Burrungubugge Hut site - wrong - it's the Constance Hut site

Maps: Kalkite Mountain and Geehi 1:25000

Walk Description

This walk was organised and led by Max S as an irregular Tuesday walk:

Tuesday 26 November: Burrungubugge Hut Ruin – Kosciuszko NP - M/M. From Locked gate on the Island Bend FT, follow IBFT to Burrungubugge river. Follow direction of the track marked on the Kalkite Mtn map to Hut – from a recent report the track is over grown. About 11 km and 300 m, a mixture of FT and off track. If time allows, visit the weir on the Gungarlin River – add 4 km and 100 m. Maps: Kalkite Mountain and Geehi. Leader: Max S. Transport: ~$140 per car. Limit: 8.

8 of us drove from Canberra via Cooma to the start. Sooooooooo nice not to have to drive.

Photographs

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Track Maps

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Track

Eucumbene Snowy Tunnel portal

Snowy River view

Surge tower outlook

Videos

Google Earth

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Track Notes

We shook out at the locked gate intersection and headed up along the Island Bend Fire Trail. Good that we parked nicely, as we saw a Ranger vehicle and a couple of Snowy Hydro vehicles + workers on our wanderings. Broad FT and much chatting till just after crossing the Burrungubugge River. John T was the first to spy the overgrown old vehicle track heading off to the hut site (NB. hut siteS - see later, thanks to Greg H). 1.9km in 30mins.

Again, pleasant walking on a lovely day, although in single file most of the time along the benched, but overgrown old vehicle track. At the edge of a clearing in front of us a blank sign board (burnt out by fire) used to announce something. Some low stone wall segments came into view. We were at, what we thought was, the Burrungubugge Hut site. 2.4km in 40mins.

Nearby shade provided the perfect place for a lazy morning tea, with views down open grasses in front of us to the river.

Leaving the area, we spied another site a few tens of metres to the NE. Some metal foundation supports and a pot bellied stove. This is, in fact, the Burrungubugge Hut site, the first site actually being the Constance hut site!

Many thanks to Greg Hutchison who sent me:

"Following through and looking at your trip to Burrungubuggee Hut I noted on the map you have Burrung marked and then hut 2 marked In fact the first with some stone work is the site of Constance hut site and the one with the pot belly is the site of Burrungubugge Hut burnt in 2003 There are other sites around with Reids Hut site across the creek and up the hill 500m or so. There is also a mining site and miners hut site in the side valley to the north between Burrung Hut site and the Island Bend FT".

and:

"There is also an old Bridle Trail that goes from behind the hut sites up the ridgeline and down to Daveys Hut over the range. The bridle trail also crossed the Burrung Ck/River and went up past Reids and on to the Tolbar and Finns River. See attached yarn. The route up this way past Reids is very overgrown lower down since the 2003 fires. The bridle trail over the range to Daveys is also now hard to find due to growth and fallen timber The Burrung rises on the main range below The Mailbox. The route from Daveys Hut to Kidmans then follows a route next to the Burrung until it climbs onto a plateau where there are some diggings (McDonalds Diggings) then crosses the Burrung and continues up a ridgeline onto a higher plateau just below the main range, then climbs again through a gap in the range with one leg going to Tin Hut and another onto Mawsons Hut. So you can see the route of the Burrung higher up was an important bridle route to the main range and beyond. The route to Alpine hut also followed the same trail."

The yarn is:

"TOP THIS YARN. After tracing the track from Daveys to Constances we called in for a yarn with Ross Bolton. This was the track used by Ross and his father to take their stock to their land on the Finns river. Model T Fords had to take the steep parts backwards due to their gravity feed petrol tank. SMA hydrologists would use this track, so did Laurie Fletcher when he worked for the SMA. Their stockroute took them through Kalkite gap to a set of yards on Willis' near the rocky crossing of the Gungarlin where they stayed the first night. From there it was across Windy gap, the turkey dam, up the track to Constance on to the Back river (Burrungubugee), past Reids and on to the hut on Finns River. After the original hut was burnt down in the '39 fires " we took the 8 ft sheets of iron in on a horse. He couldn't look around! I carried the ridge capping on my shoulder". Graham Scully, Phillip Crampton"

I have fixed the map waypoints, photo titles and kmz file.

We returned along the old vehicle track which parallels the Burrungubugge River. With plenty of time, the loud call of the gurgling water was too much to resist, so we wandered down though light scrub to the river. A lovely cascade and, from its top, views up the river to more lengths of white water.

Back up to the track, we returned to the cars. Return leg from the huts 4.7km 1hr 30mins, including 10-15mins at the cascade.

Next we walked up the service road towards the Gungarlin River weir. Our first surprise was a fine structure - a weir across the cascading Burrungubugge River extracting all its water and feeding it into a huge open tank structure. I assume it then goes into the nearby underground Eucumbene Snowy Tunnel. After a good poke about, we continued on along the service road located beside a grassed over significantly sized pipeline, until we reached the Gungarlin River weir. Here, again, all the water is sucked out and fed into the pipeline, leaving the river bed exposed and empty. 1.9km in 30mins, including a look around the open tank structure.

Lunch was enjoyed sitting in the shade on the concrete.

After munchies we returned, this time going up to the structures beside the Burrungubugge River weir for a closer look.

Driving back, we had a quick look at the Eucumbene Snowy Tunnel portal (or, as Greg suggests, maybe the adit); down at the Island Bend area we walked down to the Island Bend Pondage to view the broad Snowy River; before Jindabyne we stopped at the Surge Tower and lookout. Jindabyne Bakery for a coffee and pie.

A perfect day - I slept on the way up, enjoyed the walk, and slept on the way back.

Summary

Distance: 12.9km Climb: 300m. Time: 9.50am - 2.25pm (4hrs 35 mins), with 55mins of breaks.

Grading: M/M; M(9)

Walk Participants

8 walkers - Mike B, Christine F, Eric G, Wayne P, Max S (leader), Phillip S, John T, me.