This walk was organised and led by Max S as an ad-hoc Tuesday walk:
Snowy Flat Creek – Nth tributary Climb about 700 m and about 15 km – Exploratory – Possibly Hard The walk this week will be close to that done a couple of weeks ago from Corin Dam, along the water edge for about 3 km, then up Snowy Flat Creek taking a more northerly, possibly steeper in parts, tributary of Snowy Flat Creek for another 3 km to Stockyard Spur. Then, may or may not drop down to Stockyard Ck for a look and return to car, possibly down a convenient spur to the dam instead of the normal track. Conditions up the Ck unknown but expect undergrowth, thick bush and damp. Map – Corin Dam Meet at Kambah Shops at 7.30 am Weather – Canberra – Fine, partly cloudy. Min 5 Max 17 RSVP by email please for an idea of interest As usual this will be a sanctioned FBI walk if 4 or more walkers. Folks, Sorry the notice is a bit late.
5 of us met at Kambah Shops and drove to Corin Dam. 43.5km one way.
Further Information
Similar to 21 Apr 09, but up a tributary running into Snowy Flat Creek.
Walk
I thought Max had heeded my plea to keep away from the steep edges of the dam because, after leaving the footpad up the spur, we kept in the bush for the first 300m. But it was down to the scree covered bare sides, left leg longer than the other, ok till we came to the little cliff-ette to clamber round (see pic 1). Pressed on round the point and up into the 'bay' where Snowy Flat Creek enters the dam, opposite the quarry site.
As last time, the creek is not too impressive here, full of debris washed down. Golly, it must roar down here at times to move the huge trunks and other stuff. Henry showed me a wattle with both juvenile (frondy type leaves one typically thinks of with wattles) and mature (large flat leaves with parallel veins) leaves on the same plant. But we'd soon clambered up past the debris and entered the lovely rain forest type area (see pic 2). Morning tea was taken at around the 1000m contour. 2.9km and 1hr45mins to here. A magnificent Blackwood towered from near the creek, its lower trunk sharing space with mature, unburnt ti-tree and its crown drawing our gaze up the other side of the creek into the wonderful eucalypts.
Back at it and less than 200m later we struck the tributary we wanted today. Plenty of water tumbling down, of course not as much as the main arm of Snowy Flat Creek. So we veered right and continued to enjoy the unique ecosystem. A steep little climb between the 1100 and 1200m contours, with only 150m horizontal for the 100m up. At this stage we were out of the water and dense ti-tree covered the creek, so we couldn't see any waterfalls. The gradient began to diminish, 1200-1300m taking us 550m horizontal. 1hr to do this 200m up and 700m along. Interesting to see native clematis (thanks Jen for identifying it for me) in seed (see pic 3).
Three drainage lines joined at the 1300m contour. We had a quick peek at the north-most one which runs up to the saddle between SH1615 and SH1532. It was flowing. Max chose the middle line and we trudged up the remaining 200m climb, with the vegetation thinning to dry forest above a grassy floor. Although we didn't site flowing water again, it must have been to at least the 1400m contour. We surmised that the water must be slowly released from the rich soil up there, as it's not a hugely significant watershed and it's not feeding from sphagnum. We found ourselves walking mainly the damper S facing slopes as we came up and this certainly added to the wonderful atmosphere of the tributary.
At last we flopped on the Stockyard Spur track, about midway between SH1615 and the saddle. Coffee and lunch was good.
We chose the 'may not' option for Stockyard Creek this time and got an early mark, strolling down the track to the cairns, then down the footpad to the car.
Driving across the dam wall, we pulled in down the road to the intake tower and snapped the general area of the walk (see pic 4). You can see the main arm of Snowy Flat Creek rising up the right hand side of the broader sunlight spur. Our tributary took us up behind the closer, sharper, dark green spur.
Thanks Max, and Henry, Jenny and Karen. A lovely Autumn day.
Distance: 9.1km Climb: 700m. Time: 8.20am - 2.35pm (6hrs15mins), with 40mins of stops.
Grading: M/R; H(12)
KMZ file for Google Earth/Maps: Snowy Flat Creek – North Tributary
