This walk was organised and led by Peter W as an FBI ad-hoc Tuesday walk:
Tuesday Walk - 10 March - Barren Jack Falls and Trig, off Lake Burrinjuck. Leader: Peter W. The aim of this walk is to climb a waterfall that I have seen on previous walks, and see a nice nature reserve. We will leave the car at the mouth of the creek a few km from the dam at 453270, walk up the rough road 700 m to the minor dam, 1 km in the creek bed to the falls, climb the falls, we then go north to the northern end of the main mountain walking cross country and on a fire-trail. We come back to the car using the N-S ridge over Barren Jack Trig. Total climb 600 m, about 14 km. Map: Yass 1:50 000. Cars: 230 km ($27). I plan to leave Duffy about 8 am. If interested email or phone Peter. Canberra forecast as of Thurs is Tuesday Showers. Min 12 Max 25.
6 of us met at North Lyneham and drove in 2 cars via Yass and the turnoff on the Hume Highway to the Burrinjuck State Recreation Area. Left Duffy around 8am, arrived 9.45am.
Note to self - seek more info when Peter W is leading! Still, if he'd told me more about the falls (which he'd previously only seen from a distance so really didn't know) I may not have gone and would have missed out on that prolonged shot of adrenalin.
I'd never been to Burrinjuck Dam, so the drive in off the Hume Highway and the location was interesting. We parked when Barren Jack Creek goes (not flows, at the moment) under the road into the dam. Sealed road all the way. Any connection between Burrinjuck and Barren Jack? Not a terribly salubrious area, a fenced off rubbish dump. Barren Jack Creek was dry and, indeed, barren. But the potential of the area was immediately obvious, with a rocky buttress towering above us (see here).
Away up the creek bed at 10am, passing the small and fetid looking Barren Jack Dam. Concrete - maybe it was a practice build! It supplied water to the construction camp. The creek line continued to narrow - its base was rocky and the sides of the gorge were rocky. A tree was hanging on grimly (see here). In places our leader's NZ upbringing and training came in handy - he selected a large, heavy stick and beat a path for us through the encroaching blackberries. Lucky they are exotic, as the beating of native flora is verboten. A huge rock slab featured on the W side of the creek and another buttress on the E. Casuarinas lined the slot, with an occasional Kurrajong higher up.
Pools of water began to appear. A small (relatively speaking) dry waterfall was scrambled. About 40mins from our start we reached Barren Jack Falls, the area that Peter had previously seen from afar and had brought us to inspect. It was a slow scramble, with a line taking us up its W side, then crossing to the E. Dry. At one point, with the leader and another paused ahead of me, I found myself halted at a precarious spot with a significant drop below. What happens to me is that the longer I think about these things, the more the adrenalin courses, so I asked to push on ahead to a less fear-inducing place. I found a short horizontal area and after my heart rated slowed to 100, pulled out the camera to snap the others (see pic 1). The way was barred at the other end of this slot by a marvellous, vertical diamond-shaped block (see here). Fortunately, there was a slab rising to the W with a vegetation line and this led us high above the falls to regroup and enjoy morning tea. Fabulous views back down the creek line from here (see pic 2).
To my dismay we set off again back down into the creek, rather than a wimpish contour high above it. However, the going was more benign. At 2.53km from our start another dry creek line joined our way and we struck off a little to the right up a spur. Blanketed in Cassinia, it took us to intersect the 132kV power line and lunch.
Signage announced that we could join the Waterfall Trail, which we did, and wandered at a rapid pace to join a more major vehicle track, back to join the power line. I don't often photograph power line pylons, but one had a lovely bit of stone work around the base (see here).
Another 2km of Cassinia were coughed through, taking us up onto, then along, the N-S ridge to Barren Jack Trig. A substantial structure (see pic 3) with well aged logbook (see here). A pause for more sustenance.
A vague track took us 300m down to join a fire trail (so the signage at the bottom informed us) and another quick and easy tromp along the rest of the ridge and down a spur brought us to the end of the fire trail (see here). A mere 450m horizontal from the waters edge, but 225m down. At one stage I found that dragging a land anchor (a branch which caught on various bits of shrubbage) behind me slowed the helter-skelter descent, but it tended to dislodge stone onto my friends below.
Down at the road, we crossed it and went to the edge of the lake whilst our courteous drivers returned to get the cars. Some even had a swim.
A short drive to see the dam wall (see here) and a long drive home.
As usual, an excellent Peter W walk in an interesting area. Thanks Peter for the adrenalin rush and other features, and to Barrie, Henry, Max and Philip.
Distance: 12km Climb: 700m. Time: 10am - 4.15pm (6hrs15mins), with 50mins of stops.
Grading: M/M-R; H(12)
KMZ file for Google Earth/Maps: Barren Jack Falls and Trig
