Mt Ainslie lookout
Saturday 10 January: Cbr100Challenge Training – 40km on the 50km route – L/E. A wander along most of the 50km route for the Cbr100Challenge. LBG, Anzac Parade, Mt Ainslie, Ainslie-Majura saddle, down to Federal Highway, back of racecourse, Lyneham and O’Connor Ridges, Black Mountain, cork oaks, back via south side of LBG. Maps: Canberra and Hall. Leader: John Evans 0417 436 877 john@johnevans.id.au . Transport: Drive yourself to meet at Mr Spokes bike hire on LBG at 6.30am. Book by 6pm Friday.
4 of us met.
Summary
Distance: 38.2km | Climb: 960m | Time: 6.10am-3.25pm (9hrs 15mins), with 40 mins of breaks | Grading: L/E; H(12)
Track Maps
Planned walk – yellow waypoints and track
Actual walk – blue waypoints and track
Track overview
Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Track 5
Profile
Photographs
Photographs are available, where you can start a large sized slideshow.
gpx File
Download the .gpx file here. (Right click, Save Link As…, Save – if you want to use it.)
kml File
Download the .kml file here.
Track Notes
Cbr100Challenge have published a map of the 25km, 50km and 100km routes on their website, but not yet the gpx files. So I had a go at converting their map of the 50km route using my OziExplorer and digital maps to a usable set of waypoints and a track. Advertised as a Canberra Bushwalking Club short-notice walk, it attracted 3 other starters, 2 of whom are signed up to do the Cbr100Challenge 50km walk.
Another matter that had fooled me was the starting point of the Cbr100Challenge, Westside Action Park. It’s the bunch of containers being cobbled together near Mr Spokes bike hire. See here.
I arrived a bit early to find Chris already there. So off we went to find a nearby geocache. Chris found it for me and I logged GC2KWD6 Bridge Banter XX.
The others arrived and we set off to go under Commonwealth Avenue bridge, along the LBG edge of Commonwealth Park and turned up to go under Parkes Way. I had a cursory look for another cache, but there was really not time.
We rounded the corner into Anzac Parade and walked up the west side of it and around the west side of the War Memorial. Then across the back of it to the bottom of the track up to Mt Ainslie. Plenty of walkers and runners on the track. Gave Edwina a bell, who was leading another CBC walk around the lake. A bit of a pull up the hill. We made the lookout at 7.40am. 6.2km in 1hr 30mins. A quick drink stop.
We left Mt Ainslie via the wonderful Canberra Centenary Trail gateway and followed the route. A fraction of indecision at waypoint 11. Ducked a couple of tens of metres off the track to pick up caches GC38NDC Airport Views and GC38NDF City Views. Again, a little faffing around at waypoint 12 and some cross country to get on the fire trail on the correct side of the fence. Up to the junction with the Mt Majura track, then down it to the stone steps at the junction with the north-south fire trail. Down the track to the familiar Antill St car park. This leg 6.4km in 1hr 30mins.
Across Antill St, we walked down the power line easement to the Federal Highway, down it towards town, across at the lights and along Flemington Rd outside EPIC. We crossed to the far side of the road at the pedestrian crossing and walked to the intersection with Randwick Rd. There’s a strange little loop in the official route here, but we just turned into Randwick Rd and walked the pretty boring length of it to the Barton Highway. This leg 4.6km in 50mins.
An interesting walk up the verge of the Barton Highway, sometimes behind a safety barrier and sometimes on the on-road bike path, to the bike and horse underpass under the Barton Highway. A quick faff here, but the Ellenborough St bike path was in site so, after a drink stop, we cross countried to join it. Walking west along the bike path, we struck the short path leading to the gate at the northern entrance to the Lyneham Ridge Eucalypt Plantation. This short leg 1.4km in 20mins.
We headed SE up the fence line to pick up what I thought was the Cbr100Challenge 50km route and, very soon after getting on it, sat down for a 10minute morning tea. There are plenty of braided tracks through the Eucalypt Plantation – I wonder if the organisers will signpost them? Quick finds of 2 more geocaches – GC47PKK Quebec Objective and GC48Q53 Tango Objective. At the southern end of this area we came out above Ginninderra Drive. I think the 50km route alignment used the southern most W-E street in North Lyneham, but I decided we’d get a quicker and more direct run between the back of the houses and Ginninderra Drive. A combination of ok going, a very slippery drain, the crest of the sound barrier and the on-road bile lane took us down to the northern approaches to the bridge over Ginninderra Drive. Over we went, followed by a bit longer cursory look for a geocache. Down to Archibald St, west on it and up the the corner. The corner yielded cache GC2C26W Betchern0t Uke. In through the nearby gate into the O’Connor Ridge Nature Reserve. Again, a bit of a choice of paths to take SW through it to join the main bike path. This we did via a bit of cross country faffing about. We followed it down to Dryandra St, across MacArthur Avenue at the roundabout where the CCT markers got us onto the footpad that goes south between Barry Drive and Dryandra St. Under Barry Drive and along the side of the cutoff drain to go around the Frith Rd electricity sub station and so into the CCT signed Black Mountain area. This leg 7.8km in 1hr 55mins.
A short way further we propped near the back gate of the Botanic Gardens for a 20min lunch. Setting off again, a couple of us discussed that we’d been here a few times before – and I promptly took the wrong way. A cross country correction and so onto the steepish track that goes up to Black Mountain. We puffed to the top, the day quite humid and the sun occasionally breaking through cloud cover (the day’s maximum temperature was 29ºC). We wandered over to the entrance to the Telstra Tower for a 10 minute toilet stop and a water replenish. Then south off the top to the car park and to join the ‘hat band’ track going around clockwise. A log of GC2Q7MP Black Glen. Around the western side of the hill and back to where we’d puffed up – only to discover that the next geocache wasn’t downhill, but uphill. I wonder why no one accompanied me back up the track a hundred metres or so? A quick find and log of GC239F Geocache. It was hidden 21 Oct 01. Back together, we continued down to the north, then turned SW towards the Caswell Drive underpass. However, we stayed on the east side of the road, across the back of the south-bound Caswell Drive Black Mountain car park and down to join the bike path. This leg 7.5km in 2hrs 15mins (including 30mins of breaks).
We’d already had a friendly text warning of rain coming and this was a decision point. I’d planned to do the Arboretum bit and back via the south side of the lake. Another option was to go through the cork oaks but then exit the Arboretum and return via the north side of the lake. The third option, which we took, was to head for home via the north side of the lake from here. The rain, heavy for a while, started as we crossed Lady Denman Drive at the lights. It was a wet plod back to the start. This leg 4.3km in 55mins.
So, on my best guess of the Cbr100Challenge 50km route, we did 33.9km and 930m climb in 8hrs 20mins including 40mins of breaks from Westside Acton Park to Glen Loch Interchange. gpx and kml files for this portion are available here:
gpx File of Cbr100Challenge 50km track to Glen Loch Interchange – Download the .gpx file here. (Right click, Save Link As…, Save – if you want to use it.)
kml File of Cbr100Challenge 50km track to Glen Loch Interchange – Download the .kml file here.
Party
4 walkers – Mark B, Cynthia B, Chris F, me.