22 September 2012 Lily's Walkathon Recce

Scrivener Dam on a perfect Spring morning

Map: Canberra 1:25000

Getting There

This walk was organised and led by me as a private walk:

Saturday 22 September - Lily's Walkathon Recce - M/E. Sus out a walkathon route from John James Hospital to Calvary Hospital. Around 15km and 100m climb. Map: Canberra.

3 of us met at John James (because I'd assumed Lily wanted to walk from N to S). So we then drove 2 cars to Calvary, then 1 back to John James.

Further Information

Lily is a very generous person. She's the main mover and shaker at Calvary, organising a fund raising walkathon on Saturday 10 November to support the Kintambo Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo. So, if you're able, do support the cause with a donation and do the walkathon.

Walk - Track Notes

An absolutely beautiful Canberra Spring morning!

From the front of the Calvary John James Hospital, south along the car parks, round the corner of the wards building, west, a wiggle and out the little exit street onto Denison St. South along Denison St and then right (west) around the Botswana High Commission on the corner into Carruthers St. West along Carruthers St, crossing Yarra Glen at the lights and, once past the on-ramp, down the grassed slope onto the bike path. There is no shorter, safer way - any attempt to cross the Deakin Ovals will get you to the traffic of Yarra Glen and, once across, the Yarralumla Creek drain.

Follow the bike path ('bike paths' are shared ways, so ensure you keep to the left and keep an eye out for fast moving bicycles) along the east and north sides of Curtin. Use the underpass under McCulloch St. Continue along the bike path which traverses the north side of the Curtin District Playing Fields to Cotter Road. Follow the bike path along the curl and underpass which gets you under Cotter Road.

Continue north-ish along the bike path, past the Yarralumla Equestrian Centre on the left and piles of tree debris on the right, to swing left to parallel Lady Denman Drive.

Stay on the bike path, passing the underpass under Lady Denman Drive, to the intersection near the Molonglo River. Take the right (north) bike path from the triangular intersection. This takes you towards Scrivener Dam, crossing the minor street into the Scrivener Dam car park. Continue along the bike path, through the tunnel under Lady Denman Drive (this is a particularly blind corner on the bike path, so be especially aware of bicycles). Cross Scrivener Dam.

Continue along the bike path, which crosses a minor access road to a picnic area by the lake and climbs a low rise. It passes through a delightful area of cork oak trees, then near Barrenjoey Drive and the refurbished Lindsay Prior arboretum on the right, and on past the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Cultural Centre ... to (at last, for some) TOILETS! Enjoy!!

Back on the bike path, follow it to cross Lady Denman Drive at traffic lights, then 2 underpasses under the Tuggeranong Parkway and Caswell Drive. Again, tight curves on the path, so watch out for cyclists.

Ignore the first climb-through gate you see on your right into the Black Mountain Nature Reserve and continue along the bike path. Do NOT take the bike path which heads off to the left (or you'll end up in Belconnen) but, at the second climb-through gate into Black Mountain Nature Reserve, which has a concrete path approach), turn right and squeeze through the uprights beside the gate.

After a few metres, turn left (north) onto a fire trail which generally parallels Caswell Drive. You'll pass a track on the left which comes up from a car park. Continue north along the fire trail till you get near to a major underpass under Caswell Drive. Take the major fire trail which continues to veer up to the right.

Follow this fire trail which heads to the north-east. If you have a good sense of direction, you may think that you are heading too far east, but there is no other major fire trail in the area (there are other informal mountain bike tracks and footpads through the bush, but it's best to stay on this major fire trail). Continue to an intersection, where you take a sharp turn to the left onto the Link FT (I thinks that's its name).

This heads back nearly west-ish towards the 132kV power transmission line - you may see it if you look up. As the next intersection comes into view, you'll see some excellent Black Mountain Nature Reserve signage on your left. We stopped here to do some promotional shots for my next fund raising effort - 'Do It In A Dress', 'Hikers Without Pants' (you have to walk in a girls' school dress, or donate more) to raise funds to send girls to school in Sierra Leone - see http://doitinadress.com/JohnEvans.

At the intersection, turn sharp right onto the Powerline track and follow it straight down to and through the gate to the car par.

Cross Belconnen Way with EXTREME CAUTION, particularly the second (east going) side. Head west (up) to an entrance gate into the Bruce Ridge Nature Reserve.

Through the gate, head left up the rough eroded track, then right at the first intersection.

At the next fire trail intersection, turn left onto the Calvary FT. Nearly there!

Go through the gate and down to the underpass under the GDE. Note the 4 different underpass methods available - high pole, low log, rocky path or the central concrete for humans. Once through, continue on into the Calvary hospital car park.

Lily gave us a cheer.

A coffee and chat, then we drove back to the other car at John James.

Thanks Lily and Teclu. Beautiful day, well-paced walk, great company.

Distance: 14.2km Climb: 100m. Time: 5.45 - 8.35am (2hrs 50mins), including 10mins of breaks.
Grading: M/E,ptX; E(6)