14 September 2010 Border Marker Hunting on the Naas and Sams Creeks watershed

Map: Yaouk 1:25000

Getting There

This walk was organised and led by me as an irregular CBC Tuesday walk:

Tuesday 14 September - Border Marker Hunting on the Naas and Sams Creeks watershed – L/R,ptX. Insert quickly to the Maurice Luton fire trail via Gudgenby saddle. Head west to the border, then north over a knoll between Naas and Sams Creeks. Return via Sams Creek ft and the same way we came in. Around 23km and 700m climb. Map: Yaouk. Leader: John Evans - jevans@pcug.org.au, (h) 6288 7235. Transport: ~$12 per person.

2 of us met at my home and we picked up a third at Lanyon. Drove to the Yankee Hat car park.

Photographs

Access all primary pics here. All thumbnails in the walk report are active - click for a larger picture.

Walk

Track overview	Track a	Track b

All in all, an excellent day. 20 border markers found (K84, J84, H84, G84, F84, E84, D84, C84, B84, A84, Z83, Y83, X83, W83, V83, U83, T83, S83, R83, Ra83); 1 border marker blaze found (E84); 2 possible border marker blazes found (H84, D84); 2 Mile markers (51M, 50M); 1 border marker revisited (Rb83); 1 non-border survey blaze found. A variety of border marker types - concrete cylinders, 1" gal iron pipe, a number of old survey posts nearby ACT border survey lockspits. We were unable to find L84 and I84.

'He who dares, wins'. We dared the weather (which had an unpleasant rain forecast with snow showers above 1500m) and won. Ken brought hope when we picked him up, saying that the 6.30am ABC news included a BoM report that the wind had slowed and the rain would not start until 3pm. Light showers started where we were at 2.20pm and we put on coats when we reached the top of the open area at the start of the Gudgenby saddle footpad. 3 coats kept any rain at bay. A bit damper on the drive back to Canberra.

Away at 7.30am and as long as we didn't look behind us, the weather seemed as though it would hold for a while.

Near Bogong Creek - the weather behind us	Near Bogong Creek - the weather in front of us

The walk description included 'Insert quickly to the Maurice Luton fire trail via Gudgenby saddle.' That we did, covering 6.8km to the Gudgenby saddle cairn in 1hr 30mins (the saddle was virtually a swamp after all the rain - never seen it like that before), 7.9km to the double blue tapes on Sams Creek fire trail in 1hr 50mins, 9.6km to the junction of the Sams Creek and Maurice Luton fire trails in 2hrs 10mins and (as I didn't specify which end of the Luton ft, We walked on for morning tea) 11.9km to the ACT-NSW border in 2hrs 40mins.

The non border survey blaze was immediately obvious - when you know what to look for (I'd walked past here on 21 Jul 09 without seeing it). We stopped for morning tea. I had a good look around for L84 and an extra mark - no joy, as their locations were near the edge of the border turning circle/helicopter pad(?) and the ground was very disturbed.

1 Blaze on tree near NSW border on Maurice Luton fire trail

We left at 10.20am and covered 3.6km along the border to Sams Creek fire trail in 2hrs 50mins (including 20mins for lunch). Border marker hunting is a bit slower than fire trail and footpad walking. Nice variety, with K84 being a concrete cylinder and J84 a 1" gal iron pipe. I don't take much notice of the bush when I hunt, but it was reasonable open eucalypt forest.

K84 uncovered	K84	J84	J84 uncovered	H84 and possible blaze tree

A few nice blocks and slabs of granite, an impressive one barred our way as we headed towards G84.

Looking up to a huge granite slab where G84 will be

G84 was another concrete cylinder. E84 still had its blaze nearby, the scar almost closed over. There weren't as many blazes as I thought there might be as, even though the area was not burnt in 2003 and there were lots of magnificent old trees, many were also burnt and fallen because of previous fires. 51 Mile was an obvious cairn; D84 - a cement cylinder and lockspit had an old peg and lockspit right next to it (this was the first of many similar arrangements seen today).

G84	G84 uncovered	F84	E84	E84 blaze
51 Mile	D84	Fallen tree and possible D84 blaze	C84

Nice views W to the Yaouk Valley as we approached the top of the 1520+m knoll.

2 View to Yaouk Valley from near top of 1520+m knoll

B84, another concrete cylinder, sat atop a high granite boulder. S83 was similar and provided a wonderful location for a quick lunch.

B84	B84 uncovered	A84	Z83	Y83	X83

W83	V83	U83	T83	S83 uncovered	S83

The 50 Mile marker was built by a fine 'piling party' - the cairn stood out. The 3 R83s were visited.

50 Mile	R83	Ra83	Rb83

It was only a few tens of metres down to Sams Creek fire trail. We followed it SE round the bottom of Mt Gudgenby, its granite slabs majestic through the trees. Back down to the double blue tapes by 1.25pm. Took a line up the gully a lot closer down to the waterline.

Mt Gudgenby from the SW on Sams Creek fire trail

One spot on the footpad to Gudgenby saddle always tricks me, particularly going up. So we popped an extra marker cairn at the turn point.

Extra marker cairn constructed on footpad to Gudgenby Saddle at 'hard left up the hill following pinks'

On the way back through the Bogong Creek area, we went to the KHA 867 location - Frank and Jacks Hut Original at UTM 55H 677412-6040583 (GDA94). Nothing there. The KHA description includes 'The hut was built shortly after 1948, and blew down in the early 1950s. Little sign of the site was evident even before the planting of the Boboyan Pines. The site was searched for and investigated again in December 2001'.

KHA site 867 Frank and Jacks Hut original - site

A good day. Thanks to Ken W and Mark B.

Distance: 24.8km Climb: 700m. Time: 7.30am - 3.20pm (7hrs 50mins), with 35mins of breaks.
Grading: L/R,ptX; H(14)

KMZ file for Google Earth/Maps: Border Marker Hunting on the Naas and Sams Creeks watershed

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This page last updated 22Aug22