Well I've finally finished writing up my crazy guy journal so I thought I'd write up a quick synopsis on the blog. Morton National Park is north of Canberra so as usual the trip started with a bit of a road trip, a ten hour road trip, and as usual with leave being at a premium I headed off after work on the Thursday for the drive. I pulled up at the Wog Wog camp ground just before midnight, so it wasn't too bad. After grabbing a few hours sleep in the tent I was woken reasonably early by the sound of logging trucks rumbling along Mongarlowe Road, from where I was lying it sounded as if they where about to rumble over the tent. After ascertaining that I hadn't pitched the tent in the middle of the road I tried to snatch a little more sleep with limited success, eventually I decided to get up and have breakfast. By around 9 am, after procrastinating as long as I could I decided that I'd better start the hard work for the day and start walking.
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Heading up the Hume after work.
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| The camping area at Wog Wog. |
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Day 1, 19.6 kilometres.
Day 1 is really a story of two halves, the first half over a elevated plateau and the second half through some heath filled valleys. Leaving Wog Wog the route quickly drops to cross Wog Wog creek, the last water for the next three or so hours. Once leaving the creek the route takes an undulating u shaped route arcing to the south and keeping to the higher ground. The walking starts off very easy through dry eucalypt forest and gradually gets harder as the forest slowly turns to scrubby heath land. After awhile I found myself pushing through scrub using my head as a battering ram, every now and again I'd break out onto rock slabs which provided a reprieve from the scrub and also a bit of a view. Nearing Korra Hill I arrived at an area that had recently burn't in a bushfire, this had knocked back the scrub a bit but meant that I was quickly covered in charcoal. After climbing over Corang Peak I descended to probably the most photographed feature of the walk Corang Arch.
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Getting into the area burn't by the bushfire around Korra Hill.
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There as plenty of wild flowers out.
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| Pigeon House in the distance. |
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Corang Arch is just off the track to the west and it provided a good excuse to drop the pack for awhile, scrambling around I tried to find an angle that I hadn't seen before with no success, I did find a nice cave to sit in for awhile out of the sun. Leaving the arch I soon descended the conglomerate rock ramp down to Canowie Brook, which provided a great place to re fill my water bottles and have a late lunch. I was now walking along heath filled valleys and the track was fairly level, although very braided. From Burrumbeet Brook the route slowly climbed up the valley to eventually sidle the northern slopes of Bibbenluke Mountain, eventually I came to a benched unmarked track heading to the north which I figured had to be the track to the Bibbenluke Mountain camp, sure enough after a few minutes I got to the small flat area that I would call home for the next two nights. After setting up camp I was in the tent nice and early as tomorrow promised to be a bit of an epic.
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Corang Arch.
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Looking down on my on going route, Canowie Brook is in the valley.
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The Canowie Brook valley.
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Day 2, 23.4 kilometres, 43 kilometres total.
I was up early today as I wanted to get to The Castle before a promised front came through with its predicted showers. After a quick breakfast I was off with just a small day pack, quickly descending through the scrubby saddle between Bibbenluke Mountain and Mount Cole, from the saddle the route skirted below the cliffs of Mount Cole almost circumnavigating the mountain to the north, for some reason I'd imagined that the track would be a little better through here but in reality it was a scrub bash all the way until I dropped into the moist environment of the canyon in Monalith Valley. The rainforest didn't last long though and after passing the route to Mount Owen I quickly climbed back up into the scrubby heathland again. Around lunch time I found myself at Castle Saddle, now the fun would begin.
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Descending into the canyon in the Monalith Valley.
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Monalith Valley.
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More weid shaped rocky turrets in Monalith Valley.
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| Pigeon House from The Castle. |
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Climbing away from the saddle on the unmarked pad I kept just below the crest of the ridge on the east side, after passing a couple of camping caves the route got serious. The climb of The Castle involved a lot of scouting around looking for a safe route, some spots had climbing ropes left attached but being a fairly hefty bloke and not knowing the condition of the ropes I wasn't to keen on trusting them, instead I trusted my myself on the rock faces but it certainly focussed my mind, particularly the last exposed section. Almost as soon as I reached the top the predicted front came through, I was now having trouble even standing in the gusts of wind so after a quick call to Sam to tell her 'all was well' I made a hasty exit from the summit plateau. Luckily for me the showers held of until I was back in the Monalith Valley. The next leg involved climbing over a saddle between Mouint Cole and Mount Owen, after finding my way out of the Monalith Valley by a series of ledges it quickly became apparent that this was going to be slow going, the route was marked by a vague series of cairns meandering around a rocky labyrinth and it involved a lot of scouting around looking for the correct pad, Sitting down on top of one of the rocky turrets I had to make a decision, push on and risk not getting back to camp before dark or turn around and head back down to the Monalith Valley and retrace this mornings route back to camp. In the end it wasn't a hard decision and I headed back the way I came arriving back at camp around 7pm.
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The 'tail' of The Castle, with Mount Owen and Mount Cole in the distance.
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The bit that looks like a cliff is the descent route.
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At the bridge in the Monalith Valley.
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The route over Mount Owen had its share of scrub bashing, note the cairn.
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In the saddle between Mount Owen and Mount Cole
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| Heading back to Bibbenluke Mountain camp late in the day. |
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Day 3, 19.1 kilometres, 52.5 total kilometres. Once again I was up early, today I was going to walk out and then hopefully complete the ten hour drive home. So after finishing my breakfast and having a chat with Ann-Marie and Judy, a couple of local ladies who had shared the camp with me, I set off. The track seemed easier today, probably because the pack was lighter, and I made very good time back to Canowie Brook where once again I had an extended break and re filled my water bottles. Canowie Brook really is a beautiful spot with the lush green growth post bushfire giving it a park like appearance.
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Ann-Marie and Judy at Bibbenluke camp.
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Mount Tarn at sunset from camp.
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Climbing away from the brook I headed up the conglomerate rock ramp which got the heart rate up a bit but in reality it wasn't too bad, Once back on what I've loosely termed the plateau I bypassed Corang Arch and Corang Peak, the later on a section of new duck boards which provided fast easy walking. Reaching Korra Hill I stopped to take in my last extensive view for the walk, soon after leaving here I reached the scrubby section that hadn't been burn't and once again found myself pushing through the vegetation. As I was retracing my route from a couple of days ago I at least knew that there was light at the end of the scrub tunnel which is probably why it didn't seem quite so bad on the way back. With some relief I started to get back into the dryer eucalypt forest which, with its open under-story, provided quick easy walking. I was back at the ute, washed and packed and heading to the bakery in Braidwood before 2 pm, arriving home around 11 pm that night.
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Re filling the water bottles, Canowie Brook.
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| Climbing the conglomerate rock ramp near Corang Arch. |
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The Dirt.
The walk as I did it is almost exactly as what's written up in Lonely Planets 'Walking in Australia' edition 5. I didn't quite complete the section over Mount Owen and returned via the Monolith Valley. I also used the Corang 1:25,000 topo map and the Budawang Committee sketch map. The walking in the Budawangs can be anywhere from an easy stroll on duck boards to a bush bash through thick scratchy scrub, and it can change in a very short distance. The climb up The Castle involves very steep exposed scrambling and is not for everybody. The route over Mount Owen was slow going as the cairns are very sparse and the topography means that they take a fairly convoluted route, having said that I'll be back with a bit more time up my sleeve one day to have another go. If you want to see more photos, or want some more detail check out my
crazy guy journal.
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| Looking back towards the Pacific Ocean from near Corang Peak. |
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| The memorial near Wog Wog camp celebrating the inclusion of the Corang Peak addition to Morton National Park. |
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