This walk was organised as a Wednesday walk by the combined CBC/FBI/NPA clubs and led by Eric P:

('Wednesday Malk 20 July 2005.  The Pimple. From the top car park in Tidbinbilla, we take the Camel Back trail for a while, and then off track to Tidbinbilla Peak and the Pimple for lunch. About 12 kilometres and 700 metres of climb. Map: Tidbinbilla  Leader: Eric P Weather forecast: fine & sunny. Meet at Kambah 8.30 am or Tidbinbilla visitor centre at 8.50 am.')

30 of us walked.  We met at the Kambah Shops at 8.30am and drove via Point Hut Crossing to the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and on up to the back trails car park.  It was a very large group of walkers with varying abilities and must have been a logistical nightmare for our leader.

This walk includes some of number 3 in Graeme Barrow's Exploring Namadgi & Tidbinbilla: Day walks in Canberra's high country.  We left the car park at 9.10am and walked the first 2.1km of the Camel Back fire trail in 40 minutes.  After a 10 minute regroup, we did a left turn and headed up the ridge (the one I've come down on a couple of other occasions), pressing on up through a little snow on the ground and the post fire regrowth.  Add the sometimes steep incline and it took the group 70 minutes to cover 1.4km and 300 metres up to just below Spot Height 1556.  It was, of course, the magical 11am (well, 11.10am) morning tea time which caused the halt of 25 minutes.

We walked the few tens of metres to the SH 1556 cairn, where some of the group chose to stay and enjoy the perfect winter's day.  5 minutes later the remaining walkers departed to circle around the ridge to the back of The Pimple.  Although the terrain is relatively open, it is awkward walking over the stony ground, this day covered by a little snow.  We overshot the cairn marking the turnoff to The Pimple, returned to it (at GR698762 (AGD66)) and left some more of the group there to admire the striking objective from afar.  The rest of us turned north west down the slope.

Time was slipping away and at 12.40pm our leader wisely called a lunch stop around half way up the back of The Pimple.  The views across to features such as Camels Hump and Tidbinbilla Peak were amazing.  I was, however, feeling a little peeved at not being able to reach this last Tidbinbilla ridge feature and was already planning a return journey.  Suddenly Peter W took off - I called out if he would mind a companion and off I went with him.  It was a scramble to the top up a quite narrow way and this only verified our leader's decision to not take a large party up there.

It was an absolutely fantastic view from the top!  We only spent a couple of minutes there, but I took in the view north down the Cotter River valley, west to the Brindabellas and east to the Tidbinbilla ridge.  I certainly will go back.  We quickly descended, grabbed our packs and hurried to catch up with our companions, who had begun the return journey.

By 2.15pm we were back at SH 1556.  Most of us wandered up to Tidbinbilla Peak to take in other excellent views (including across to The Pimple).  15 minutes later we began the return down to the fire trail, hitting it at 3.40pm.  A late wander down the fire trail to the cars, arriving at 4.15pm.

Distance: 11.4km  Time: 9.10am-4.15pm, with 80 minutes of stops.