Lees Creek weir
Sunday 22 September 2024: A Weir-d Day in the Brindabellas * – L/M. A number of small weirs were built on the eastern flanks of the Brindabella Range in the 1960-70s. We visit several of them, walking mainly on Old Mill Rd, Warks Rd and Blundells Creek Rd management trails except for short forays through thick bush to each weir. Around 20km and 600vm. A combined CBC/NPA trip.
Summary
From Garmin Connect (recorded on Epix Gen 2) – Distance: 19.22km | Climb: 610vm | Time: 3:49 moving + 2:59 of stops = 6:48 | Grading: L/E,H; M(11).
Photographs
View photographs here. More photos in this album than embedded in this trip report.
gpx file
Download the gpx file here.
Track Map
Here’s where we went.
Track A Weir-d Day in the Brindabellas
Trip Report
I was last in this area on 22 Apr 17.
It took a while to track down these weirs. The story is documented at 18 Brindabella Weirs.
We drove to the intersection of Brindabella Rd and Old Mill Rd, dropped walkers, then did a car shuttle back down to Reids Pinch at the big NNP sign.
Away and walking at 8.30am.
Our first weir was Piccadilly weir, pretty easy to get to. Except it would have been easier to get to it via our exit route because the weir was pretty close to Old Mill Rd after it turned a bend.
Piccadilly weir
We moved between weirs on Old Mill Rd and Warks (pronounced “Walks”) Rd. As the day developed, beautiful forest of tall trees.
Old Mill Rd between Piccadilly and Ferny weirs
Weir #2 was Ferny weir. Another easy entry and exit.
Steve at Ferny weir
Weir #3 was Bulls Head weir. A bit harder to climb up through the bush, but we could see Old Mill Rd from the weir. And more impressive than the first two.
Bulls Head weir
Returning to the fire trail we had smoko.
Again, walking between weirs took us through impressive country.
Old Mill Rd between Bulls Head and Pago weirs
The fourth weir, Pago weir, was a real bugga to get to. I’d remembered an old and overgrown access route, originally bulldozed in to get the concrete trucks on site. But I didn’t bring this bit on my gpx file. Thanks to Dick (the bulldozer) and Sandra (the navigator) we bush bashed up to it, taking quite some time. Well worth the effort.
Pago weir
I found the top of the access track as it bent away from the top of the weir. Although badly overgrown, the horizontal benching was clearly recognisable cut in on the high side and falling away on the low side. Only trouble is I did a whoopsie. Towards the bottom I continued to follow the access track, not bending away to where we left Old Mill Rd. We popped out on the old Pago Break (not shown on the map above) and had to walk back to pick up some packs.
We soon reached the end of Old Mill Rd and joined Warks Rd.
Old Mill Road sign post at intersection with Warks Rd
Warks Rd takes a mighty U-bend, so to save walking an extra ~2.5km, we took a plunge down through the bush. Steep, but relatively easy going on the sparser N facing slope. Lunch in the shade just above where we were to rejoin Warks Rd.
Lunch views in the shade above Warks Rd
Warks Rd country became more delightful.
A ferny gully on Warks Rd
Straight, tall trees reared up from the side of the fire trail and even taller specimens from the depths of the gullies.
Tall timber on Warks Rd
The penultimate weir was Warks weir. A nice flat walk in 40m or so up the creek.
Warks weir
The country continued to be interesting.
Ferns beside Warks Rd
We reached the intersection of Warks Rd and Blundells Creek Rd. We were not at the bullet hole.
Signage at the corner of Warks and Blundells Creek Rds
A short 350m further on to visit Lees Creek weir, the last for the day.
Lees Creek weir
Returned to the corner.
Gate marked with location at corner of Warks and Blundells Creek Rds
Exited via the gentle up of Blundells Creek Rd, glad that we’d put in the car shuttle in the morning.
Trust everyone enjoyed it.
Party
10 walkers (or warkers) – Steve G, Tam G, Mon H, Cathy K, Joanna K, Tarn L, Rob Mac, Dick M, Sandra T, me.
AllTrails
The AllTrails map is here, where you can pan and zoom.
Johnny Boy’s Walkabout Blog FaceBook Page
I’ve started up a FaceBook page. Each trip report posts to it. It’s another way to get some info to get out and breathe a bit of fresh air. Why not pop over and Follow the page, or give a post a Like.
Additional Trip Reports
As I age, I’m doing a few more simple hikes. I don’t always produce a full trip report. If you’re interested, you can find details of them on the Completed Walks tab. There you can access the trip’s map segment, download a gpx file, see the distance, climb and grading, and link through to the photo album. Additional metrics are available by looking at the start waypoint on the map segment – moving time, stopped time, total time.
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