Cathedral Range - Southern Circuit, Cathedral Range State Park - May 2015

I haven't visited the Cathedral Range since the massive fire that wiped out Marysville tore through the area on Black Saturday in 2009.  The fires that day killed over 100 people and also decimated large swathes of our native flora and fauna, it was a horrible day. I remember sitting at home listening to ABC local radio and hearing all the emergency watch and act warnings for so many places that I knew so well, at the same time watching the temperatures push up into the high 40's and having howling northerly gusts shake the house, it was a day that will live vividly in my memory for all the wrong reasons. A lot of parks including the Cathedral State Park were closed for a long time, most are now open but the country has changed, the huge Mountain Ash are gone and are now generally stark white skeletons. The rest of the re growth now forms an impenetrable wall of scrub all but making off track walking impossible, the situation will only change when the canopy of the re growth gets high enough and thick enough to block out some light to the forest floor a bit and thus cull a bit of the vegetation. With this walk being entirely on tracks I figured that it would be good to go back and have a look around.

Crossing Little River at the start of the walk.

Lowerson Track is start of the route to the seldom visited Little River Falls, I was heading along the Friends Nature Trail today though.

Arriving at my start point, Cooks Mill at the crack of.... 11am I pulled on my boots and then set off on the hardest navigational challenge of the day, trying to find the start of the track in the sprawling camp ground. Turning onto Lowerson Track and the signposted Friends Nature Trail my day started with a very easy ramble around the river flats, Lowerson Track is also the route to a very seldom visited gem, Little River Falls, a Indiana Jones style walk up a steep river valley to a secluded waterfall, maybe I'll revisit the falls one day and write it up, although with the re growth it would be hard work. The Friends Nature Trail meanders through the Manna Gums crossing Little River on its way back to the historical Cooks Mill, crossing a few damp, ferny sections on duck boards.

The friends Nature Trail meanders around the river flats through the Manna Gums.

Park's have put in a lot of hardware since the fire's. It was good to see the bridges and duckboards were utilising recycled plastic rather than treated pine..... hey I work in the recycling industry!

Reaching Cooks Mill Heritage Site I almost doubled back on myself and started to climb Tweed Spur Road, the road bash allowed me some extensive views as I gained height. After about thirty minutes up the dirt road I branched off onto the signposted Messmate Track, this track is a result of the fires, the government poured a lot of money into the bushfire recovery fund and this track was cut with the aid of some of the funds and the help of the children from Marysville Primary School. In the old days to do this circuit involved a fairly uninspiring slog up Cerberus Road to Sugarloaf Saddle, the new walking track is a vast improvement. Higher up Messmate Track I started to get some views through the, you guessed it, Messmate Trees down the Cathedral Range although the grey overcast skies weren't doing my photos any favours.

Cooks Mill Heritage Site.

Heading up Tweed Spur Road through the Messmate forest, not a lot of blue sky around today.

Heading up the new(ish) Messmate Track through the regrowth, definitely no off  piste action here check out how thick the regrowth is.

I arrived at Sugarloaf Saddle just in time for some lunch, the re built picnic ground also a result of the bushfire recovery fund. The climb from here to the top of Sugarloaf Peak is steep, there are two routes, The Wells Cave Track is the steepest and involves a long narrow slot that you have to squeeze through before scrambling up the side of Sugarloaf Peak (920m). I decided I'd climb up the Canyon Track today as I couldn't be bothered trying to squeeze my hefty bulk through Wells Cave today. Canyon Track is still a fairly steep climb and you will definitely need to scramble a little. Arriving at the summit I was greeted by around twenty young scouts, looking over the side I could see that the scout master was getting them up via the Wells Cave route using ropes, consequently there was a traffic jam of kids waiting at the bottom of the scrambly bit waiting to be roped up, I'd dodged a bullet there as I would have been waiting awhile if I was behind the scouts. Finding myself a quiet place on the small summit I stopped for a while and took in the view, some of the burn't Snow Gums on the summit were regenerating nicely. From the summit I could see the ridge lines receding into the distance all crowned with the skeletons of the Mountain Ash.

The re built picnic area at Sugarloaf Saddle is pretty flash.

The first bit of scrambling on the Canyon Track up Sugarloaf Peak.

The second scrambly bit on the Canyon Track.

The view to the north along the Cathedral Range from Sugarloaf Peak

The scouts coming up the steep Wells Cave Track.

The burn't Snow Gums on Sugarloaf Peak are starting to regenerate.

Leaving Sugarloaf Peak I now headed north along the Cathedral Range, this section is slow going, the ridge is crowned by jagged rock and the route frequently has to drop off the crest to pass obstacles. The many short and sharp descents and then ascents take time, this is not place that you want to trip or slip (people have died here), quite often I was climbing down rock, sometimes swinging off trees. The walking is great however as there are views in every direction and the rocky slabs make for interesting walking (in my opinion), eventually the ridge flattened out a bit and I arrived at the walkers campsite called The Farmyard. The Farmyard is named because the Lyrebirds that live in the forest around here mimic the sounds of the farm animals from the valleys below.

Rough going along the Cathedral Range ridge line. 

Judging by the number of bushwalkers tents at The Farmyard it was going to be a busy night on the range. From The Farmyard I headed up a side track to visit South Jawbone Peak (798m), I'd never been up here before so was keen to have a bit of a look. Arriving on the summit I was welcomed by a weak sun so I was able to get a couple of half decent photos, looking back down the range Sugarloaf Peak was particularly impressive from this vantage point. After a bit of a break I headed off on the last stage of my days walk, the descent off the range back to the ute at Cooks Mill. As I was passing back through The Farmyard I was lucky enough to see a female Lyre Bird scratching around in the undergrowth, this is particularly heartening because they were driven off the range after the bushfires.

Looks like it was going to be a busy night at the Farmyard walkers camp.

Sugarloaf Peak from South Jawbone Peak.

Yeah I'm smiling, the sun's just come out for the first time today just as I'm about to drop down into the valley.

The descent is steep in places but parks have done a lot of track work to make it easier, the section from The Farmyard to Jawbone carpark used to be steep and eroded but now there are long sections of dry stone steps which make it a lot more pleasant. After a very short climb out of Maclennans Gully I arrived at Jawbones carpark where I picked up St Bernards Track. St Bernards track initially follows a ridge north for awhile which allowed me a good view of the cliffs protecting North Jawbone Peak from the north, late in the day the sun was lighting them in a golden light. Leaving the ridge St Bernards track meanders its way down to Cooks Mill, on the way it passes an area of logged pine forest in the middle of the park I hope they are going to re vegetate it with native trees. At 4 pm I arrived back at Cooks Mill and relocated my ute in the huge campground, settling in I enjoyed my scenic drive home over The Black Spur arriving home after a big day just before 6 pm.

Parks have done a lot of work on the track down from The Farmyard, it used to be very eroded and crappy.

North Jawbone Peak in the late afternoon light.

The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked 16.18 kilometres and climbed 814 metres on this little adventure, on this walk I used Melanie Balls notes from Top Walks in Victoria, the walk has been written up by quite a few guide book authors but I think Melanie is the only one who has included Messmate Track in her notes. The Cathedral Range allows for some rough walking within a reasonable distance from Melbourne, I'd rate the walk as I did it a hard walk as it involves a bit of scrambling up Sugarloaf Peak, the walk along the range is also slow going as you climb and descend around many rocky obstacles. All in all it was a good day out in the bush, although the photos are fairly uninspiring due to the drab skies, oh yeah and my lack of talent!