreetMaps (OSM) showed a sidling breadcrumb, but there was no pad discernible. Can be a trap – OSM shows the easily followed AAWT footpad in the same manner as this mere route. Really no matter, as relatively easy walking.

A pleasant area, with me well in the rear.

A couple of flowers.

There was another cairn on the OSM route, but still no discernible pad. In fact, we didn’t pick it up untill after lunch.

A poorly composed Peakfinder shot from lunch.

We entered the snow gum patches at around 1910m.

An old tree I fully understood.

The footpad was easy to follow. I was glad we were going down.

We reached Guthega Pondage at 2.50pm, the 5.5km leg from Consett Stephen Pass taking 2:52 (including lunch.

Some interesting infrastructure and signage.

A final trudge up to the car park.

This was indeed a trip to make memories. Thanks Stephen and Max! It opened up a couple of day trip options. Will I haul an overnight bag up there again? – we’ll see.

Party

3 walkers – Stephen M (leader), Max S, me.

AllTrails

The AllTrails map is here, where you can pan and zoom.

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