Hickeys Falls near Coonabarabran made for a nice spot for a dip as I was meandering my way north waiting for my negative Covid test result to come through.
Hickeys Falls - it's not the Pilliga however it's in the general area!
Alright... it's time to pull on my hiking Havaianas on set off on the first walk on my Christmas 2021 Covid road trip.
The Pilliga Scrub had well and truly been etched into my consciousness for many years. You see there is something a little unsettling about the Pilliga I think... and I'm not on my own with these thoughts. Over the years this large tract of bush has had numerous accounts of strange sightings and occurrences, google the 'Pilliga Yowie' and you'll start to get the idea. This remote section of the Newell Highway was only sealed back in December 1972 and still now days this section of the Newell Highway that runs through the Pilliga between Coonabarabran and Narrabri is a fairly remote spot, coming in it almost 120 kilometres without any towns or services at all. In all my years of travelling through the Pilliga, first with my dad in trucks and later on my own I've only ever stopped here for a sleep once or twice (and being about 14 hours drive from home it's the perfect spot for a snooze).
Lately the Pilliga Scrub has come back onto my radar a bit as the area has been the focus of a battle to stop Coal Seam Gas Wells being drilled in the area. The fact that our deputy PM, the one and only Beetrooter had acquired what he described as some rubbish agricultural land in the area sent my BS meter into overdrive at about the same time. Anyway, I'm not sure if it was a 'calm the farm' type of exercise, however at around the same time all this was going on a small section of the Pilliga Scrub was gazetted as the Pilliga National Park. Now while this walk is now within the safe(er) embrace of a national park it still a little off the radar, once you find the walk it's a well maintained and marked track with good facilities, however to find it from the Newell Highway still requires a bit of research as it's not signposted. Anyway after successfully finding the start of the track I parked the ute and set off into the early afternoon Pilliga heat.
It's easy walking - however after recently coming out of another year of being locked down in Melbourne I was feeling the heat a bit this afternoon!
The track up to the caves climbed very gently through bushfire recovering scrub as it made it's way up towards the caves, the sparse scrub allowing me a modicum of shade as I climbed. After passing my return route I kept to the left hand fork and continued for another couple of minutes up the the caves area. You'll know that you are close to the caves when you arrive at a very flash and clean toilet block that comes complete with a bit of a view through the trees, a slightly surreal sight out here I thought. The Pilliga is the traditional home to the Gamilaroi People and judging by the amount of indigenous history in the caves it looks like they eked out a fairly comfortable existence here, although like a lot of these sacred places they have had to build Dickhead Proof fences here so you can't get to close to the petroglyphs and the paintings.
There is a flash new toilet block (with a view) just before the track reaches the caves.
The track heads along the base of this sandstone outcrop.
There are numerous different sized overhangs along here.
The track now mostly contoured along the base of the caves as it circumnavigates a hill, the views from the caves giving my plenty of reasons to pause and take it all in. It's easily possible to explore the caves along this section of the walk although with the caves being comprised of fairly softy sandstone I didn't scramble around too much this afternoon. Eventually the track climbed a little to arrive at Yaminba Lookout at the southern end of the walk, although the view from the lookout was only marginally better than it had been on the rest of the caves section of the walk.
There is still plenty of evidence of indigenous occupation in some of the caves.
Once reaching the caves area the track is a little rougher, however it's still pretty good really.
Sandstone Caves Walk, Pilliga National Park.
Leaving the lookout the track swung back and I started contouring north, passing a few more big overhangs along the way. After passing a long slab of sandstone which had a few drips of water coming off it the track climbed over a low ridge and I re-joined my outwards path. Shuffling the last few metres back down to the car park in my hiking Havaianas I reflected a little on the whole Pilliga experience, exploring here during the day had certainly quelled a few demons in my mind - although I'm still not convinced sleeping here will be on my short term agenda!
The track climbs a bit towards the southern end of the outcrop.
The original owners would of enjoyed a nice view from the shade of the caves.
The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked around 2.1 kilometres and climbed about 45 metres on this easy stroll. The hardest thing about this walk is actually finding the start of the track, look for the Yanimba Trail heading east off the Newell Highway and you'll find the walk car park after a couple of kilometres. The Pilliga can be pretty warm in summer and with bushfires having ripped through here in the last few years there isn't a full forest canopy to keep the sun off, so if contemplating this stroll in summer then bring a hat and some water. There is a map and info at the start of the track and a toilet with a water tank in the caves area. This walk is on Alltrails.
Relevant Posts.
Like a lot of the other indigenous sites the managers have had to put dickhead proof fences in here.
I wondered if this soak is where the indigenous people would of got some water?
Nice easy walking as I headed back down to the ute.
There is plenty of parking at the start of this walk - although finding the start requires a bit of detective work.
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