15 October 2013 Mt Clear
 Line-up at Sam Aboud's dunny; Clear trig; border marker S37 and blaze Maps: Colinton and Bredbo 1:25000 Walk Description This walk was organised and led by me as an irregular CBC Tuesday walk: Tuesday 15 October: Bag Mt Clear trig - L/R,ptX. Walk the fire trail from the Mt Clear camping ground car park to Long Flat, visiting an old stockyard, Sam Aboud's dunny and a sheep-break of drop log fencing. Off-track to join the Mt Clear FT at Top Flats. Follow the FT up to Mt Clear, stopping to view the occasional border marker. Return to near SH1524, then drop 300m off-track to Chalkers Chimney. Exit via leads through open forest to Naas Creek. Around 23km and 800m climb. Maps: Colinton and Bredbo. Limit: 8. Leader: John Evans - john@johnevans.id.au, 0417 436 877. Transport: ~$12 per person. 5 of us drove from Canberra in my car, so 3 squeezed in the back. Further Information
Photographs Click here to access all walk photographs.Track Maps Track maps: thumbnails are active - click for a larger picture
Google Earth Track Notes Another cracker of a Spring day - -2°C overnight, so a bit of frost as we started along the Long Flat Fire Trail, and max 19°C in Canberra during the day. An uneventful trip in the FT past the stockyards, Sam Aboud's dunny (a queue there) to the N end of Long Flat and the drop log sheep break for morning tea. 7.6km in 1hr 35mins. A very pleasant 1.2km in 25mins gently up through open forest to the U-bend in the Mt Clear FT and the ACT-NSW border at Top Flats. Even a few flakes of snow on the ground. We went over to inspect the A38 border marker and, on returning to the FT, interrupted a road worker contractor about to do that man thing beside his truck. He was most apologetic; he hadn't seen us. A little further up the FT we came upon the work site where they are putting some drainage in the road above Teatree Swamp Flat - he'd already radioed his work mate, perhaps to warn him not to do that man thing up there till we'd passed! Detoured off the FT to photograph the S37 border marker and blaze which I'd visited on 4 Sep 12, but didn't bring back a photo. I'm afraid I unpacked the centre of the lockspit to expose the "Bolt cemented into Granite" and some local historians have no truc with this sort of thing. Anyway, I did, then restored the lockspit. So on and up to Mt Clear for lunch. From A38 to Mt Clear was 4.3km in 1hr 5mins. I was prepared to offer 45mins for lunch, but it was cool in the dappled shade, so we set off after 30mins. We returned 1.6km down the FT and W into border marker I37, one of the longest I've seen. Then generally W down to Chalkers Chimney, 2.2km in 55mins, dropping 280m. But, again, relatively open and easy forest with a bit of fallen timber and just a few little granite boulders to descend through. From Chalkers Chimney NW to the aerial photography post that Matthew Higgins pointed out on 30 Jul 13. I lost it badly from here! A straight line descent from SH1245 to the Naas Valley FT (2km in 40mins dropping 140m) was definitely not the best way to go. A bit scrubby in places. Compare it (in red for "stop, don't do this") with Ian W's track (in green for "go, yes do this") when we did the reverse ascent on 24 Sep 13: Out on the FT, 1.6km in 20mins back to the car. Thanks folks, just right for my tender feet after last Saturday. Summary Distance: 21.8km Climb: 770m. Time: 8.30am - 3.15pm (6hrs 45 mins), with 1hr of breaks. Walk Participants 5 walkers - Chris F, Stewart J, Alison M, Barrie R, me. Back to Walks Index This page last updated 5Sep22 |
