100 MAN CAVE & GINGRA RANGE – JUNE 2012
Kanangra Walls > Mt Cloudmaker > TiWilla Plateau > 100 Man Cave > Campagnoni Pass > Willa Butress > Kowmung > Orange Bluff > Brumby Spur > Gingra Track > Kanangra Walls.
Len S had put this three day walk on the BWOC calendar mainly because I’d convinced him it was a good walk, neither of us had been to 100 Man Cave before, and he loves Kanangra. He ended up with 11 other people that wanted to do the walk, many of whom were first time walkers. The group was a bit larger than what I’d recommend for walking in Kanangra, but Len was sure everything would be fine.
Most of us rocked up to Boyd River Crossing on Friday night and were greeted with a blast of cold air when we got out of our cars, there was frost on the ground when we woke next morning.
We started out from the Kanangra Walls car park at 8am and were quickly on our way, we knew that Saturday was to be our best day and it started out with blue skies and warm sunshine which was slowly melting the ice on top of the puddles along the way. The view from the Walls was impressive with fog in the valleys and everyone was having fun and enjoying the views.
From the Walls we followed the well-defined track across the plateau and down the pass which took us to Kilpatrick Causeway and past Craft Walls. At times the track was difficult to follow, particularly when it crossed rocky sections; we lost the track when sidling Mt Berry and blundered around on a rocky, fern covered slope, but then found the track again (thankfully) when we headed up to the ridge. I’m pretty sure that they weren’t having fun as we blundered along the side of Mt Berry! Losing the track turned out to be a problem as the terrain was very hard on Len and his knees. We regrouped up on the ridge.
The track wound along a knife edge ridge, gently undulating and with fabulous views either side. By mid-afternoon after climbing Mt High & Mighty, Len decided that his proposed route had a few too many ups and downs for his legs and knees which were giving him considerable trouble and so he decided to spend the night on Mt Stormbreaker with Kathy and Peter and they would head back to Kanangra the following day. So, Len abdicated as Leader and passed the baton on to me, Shane and I would lead the group for the rest of the weekend. The tortoises continued on over Rip Rack Roar and Rumble to Mt Cloudmaker; by this time most of us were past clambering over rocks and had had enough of going up-hill so it was with relief that we started down the track to Ti Willa Top.
It was easy walking and I estimated that we were less than an hour from 100 Man Cave (our campsite for the night). However, our nice track soon disappeared in a casuarina forest, under a layer of she-oak needles. By this time it was 4 pm and the light was failing, so, out came the compass and map for what I anticipated was a navigational challenge to find the Cave in the dark (with only an estimated grid reference on my map and not having been there before). It was extremely stressful as I had mostly beginners with me and they were relying on me to get them into camp in the dark … I wasn’t sure I was up to the challenge! We hadn’t walked far when out of the gloom appeared Shane who thought he’d mosey on back to meet up with us; I’ve never been so pleased to see someone (I think I gave him the biggest hug!). We followed Shane to the Cave and were reunited with the rest of the party, and 20 others from Sydney Bushwalkers who were also camping in the overhang. With such a big group sharing the Cave, positions around the one and only campfire were at a premium.
Next morning Shane and I poured over the map and chose our route, deciding to take Orange Bluff off the plan; a somewhat easier day if all went to plan to make up for yesterday’s challenges … across the plateau, visit 1,000 Man Cave and then negotiate a pass through the cliffline and walk along the south-east at the base of the cliff to Compagnoni Pass and then follow a ridge between Little Gingra Creek and Willa Creek to reach the junction of the Kowmung and Little Gingra Creek by mid-afternoon.
Well, plans should always be fluid and ours didn’t quite go as expected. We had some notes and verbal directions to 1,000 Man Cave but after blundering about in thick scrub for half an hour we decided that we would leave the cave for another day and go on to Compagnoni Pass across the plateau. Although we saw evidence that others had also taken our route, there wasn’t a track and we were really just route-finding across the plateau trying to avoid burned out hakea.
We eventually found the Pass and while having lunch at the top of the Pass, a Bush Club group arrived and told us about a lovely campsite at the River. So we modified our route and Shane led us down Ti Willa Ridge then Stockyard Spur and we eventually arrived at a beautiful grassy field, which had plenty of fire wood, was close to the river and much drier than on the river flats (the previously planned campsite for the night which already had a group camped there). We quickly put up tents and then scattered in all directions, some having a swim in the river, and some sussing out Gingra Creek and some getting the fire going and drinking cups of tea!
That night the campfire was more to our liking, plenty of space for all of us and the rain held off until most had retired for the night. We decided to get an early 7.30 a.m. start on Monday because we had a long day ahead on the Gingra Range which was mostly up-hill. It soon became apparent that two of the group were struggling as we headed up the trail. One in particular looked like he was on his last legs so Shane and I took turns in either leading the group or looking after the person at the back. Thankfully, the rain held off until mid-afternoon which was a bonus, but the constant up-hill was tedious and we were taking lots of stops. Then the rain started, and that changed everything, we were now all getting chilled because of the slow pace. We reached Roots Ridge just after lunch and we knew that the end was in sight, only another couple of hours to go.
Our next milestone was Coalseam Cave and then we were out on Maxwell Top. By this time the rain was pretty steady and the track was a series of deep puddles. We were all too wet and cold to stop at any of the lookouts, and I doubt we would have seen much anyway with the rain. It didn’t help that the person who was having the most trouble was wearing jeans which were now wet and making him colder than he should be.
The walk became a bit of a forced march to the cars and the promise of some dry clothes. We arrived at the picnic shelter at about 3.30 p.m. and were able to shelter from the rain to get out of our wet clothes and try to warm everyone up.
I have to admit that I often discourage beginners to do the Kanangra walks as it tends to put some people off bushwalking (sometimes forever) and probably we should have discouraged our four beginners on this occasion; the walks are challenging (the hills seem to go on forever), but the scenery is stunning and it is relatively easy walking along lightly forested spurs and ridges. Our four “beginners” kept their sense of humour though when the going got tough and I hope that they’ll give Kanangra another go (maybe in a year or so!).