Murrumbidgee River from the Lookout

Maps: Canberra and Tuggeranong 1:25000

Getting There

This walk was organised and led by me as a CBC walk:

Saturday 14 July - Canberra Centenary Trail: Section 6 - Stromlo Forest Park to Tuggeranong - L/E. Stromlo Forest Park, Cooleman Ridge, around McQuoids Hill NR, Kambah Pool, Kambah Pool to Pine Island Walking Track (via Red Rocks Gorge) to Tuggeranong. Around 21km and 300m climb. Maps: Canberra and Tuggeranong. Leader: John Evans - jevans@pcug.org.au, 0417 436 877. Transport: ~$5 per person.

Photographs

You can access all photographs here.

Walk

Track maps: thumbnails are active - click for a larger picture
Track overview	Track 1	Track 2	Track 3	Track 4

We put a car down at Tuggeranong and drove back to Stromlo Forest Park. My first visit, quite an impressive and well used facility.

Headed off in the direction of Cotter Rd. Some power lines give the direction, but we picked up a cycle track (note that it says cycles only, so it's not a shared path - so do be careful of high speed bikes) which took us to the edge of the Bushfire Memorial. Well worth a look and the gardens and shrubs are coming on a treat.

Across Cotter Rd and up the side of Eucumbene Dr, across the stile at the top of Warragamba Dr and along the Bicentennial National Trail on the Narrabundah Hill uphill side of the fence. Swapped fence sides at the top of Hindmarsh Dr, using the public access land to gain Kathner St in Chapman. Along Kathner St to enter the Cooleman Ridge Nature Reserve.

Followed the N-most track, as the Canberra Centenary Trail says, to the dam. Very pretty. Rounding the NW extent of the trail and up a little hill, we came upon a Cooleman Ridge BNT/Cutoff Drain FT sign which directed us through an old gate and onto just a footpad through the grass. We went on for a bit - you can see the little line on the track. Returned to the sign, walked a little further up the hill and came to the real Cutoff Drain FT. I'd say that the signage is mispositioned by around 50m.

The Cutoff Drain FT is pretty boring, but it does show off magnificent views over central Canberra. You can also ogle your dream house in Chapman. We passed the little bridge over the drain which leads via a footpad to Cooleman Hill trig - worth a visit if you're not in a hurry. Meet Neil a bit further along and continued to the saddle at the top of Lincoln Pl.

Here the Canberra Centenary Trail heads S down the W side of Mt Arawang. But where it turns NW onto a fire trail, there is a gate and a 'private property' sign in the distance (Neil said it's been there for yonks - how well was the CCT actually ground-truthed?). This forced us back SE until we came to a public right-of-way down to the back of the houses on Fisken Cres and Allchin Cct.

Up past the Mt Neighbour Horse Paddock yards we came to a fence separating us from the fire trail around McQuoids Hill. We had a look for a gate to the W and we could see to the E, but no gate. So under the fence via a kangaroo crawl (again, how well was it ground-truthed?). Morning tea, with a wedge-tailed eagle soaring and brumbies (well, horses in the horse paddock) highlighted on a ridge above us.

From here the CCT goes clockwise round McQuoids Hill. Why? - we covered 3/4 of a circumnavigation going this way, whereas anti-clockwise would have been 1/4. Joining back onto the BNT was a little more difficult than the CCT proposed route suggested, as fences forced us further N till a gate gave access to the BNT.

Kambah Pool Rd is boring, but with nice views to the Bullen Range.

One of the party quality tested the Kambah Pool beach toilets and found them somewhat vandalised. Check the opening hours (I didn't) if you are going to park at Kambah Pool.

We joined the Kambah Pool to Pine Island Walking Track. By now I was decidedly crook and this doddle turned into a challenging one for me to complete. Spent the next few days in bed with the flu. This next leg is very pretty, with the Murrumbidge River below and the Bullen Range across the other side. There are marker poles every 200m telling you the distance to go. Well worth a 100m detour to the lookout for views up the river. We stopped for lunch opposite the Red Rocks of Red Rock Gorge. I just had a moan, a little water and nothing to eat.

Continued along the Kambah Pool to Pine Island Walking Track. It deteriorated a fraction to a footpad through grasslands on the bulge S of Urambi Hills, but is still well signposted by pre-2003 fire track signs. I missed seeing a gate, so we had to hop a fence.

It was not possible to cross Tuggeranong Creek at any of the foot crossings or at the vehicle ford and a warning should be published in any CCT documentation. We were forced up the W bank of the creek all the way to the bridge, so missed the Tuggeranong dry stone wall.

Over to the car and to bed.

Thanks for your company Chris F, Nathan H and Neil H.

Toilets: Stromlo Forest Park (6am - 6pm), Kambah Pool (I didn't notice opening hours of the area, but you could park outside the gate and walk down), public buildings and public toilets at Tuggeranong (when open).

Parking/access: Stromlo Forest Park (6am - 6pm), anywhere along Eucumbene Drive at the top of Duffy, numerous entry points at the top of Chapman (eg. Kathner St, Monkman St, Freebody Pl, Darrell Pl, Guiness Pl, Hertz Pl, Lincoln Pl), Hake St Kambah and entrance to Mt Neighbour Horse Paddock yards off Allchin Cct Kambah, Kambah Pool Rd, Kambah Pool car parks (watch opening hours - I didn't record them), Tuggeranong.

POSTSCRIPT: I apologise to any Canberra Centenary Trail planner or project team member, in that I now understand that ALL the issues mentioned above have been covered in a yet-to-be-released for public use upgraded trail plan.

Distance: 22.9km Climb: 250m. Time: 8.00am - 2.00pm (6hrs), with 30mins of stops.
Grading: L/E; M(9)

KMZ file for Google Earth/Maps: Canberra Centenary Trail Section 6

Back to Walks Index

This page last updated 30Aug22