View up the Tidbinbilla Range from under the north side of Billy Billy Rocks
Thursday 11 October: North of Billy Billy Rocks – M/R. On the northern side of Billy Billy Rocks there is a geocache, GC1PVHC . This is the goal for the day. There are lots and lots of granite boulders to be negotiated. Participants will need to be comfortable in scrambling over steep rock. Leader: Roger E.
Further Information
Missed this cache when last in the area on 30 Jan 18. After a successful find, we tacked on a trip to Honeysuckle Creek camp ground and a quick leg in the AAWT to pick the lock at GC69RT4 Torrevieja.
Summary
Distance: 10.2km | Climb: 680m | Time: 8.35am – 12.45pm (4hrs 10mins), including 20 mins of breaks + 1.35 – 2.40pm (1hr 5mins) | 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
Walk 1
A cool and cloudy day made for ideal walking conditions. We spent some time trying to find geocache GC1A7XY William Totally Rocks for Neil, but no joy. Reception, so I was able to access my blog post to see that the actual location is a little away from the given location. Roger and I recognised several of the crawls and slots, but could not remember the location, even though our find trip was only last January. No spoiler photos with us.
While the others looked, I took a little trip up to the crest. Another 2 cairns there and I could see down to the south, so perhaps a better way than 22 Sep 18 to get from the easy east access route to Cairn 1 – Billy Billy Rocks.
We gave up, had a glance at the direct descent to our objective and quickly decided against it. Big drops. We backed off a ways then contoured west under the huge tors of the northern face of Billy Billy Rocks. Twice I doubted Roger, thinking that we were too low. But he held his line, found an easy ascent gully to the back of the cache location and said object was soon in hand. Signing of GC1PVHC Granite Cascade completed, we enjoyed 20mis of the fabulous views – up the Tidbinbilla Range, down over the edge (shiny rock climbing anchor points there) and back up the granite cascades behind us.
An uneventful reverse out, including a detour for IamCoust to geocache My Rock is Better than Your Rock.
Walk 2
With time up our sleeve, we motored via an ice cream and soft drink at Tharwa General Store to the Honeysuckle Creek camp ground.
A quick tromp along the AAWT, 150m of bush and we were at GC69RT4 Torrevieja. I’d been in here a few weeks earlier, to find the cache location and check out what was required. I spoke with a locksmith friend at church, who loaned me more professional tools (my rake had 2 bumps on it; the rake with the cache only 1) and advised that the pressure on the turning tool should be VERY light. He also loaned me a lock to practise on.
At the cache I could get nowhere in 5 minutes. Neil took over and within a minute or so, he had the lock open. Much joy!
Thanks for organising this Roger, and for the company ‘nimble-fingers’ Neil.
Track Maps
Track Walk 2
Track Walk 2
Party
3 walkers – Roger E (Marmaduke Rothschild) (leader), Neil W (IamCoust), me.